Want to lead Whitehall's AI strategy? AI experience is not essential

AI and ML

Track record is merely desirable for the person tasked with shaping UK.gov's skills blueprint for 550,000 civil servants

The UK government is hiring someone to help lead its AI strategy for civil servants, and actual AI experience is apparently optional.

The Cabinet Office is advertising for a Head of Strategy and Engagement in its Digital, Data, Innovation and AI team, or DDI & AI, with a salary of up to £83,355 ($113,000). The successful applicant will help shape how roughly 550,000 civil servants acquire the skills needed to survive Whitehall's increasingly enthusiastic embrace of AI.

According to the job ad, the new hire will "lead on the design and delivery of a long-term, high-impact and adaptive vision" for the DDI & AI team, define its strategy, track developments in the sector, and work with experts across government, industry and academia. They'll also lead on policy positions and ministerial submissions.

You might reasonably assume that some previous experience with AI, digital technology, data or innovation would come in handy, but Whitehall does not insist.

The essential requirements instead include leadership, strategic thinking, communication skills, and the ability to build "productive collaborative and trusting relationships." Experience in "digital, data, innovation or AI" is tucked away under desirable criteria, alongside experience in learning design and delivery.

To be fair to the Cabinet Office, this isn't a job for someone to train a foundation model between meetings with ministers. The DDI & AI team focuses on improving the skills of non-digital specialists across government, and the vacancy is heavy on strategy, planning, and engagement rather than technical work.

The Cabinet Office did not respond to The Register’s questions, but a spokesperson told The Telegraph that it was "not a technical AI specialist role," adding that the team already includes people with AI expertise, and works with specialists across government, academia and the tech industry.

A couple of months ago, the Cabinet Office was looking for a rather different sort of AI hire. Its £163,000-a-year AI and Innovation Director was expected to help create an "AI-first culture" across the Civil Service – and, for that job at least, a "deep understanding of the AI landscape" was part of the deal.

Meanwhile, ministers have been pushing AI tools into government in the hope of squeezing more productivity from the public sector, including the brilliantly named Humphrey suite of AI assistants. The government has also set itself the rather sizeable task of improving AI and digital skills across hundreds of thousands of civil servants.

Which brings us back to the new Head of Strategy and Engagement: the person helping decide how Whitehall builds those skills could, according to the government's own criteria, arrive without having previously worked in AI, digital, data, or innovation.

One place where AI gets more explicit treatment is the application. Applicants are warned that while they can use the technology to help with their application, their examples must come from their own experience. Passing off AI-generated material as their own could result in the application being withdrawn.

So AI experience isn't essential for the job. Just make sure AI doesn't apply on your behalf. ®