Biosecurity Policy Manager

The Centre for Long-Term Resilience; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A national non-profit think tank is seeking Biosecurity Policy Managers or Senior Biosecurity Policy Managers. This role focuses on developing impactful policy recommendations to mitigate extreme biological risks, engaging with government stakeholders, and requires strong research skills. The position offers a flexible working arrangement within the UK, with a salary of £70,000 to £90,000, depending on experience, along with a generous benefits package including significant annual leave and development budgets.

Benefits

30 days annual leave plus public holidays

£5,000 wellness budget

£3,000 learning and development budget

Private health insurance

Paid office lunches twice a week

Qualifications

• Experience in biosecurity or related field.
• Strong motivation to mitigate extreme biological risks.
• Ability to think independently about governmental policy.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate biosecurity policy recommendations.
• Engage with government and stakeholders to enhance policy understanding.
• Conduct research and present findings at relevant conferences.

Skills

Biosecurity policy development

Research skills

Stakeholder engagement

Verbal communication skills

Written communication skills

Analytical thinking

Education

Relevant degree or academic experience in biosecurity or related field

Job description

Job title: Biosecurity Policy Manager or Senior Biosecurity Policy Manager, depending on experience level

Salary: £70,000 to £90,000 depending on skills and experience, plus a generous benefits package.

Location: Flexible location within the UK, with the expectation of attending our central London office at least two days a week, including on Mondays.

If you are interested in this position, but salary or location is a barrier to you applying, please get in touch with our team to discuss as we may be able to offer some flexibility based on individual circumstances.

Application form: Apply Here

Deadline: 18 January 2026 at 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (AoE)

For any questions, please send an email to: [e-mail]

About CLTR

The Centre for Long-Term Resilience (CLTR) is a UK-based, non-profit and independent think tank with a mission to transform global resilience to extreme risks. We achieve this by working with governments and institutions, offering targeted, evidence-based advice designed to enhance understanding, decision‑making and governance – with a particular emphasis on advising the UK government.

At CLTR, we focus on three prioritised policy areas that, when addressed effectively, can substantially reduce both present and prospective catastrophic threats: i) biosecurity, ii) artificial intelligence, and iii) improving how governments manage extreme risks.

You would join a passionate and committed team with diverse experiences spanning academia, healthcare, government, non‑profit organisations and the private sector. We place immense value on our work and on fostering a positive team culture that supports staff wellbeing and growth. CLTR’s approach is anchored in our three core values: i) integrity, ii) people first, and iii) targeted real‑world impact.

Biosecurity Policy at CLTR

Our Biosecurity Policy Unit works to develop, evaluate and advocate for impactful policy recommendations to mitigate extreme biological risks—events whose impacts would be worse than the COVID‑19 pandemic or even threaten human extinction. We work in a dynamic environment, responding swiftly to policy shifts and government initiatives, while also ensuring time is reserved for gap analyses and in‑depth research on critical biosecurity issues.

While we primarily focus on government policy, our work is often highly technical in nature. We apply a rigorous approach to project prioritisation to ensure we are working on the highest‑value opportunities with the greatest potential for real‑world impact. The bigger the risk, the greater weight we place on mitigating it. All else being equal, we focus on the biological risks that have the greatest harm.

At CLTR, we concentrate on extreme biological risks arising from:

• Pandemics, whether natural, accidental or deliberate in origin;
• Emerging technologies, including those at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology;
• The development and use of biological weapons by state and non‑state actors.

Some of our recent work includes:

• Delivering a Cost‑Benefit Analysis of Synthetic Nucleic Acid Screening for the UK;
• Publishing a Global Risk Index for AI‑enabled Biological Tools;
• Providing written and oral expert testimony to the UK Public Services Committee Call for Evidence on Medicines Security;
• Engaging in key public and private dialogues on priority biosecurity topics with government and international organisations.

Your role

We are seeking two dedicated individuals to become core members of our Biosecurity Policy Unit as Biosecurity Policy Managers or Senior Biosecurity Policy Managers, depending on experience.

Please note that we are also recruiting for an Associate or Deputy Director of Biosecurity Policy. You can see that job ad here.

Our policy roles are flexible with the opportunity to specialise. With our focus on extreme biological risks, our priority areas currently include:

• Synthetic nucleic acid screening governance
• Medical countermeasure development
• Early warning systems and biosurveillance
• AI biosecurity risks and benefits
• Personal protective equipment
• Deterrence and attribution
• Emerging threats
• Supply chain resilience for extreme events
• Transmission suppression for the in‑built environment

We welcome candidates with work or academic experience in any areas listed above. We are also particularly interested in candidates that could fit the following roles:

1. AI Biosecurity: This role is best suited for a candidate with a mixed background in machine learning and biology who wants to apply their knowledge to solving emerging biosecurity problems. You would lead work on assessing risks from both frontier models and narrower AI‑enabled biological tools, and help propose policies and mitigation measures. You will also be able to assist our larger portfolio of work, including assisting in furthering attribution capabilities in microbial forensics and applying the principles of defensive acceleration to biodefense and the 100 day mission.
2. Medical countermeasure development or early warning systems: This role is best suited for a candidate with a background in immunology, vaccine development, diagnostics, metagenomics, or related fields. You would lead work on developing policy recommendations for priority medical countermeasures against extreme biological risks and advocating for an effective early warning system to detect events at the earliest possible stage. This would include work on high‑impact events involving novel biosecurity threats.

