Lead Chemist – AI Safety & Chemical Security

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

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.