Chemist Lead, DeepMind

AI Chopping Block, Inc.; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 262,000 - 364,000; Full time

Job summary

DeepMind seeks a Lead Scientist to guide a team of chemists within Google's CBRNE group, ensuring our AI models remain safe for release and do not enable harmful outcomes.

You will design evaluations of dual-use chemistry, shape mitigation strategies, and represent DeepMind to senior leadership and external stakeholders on chemical safety matters.

Qualifications

• PhD in chemistry, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7 years of experience with national, or international chemical security organisations.
• Experience working with national security or defense organizations on technical chemical matters.
• Experience working with LLMs in daily workflows, and applying LLMs to scientific problems.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and execution of chemical evaluations to understand model capabilities.
• Provide recommendations for mitigations to ensure chemical safety while minimizing hindrance to legitimate science.
• Partner with chemists, researchers, engineers, and ethics experts to embed safety into the model development lifecycle.
• Communicate technical results to audiences with varying expertise up to senior decision-makers.
• Shape chemical safety mitigation strategies across the organization.

Skills

LLMs in workflows

Chemical security policy experience

Threat analysis design

Communication with leadership

Education

PhD in chemistry

Job description

In this role, you will serve as the Lead Scientist for a team of chemists, joining a wider group of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and Research Scientists within Google's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) team. Together, you will ensure that as Gemini's scientific capabilities advance, it does not become a tool for catastrophic harm.

You will apply your knowledge of dual-use chemistry to lead policy development, direct the design of evaluations aimed at understanding the maximum capabilities of our AI models, and shape mitigation strategies to ensure our models are safe for release. You will also serve as DeepMind's primary scientific representative on chemical security to senior internal leadership and external government and international stakeholders.

Artificial intelligence will be one of humanity's most transformative inventions. At DeepMind, we are a pioneering AI lab with exceptional interdisciplinary teams focused on advancing AI development to solve complex global challenges and accelerate high-quality product innovation for billions of users. We use our technologies for widespread public benefit and scientific discovery, ensuring safety and ethics are always our highest priority.

We are pushing the boundaries across multiple domains. Our global teams offer learning opportunities and varied career pathways for those driven to achieve exceptional results through collective effort.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $262000 - $364000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

• Lead the design and execution of all chemical evaluations to understand the maximum agentic capabilities of our AI models.
• Provide recommendations for implementing mitigations to ensure the chemical safety of our models, while minimizing the impact on legitimate science.
• Partner closely with the team of chemists, Research Scientists, Engineers, and ethics experts to embed chemical safety protocols directly into the model development lifecycle.
• Communicate technical results and commentary to audiences with a range of expertise, up to senior internal and external decision-makers.
• Shape DeepMind's broader chemical safety mitigation strategies, ensuring safety guardrails protect against genuine misuse without adversely affecting legitimate scientific research.

Minimum qualifications:

• PhD in chemistry, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7 years of experience with national, or international chemical security organisations (e.g., OPCW, national laboratories, or AI Safety Institutes).
• Experience working with national security or defense organizations on technical chemical matters.
• Experience working with LLMs in your daily workflows, and applying LLMs to scientific problems.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience designing novel science evaluations, red-teaming protocols, or threat-analysis frameworks for emerging technologies.
• Understanding of the training, operating principles, and mitigation strategies of Large Language Models (LLMs) used to prevent the proliferation of dual-use scientific information.
• Understanding of model evaluation methodologies for determining the frontier risks of modern AI models.
• Active, ongoing engagement and established credibility with national, or international chemical security organizations (e.g., OPCW, National Academies, national laboratories, or AI Safety Institutes).