Job description
Centre for Long-Term Resilience • any time zone
Date: Jul 7, 2026
Open Call for Contractor Opportunities (AI, Biosecurity and AI-Bio work)
Deadline: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, but it is advantageous to apply as soon as possible.
Location: Remote, any time zone
Rate: Competitive, dependent on experience
Apply here
About This Open Call
We are building a pool of skilled contractors to draw on across our biosecurity and AI policy units as workstream needs evolve. This is not a fixed-role application: initially, successful applicants will be kept on file for 12 months and contacted if opportunities matching their profile arise. Before any offer, candidates are typically asked to complete a short (30-minute) work test and a 15-minute interview.
Who We’re Looking For
We are interested in a wide range of backgrounds and expertise. The profiles below are illustrative of the kinds of people we are keen to hear from right now, but this is not exhaustive. If you are excited about our work but do not fit neatly into one of these categories, we encourage you to consider applying anyway!
In the AI Policy Unit
Technical Developers
- Python developers with experience building data pipelines, working with APIs, and deploying cloud-based services
- Familiarity with LLMs, prompt engineering, and AI safety concepts is a strong plus
- Experience with web development, authentication, and version control (Git)
Data Analysts
- Python or R experience with semi-structured or behavioural datasets
- Strong statistical literacy and ability to produce clear outputs for non-technical audiences
- Understanding of AI governance and the AI safety ecosystem helpful
Cyber and Information Security Specialists
- Operational background in offensive cyber, incident response, or critical-infrastructure protection
- Ability to assess model-weight security, interdiction and takedown options, and frontier-lab security practices
National Security and Intelligence Practice Specialists
- Senior experience in a national-security, intelligence, or defence institution (e.g. Cabinet Office, MoD, agencies, or allied equivalents)
- Judgement on how decisions are actually made under pressure, what NatSec actors will and won’t do, and escalation dynamics
Wargaming and Exercise Design Specialists
- Experience designing and facilitating tabletop exercises, crisis simulations, or strategic roleplay for senior or government audiences
- Ability to translate a speculative scenario into a structured, decision-forcing exercise and capture findings rigorously
Quantitative Forecasting and Scenario Modelling Specialists
- Track record in calibrated forecasting, risk modelling, or scenario analysis
- Ability to design indicator-to-response triggers and stress-test escalation ladders
- Comfort handling sparse data and communicating uncertainty to senior audiences
International Governance and Arms Control Specialists
- Experience in treaty design, verification regimes, or multilateral negotiation (incl. nuclear/bio arms-control analogues)
- Familiarity with summit and sherpa processes useful
Military and Physical Security Specialists
- Operational or analytical background in defence, targeting, or critical-infrastructure protection
- Ability to assess physical mitigation options against AI infrastructure – datacentres, power, hardware supply – including feasibility, proportionality, legality, and escalation risk
Specialist contributors – Concentration of Power Risks, International Governance and Arms
- Including technical governance specialists, economic specialists (e.g. antitrust, industrial policy), diplomacy & institutional specialists
Infrastructure engineer – Loss of Control Observatory (recruiting before September 2026)
- Strong Python skills for data processing and ML/LLM workflows
- Experience interfacing with APIs (social media platforms, LLMs, cloud storage) and data scraping
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with experience of working effectively with non-technical colleagues
- Web development skills (dashboard building, authentication, WSGI deployment)
- Strong practices around testing, error handling, and version control (Git)
In the Biosecurity Policy Unit
Molecular and Computational Biologists
- Experience with synthetic nucleic acid screening, benchtop safeguards, or DNA data storage
- Wet lab access and binding assay experience (ELISA, ITC, SPR) relevant for some workstreams
AI-Enabled Biological Tool Developers
- Backgrounds in forensics, metagenomics, bioinformatics, or related disciplines
- Experience building or evaluating tools that bridge AI and biology
Quantitative Analysts and Health Economists
- Experience with cost-benefit analysis, risk modelling, or quantitative policy work
- Ability to handle sparse data and communicate uncertainty clearly to senior audiences
Biosecurity Policy Generalists
- Experience in policy research across health security, biosecurity, arms control, or adjacent fields
- Strong writing and ability to produce government-grade outputs under tight deadlines
Specialist Technical Contributors
- Including PPE/CBRN procurement analysts, MCM policy researchers, and international law specialists
Scenario Design Specialists
- Experience designing or facilitating crisis exercises, tabletops, or decision-forcing simulations for senior government or institutional audiences
- Understanding of how central government crisis decision-making and scientific advisory mechanisms operate under pressure
Biosurveillance and Metagenomic Detection Specialists
- Experience with metagenomic or pathogen-agnostic surveillance across environmental, wastewater, or clinical samples
- Familiarity with computational or machine-learning methods for distinguishing engineered or novel agents from natural background
- Ability to translate detection capabilities into programme requirements and actionable policy recommendations
Microbial Forensics and Attribution Specialists
- Background in microbial or genomic forensics, bioinformatic attribution, or related defence or intelligence analysis
- Familiarity with genetic engineering detection, including AI-designed sequences or proteins
- Experience working with or designing AI-enabled biological tools
Molecular and Computational Biologists
- Experience with synthetic nucleic acid screening, benchtop synthesis safeguards, or sequence-of-concern reference databases
- Understanding of the DNA synthesis landscape and the potential policy levers
- Wet lab access and binding assay experience (ELISA, ITC, SPR)
AI-Bio Tool Developers and Evaluators
- Backgrounds in bioinformatics, computational biology, or machine learning applied to biological problems
- Experience building or evaluating tools that bridge AI and biology, including assessing the beneficial capability or misuse potential of biological design tools and frontier models
- Familiarity with structured-access, monitoring, or other safeguard approaches for the most capable models
Medical Countermeasures and Platform Technology Specialists
- Experience with vaccine or therapeutic technologies, rapid-response manufacturing, or medical countermeasure procurement and policy
- Familiarity or interest with how state-of-the-art AI can accelerate countermeasure design, workflows, development, or trials
Quantitative Analysts and Health Economists
- Experience with cost-benefit analysis, risk modelling, forecasting, or quantitative policy work
- Comfort handling sparse data and communicating uncertainty clearly for senior audiences
- Ability to build evidence bases necessary for a policy decision
Biosecurity Policy Generalists
- Experience in policy research across health security, biosecurity, arms control, or adjacent fields
- Familiarity with the research-funding, multilateral, and scientific-consensus levers
- Strong writing and the ability to produce government-grade outputs under tight deadlines
- Comfort working across multiple topics and translating technical material for policy audiences
Specialist Technical Contributors
- Including PPE and CBRN procurement analysts, supply-chain resilience specialists, and international or multilateral law experts, including biological arms-control and treaty processes
What We Value Across All Roles
- Demonstrated ability to work autonomously on discrete, bounded projects
- Ability to summarise complex findings clearly for applied or policy audiences
- Genuine interest in reducing catastrophic risk from biology or AI
How to Apply
Use this form to apply. Successful applicants will be kept on file for 12 months, during which they will be contacted if CLTR has contracting opportunities that fit their profile.
As an employer, we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply and do not discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
If you have any questions, please reach out to frankie@longtermresilience.org
Use of AI in our recruitment process
We use AI-assisted tools to support the initial sifting of applications. These tools help us assess CVs and application materials against the criteria set out in this job description. AI outputs are reviewed by a member of the CLTR team before any shortlisting decisions are made — no purely automated decision-making takes place. For more information on how we process your personal data during recruitment, including your rights, please see our candidate privacy notice. If you have questions about how AI has been used in assessing your application, you can contact frankie@longtermresilience.org.
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