Research Associate, FAIR Programme
17 Days Old
Named in honour of Alan Turing, the Institute is a place for inspiring, exciting work and we need passionate, sharp, and innovative people who want to use their skills to contribute to our mission to make great leaps in data science and AI research to change the world for the better.
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Position
The FAIR Programme is an academic industrial collaboration which aims to develop an actionable framework for trustworthy and reliable AI adoption at scale within Financial Services industry. We are aiming to do this by tackling three key challenges:
- Development of robust AI assurance frameworks, including the design and testing of AI assurance methods to assess the robustness, explainability, fairness or privacy of AI systems. This includes contributing to the development of auditable validation tools and scalable frameworks that can be adapted across a wide range of AI use cases, from time series forecasting to anomaly detection.
- The advancement of AI-powered financial crime detection, including early-warning systems capable of detecting emerging financial threats. Collaborating with data scientists, financial crime analysts, and regulators, the candidate will use real-world transactional data (where permitted) to design innovative AI models that enhance resilience while minimising bias and unintended harms.
- Design and Development of Trustworthy Agentic Workflows, focused reinforcement learning optimisation, supervised fine tuning, RLHF and alignment uncertainty quantifications and LLM-as-judge evaluations.
ROLE PURPOSE
The successful candidate will play a central role in advancing the FAIR programme's mission to become the trusted authority on AI innovation within the financial services sector. In your role, you will:
- Conduct cutting-edge research: Develop novel algorithms, models, and techniques -pushing boundaries in areas such as multiagent reinforcement learning, bandit methods, anomaly detection, privacy, robustness, and uncertainty quantification.
- Develop and evaluate models: Design, implement, and rigorously evaluate AI agents. Apply prompt engineering, few-shot learning, post-training methods, and meta-reasoning to enhance performance and robustness in diverse, real-world scenarios.
- Collaborate with a world-class team: Partner with research scientists, engineers, and product teams across the Alan Turing Institute, University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford, UCL, University of Cambridge and University of Warwick. Share findings in top-tier conferences and journals and contribute to product roadmaps that bring your research to life.
- Contribute to real-world impact: See your research shape AI solutions in the financial services industry and beyond
- Sam Cohen, Gesine Reinert, and Marta Kwiatkowska (Oxford)
- Carsten Maple and Graham Cormode (Warwick)
- Adrian Weller (Cambridge)
- Philip Treleaven, Ni Hao (UCL)
- Lukasz Szpruch (Edinburgh)
- Publish and disseminate high-quality research papers and publications detailing research outputs and project case-studies.
- Cultivate strong relationships with internal stakeholders, liaising with teams across the Turing as required.
- Communicate or present research outputs to diverse stakeholders, through conferences, events, meetings, and press opportunities as appropriate.
- Participate in internal meetings with relevant groups, stakeholders, as well as external meetings with representatives of industry and potential partner organisations
- Work collaboratively with academic experts and broader research partners from across the Turing and the wider Turing community.
- Undertake required administration tasks.
- Continuously update your knowledge concerning AI in Financial Services, including staying up to date with the news, emerging policy, and regulation.
- Work collaboratively with a team of research associates focused on fundamental research in each of the themes of FAIR and develop responsible AI tools and techniques through the FAIR framework.
- A PhD (or equivalent experience and/or qualifications) in a relevant area which will include Mathematics, Computer Science or similar inter-disciplinary subjects.
- Research Assistant level: must be near completion of PhD in a relevant area which will include Mathematics, Computer Science or similar inter-disciplinary subjects.
- A solid background in one or more of the following: (multiagent) reinforcement learning, bandit methods, anomaly detection, privacy robustness, uncertainty quantification or quantitative finance
- Understanding of the technical challenges facing financial services in the operationalisation of AI, including generative AI
- Experience in design, development and implementation of research software tools and libraries, such as Python, Java, GPU programming (Tensorflow, PyTorch, etc), symbolic verification (SAT, SMT)
- Track record of the ability to initiate, develop and deliver high quality research aligned with the research strategy indicated by the PI and any industrial stakeholders and to publish in peer reviewed journals and conferences
- Evidence of high-quality publication(s) in a relevant field (published or in-press) commensurate with your career stage
- Experience in publishing research papers, reports for industry and the public, code libraries or technical reports and giving presentations or classes on technical subjects for non-technical audiences
Other information
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
If you are interested in this opportunity, please click the apply button below. You will need to register on the applicant portal and complete the application form including your CV and covering letter. If you have questions about the role or would like to apply using a different format, please contact us on 020 3862 3536 or email [email protected].
If you are an internal applicant and wish to apply, please send your CV and Cover Letter directly to [email protected] and your application will be considered.
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: TUESDAY 09 SEPTEMBER 2025 AT 23:59 (LONDON, UK BST)
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
This full-time post is offered on a fixed-term basis until November 2026. The annual salary for this role is £45,505 plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies, Employee-only benefits guide | The Alan Turing Institute
Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant at a salary of £42,593 per annum.
The Alan Turing Institute is based at the British Library, in the heart of London's Knowledge Quarter. We expect staff to come to our office at least 4 days per month. Some roles may require more days in the office; the hiring manager will be able to confirm this during the interview.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued and everyone is treated fairly. In accordance with the Equality Act, we welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
We are committed to making sure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive. This includes making reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability or long-term condition. Please contact us at [email protected] to find out how we can assist you.
Please note all offers of employment are subject to obtaining and retaining the right to work in the UK and satisfactory pre-employment security screening which includes a DBS Check.
Full details on the pre-employment screening process can be requested from [email protected] #J-18808-Ljbffr
- Location:
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Salary:
- £80,000 - £100,000
- Job Type:
- FullTime
- Category:
- Other