Working as a team member on our Biosecurity Unit and with the wider CLTR team, your role would include:

• Biosecurity policy development (approximately 60% of the role):
  • Prioritising workstreams based on the magnitude of the extreme risk they would affect and their importance, neglectedness and tractability;
  • Collaboratively developing robust and evidence‑based policy recommendations;
  • Refining policy suggestions through in‑depth evaluation, analysis, and independent research of high‑priority topics;
  • Conducting literature reviews and summarising research and reports, including academic and policy papers;
  • Liaising with relevant external stakeholders in academia, industry and think tanks to develop policy and reports informed by expert views;
  • Presenting at biosecurity conferences, meetings and other public and private events, representing CLTR and our Biosecurity Policy Unit; and
  • Assisting with running CLTR biosecurity events, including workshops and roundtables, in line with our strategic priorities.
• Stakeholder engagement (approximately 25% of the role):
  • Liaising with government stakeholders, including planning, attending and leading meetings with senior government officials;
  • Delivering research or policy analysis in response to high‑value requests from government stakeholders, where and when these align with our strategic priorities;
  • Evaluating government plans and strategies relevant to our biosecurity priority workstreams, suggesting areas for improvement and methods to support;
  • Assisting with maintaining our positive relationships with current government stakeholders while actively strengthening our network;
  • Connecting leading subject matter experts to government stakeholders; and
  • Promoting our policy recommendations to government audiences through private and public engagement, including media outreach.
• CLTR teamwork (approximately 15% of the role):
  • Working with the broader CLTR team to further the organisation’s mission;
  • Participating in comprehensive stakeholder analysis with the broader team;
  • Contributing to proactive and reactive fundraising work;
  • Undertaking comms and advocacy initiatives;
  • Actively contributing to strategic plans, organisational development, and regular team meetings;
  • Providing constructive feedback to colleagues and reciprocating with support to team members; and
  • Collaborating on cross‑unit projects, uniting our policy areas and workstreams under the CLTR mission.

What you’ll bring

The CLTR Biosecurity Policy Unit is seeking candidates who can develop impactful, pragmatic policy recommendations to reduce extreme risks from biology, and who have an aptitude for building and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders.

In particular, we are looking for candidates with:

1. Strong motivation to reduce extreme biological risks and alignment with CLTR’s mission
2. Experience in biosecurity or a related field
3. A good understanding of the biosecurity landscape, with an awareness of key threats and relevant national and international governance measures
4. The ability to think clearly and independently about extreme biological risks, and the role of government in mitigating those risks
5. Strong research and critical thinking skills, including literature reviews and evaluating technical topics
6. Excellent interpersonal skills
7. Excellent written communication skills
8. Excellent verbal communication skills
9. Policy entrepreneurship and high agency with the ability to scope projects from scratch and drive them to completion
10. The ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality and discretion when required

We may consider particularly experienced candidates for the role of Senior Biosecurity Policy Manager. For this role, in addition to the criteria above, we are looking for:

1. Experience working in policy or advocacy
2. The ability to balance deep strategic thinking with pragmatic implementation
3. Line management experience and skills
4. Ability to develop theories of change and iterate project plans rapidly in light of new intelligence or political shifts

We also expect all staff to model our values of integrity, people first, and targeted real‑world impact.

If you are passionate about CLTR’s mission and think you could thrive in this role, even if you don’t check all the boxes, please apply. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

Salary and benefits

£70,000 to £90,000 depending on experience. However, we would be open to considering a higher salary for a truly exceptional candidate who meets our Senior Biosecurity Policy Manager criteria. If you are interested in this position, but the salary is a barrier to applying, please get in touch with our team to discuss.

In addition to your salary, CLTR offers a generous benefits package which includes:

• 30 days annual leave, plus public holidays;
• £5,000 (before tax) annual wellbeing budget, for you to spend at your discretion on items such as gym membership, therapy, meditation, etc;
• £3,000 annual learning and development budget, plus up to five days paid work time;
• £2,000 onboarding grant for equipment and supplies;
• A pension contribution scheme (up to 7% employer‑matched contribution);
• Private health insurance;
• Group life insurance;
• Generous parental leave benefits;
• Budget for relocation if required; and
• Paid office lunches twice a week including on Mondays.

As both a unit and team, we also run strategy retreats and away days during the year to discuss big‑picture questions, analyse and decide priorities and promote team bonding.

Location and travel requirements

Flexible location within the UK, with the expectation of attending our central London office at least twice a week, including on Mondays. However, we may be open to exploring remote working arrangements in exceptional circumstances for a limited period of time.

We may be able to sponsor visas for this role, so please do not let this keep you from applying.

Application Process

Joining our team at CLTR involves a thorough but straightforward and transparent application process. Here is what a successful candidate is likely to experience and do:

Stage 1: Submit your application by the 18 January 2026 deadline, including uploading your resume/CV and the details of two references. This form includes answers to 3‑6 paragraph questions depending on which role you are applying for, with word limits ranging from 150‑250 words. We anticipate that this form may take 1‑4 hours to complete.

Stage 2: Complete a 90-minute combined work test and virtual interview. We aim to schedule these between 2 – 12 February 2026.

Stage 3: Complete a 60-minute final interview, after which we’ll conduct a reference check. We aim to schedule these in the week 16 – 20 February 2026.

Email invitations and any process updates will be sent to all candidates who progress at each stage.

Our goal is to make an offer to successful candidates by the end of February 2026, with a desired start date as soon as possible, depending on any notice period and individual circumstances.

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. We also warmly welcome applicants returning to work after career breaks.

Reasonable adjustments

It’s really important that all candidates who have the potential to succeed at CLTR are provided with an equitable experience in the application process. So if you require adjustments to provide you with the best opportunity to succeed through our hiring process, please feel free to contact [e-mail] at any stage.

Please be assured that adjustments are seen as part of creating a fair environment at CLTR, and will not influence decision‑making in our selection process. Adjustments may include (but aren’t limited to!): compensation for travel expenses to attend interviews, additional time or accessibility support for tasks in the selection process, or other adjustments in the way the hiring process is run.