Chemist Lead, DeepMind

DeepMind Technologies Limited; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 262,000 - 364,000; Full time

Job summary

DeepMind Technologies Limited is seeking a Lead Scientist to guide a team of chemists within Google’s CBRNE-aligned safety efforts. You will drive policy development, design evaluations to probe AI model capabilities, and shape mitigation strategies to keep models safe while advancing scientific progress.

You will represent DeepMind’s chemical security interests to senior leadership and government partners, ensuring responsible deployment of AI systems with dual-use considerations.

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 with national security or defense organisations on technical chemical matters.
• Experience with LLMs in daily workflows and applying LLMs to scientific problems.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and execution of chemical evaluations to understand the maximum agentic capabilities of our AI models.
• Provide recommendations for mitigations to ensure chemical safety while minimizing impact on legitimate science.
• Partner with chemists, researchers, engineers, and ethics experts to embed safety protocols into the development lifecycle.
• Communicate technical results to audiences from varied expertise up to senior decision-makers.
• Shape broader chemical security mitigation strategies to protect against misuse without hindering legitimate research.

Skills

LLMs in workflows

Policy development

Stakeholder communication

Chemical safety analysis

Education

PhD in chemistry

Job description

Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Mountain View, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA.

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).

About The Job

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

Responsibilities

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 security mitigation strategies, ensuring safety guardrails protect against genuine misuse without adversely affecting legitimate scientific research.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form.