Research Scientist, Biosecurity, DeepMind

Minimum qualifications:

• PhD degree in virology, microbiology, infectious diseases, or a related biological field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with emerging topics in biosecurity, such as metagenomic surveillance, de novo pathogen design, and LLM-based uplift.
• Experience implementing core Machine Learning (ML)/AI concepts.
• Experience in genomics and computing solutions.
• Experience publishing research on biosecurity topics.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience working within government or within private sector entities contributing to biosecurity or biodefense.
• Understanding of the regulatory and policy landscape for AI and biology.
• Comfortable working in dynamic and ambiguous environments.

About the job

As an organization, Google maintains a portfolio of research projects driven by fundamental research, new product innovation, product contribution and infrastructure goals, while providing individuals and teams the freedom to emphasize specific types of work. As a Research Scientist, you'll setup large-scale tests and deploy promising ideas quickly and broadly, managing deadlines and deliverables while applying the latest theories to develop new and improved products, processes, or technologies. From creating experiments and prototyping implementations to designing new architectures, our research scientists work on real-world problems that span the breadth of computer science, such as machine (and deep) learning, data mining, natural language processing, hardware and software performance analysis, improving compilers for mobile platforms, as well as core search and much more.

As a Research Scientist, you'll also actively contribute to the wider research community by sharing and publishing your findings, with ideas inspired by internal projects as well as from collaborations with research programs at partner universities and technical institutes all over the world.

The GDM Biosecurity Initiative leverages AI to proactively mitigate biological threats—both natural and from the misuse of AI-enabled tools. The team conducts foundational biosecurity research, leads risk assessments for specialized science models, and collaborates with the broader AI and biosecurity ecosystem.

In this role, you will develop and evaluate machine learning models targeting real-world biological risks while shaping the research roadmap. You will assess and mitigate biosecurity risks from emerging technologies to ensure the responsible release of future tools from DeepMind's Science unit, actively engaging external partners to influence discussions across the field.

Artificial intelligence will be one of humanity’s most transformative inventions. At Google 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.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to pioneering research on AI and biosecurity, supporting scientific publications and product development aligned with the Biosecurity initiative mission.
• Synthesize complex research findings into clear, actionable reports and presentations for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, delivered through written documentation and verbal briefings.
• Influence the research roadmap for the initiative, identifying key technical gaps to be addressed through technical research projects..
• Research, design and implement technical and policy-based mitigation strategies to address identified biosecurity risks of specialized science models, collaborating with research, engineering, and policy teams.
• Engage with the broader biosecurity community by participating in internal and external engagements (including conferences, workshops, and working groups).