Virologist – AI Safety and Evaluations

The role

This person will design and execute technical evaluations of advanced AI systems. They will develop scientific benchmarks and assess AI-generated outputs for biological safety and security risks.

What you will do

• Design and develop scientific benchmarks and evaluation methodologies.
• Conduct model capability evaluations and red-teaming exercises.
• Develop scientifically grounded evaluation scenarios, questions, and tasks.
• Assess AI-generated scientific outputs for accuracy, feasibility, and biosecurity implications.
• Identify and characterize potential misuse scenarios involving biological agents.
• Contribute to the development of evaluation criteria and scoring rubrics.
• Collaborate with AI researchers, engineers, and subject matter experts.
• Analyze evaluation results and contribute to technical reports and client deliverables.
• Stay informed of developments in biological research, AI capabilities, and biosecurity risks.

Required qualifications

• PhD in Virology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, or a closely related biological science, or equivalent practical experience.
• Research experience involving pathogenic viruses, bacteria, or other biologically relevant systems.
• Strong understanding of biological research methods, experimental design, and technical challenges.
• Demonstrated knowledge of biosecurity principles, dual-use biological research, and potential biological misuse risks.
• Experience critically evaluating scientific literature, experimental methodologies, and technical research outputs.
• Strong analytical skills to assess complex scientific information.
• Experience preparing technical reports, presenting scientific findings, and communicating complex concepts.

Nice to have

• Experience conducting AI model evaluations, developing scientific benchmarks, or assessing the capabilities and limitations of LLMs.
• Experience with AI red-teaming, biological risk assessments, or evaluating potential misuse scenarios involving emerging technologies.
• Hands-on experience in virology or microbiology laboratories, including work in BSL-2 or higher containment environments.
• Experience using command-line tools, programming languages (e.g., Python), or computational approaches relevant to biological research.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted biological research tools.
• Understanding of biological weapons threats, dual-use research concerns, and potential biosecurity risk mitigation approaches.
• Familiarity with AI safety and capability assessment frameworks.
• Awareness of relevant biosecurity policies, international agreements, and stakeholders.
• Experience developing evaluation datasets, scoring rubrics, or structured methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience applying AI tools to biological research workflows, scientific analysis, or benchmark development.

About the company

10a Labs is the safety and threat-intelligence layer trusted by frontier AI labs, AI unicorns, Fortune 10 companies, and leading global technology platforms. Their adversarial red teaming, model evaluations, and intelligence collection enable teams to deploy AI systems safely.