The posting
About CommonAI
CommonAI CIC is a non-profit organisation built around collaborative engineering and is backed by a mix of UK Government and private funding in order to design, build and deploy innovative AI systems.
Our Scaling Inference Lab (SIL) is developing simulation grounded in real measurements to help the UK invest in promising AI infrastructure. We connect proposed hardware designs to realistic workloads, helping investors and engineers understand their potential, their limitations and the next experiment worth doing.
The Opportunity
Help investors turn questions about AI infrastructure into technical evidence they can use. You will translate between investment and engineering audiences, turning diligence questions into well-defined simulation studies and experiments, and explaining what the findings mean for a proposed technology.
Working with the engineering team, you will make SIL's simulation framework accessible to investors without specialist systems knowledge. You will guide users through studies, help them understand the assumptions and uncertainty behind the results, and turn their feedback into improvements to our framework.
Your work will also contribute to the Scientific Director's technology roadmap, bringing together developments in hardware and software, findings from simulation and measurement, and the questions investors need answered next.
What you will do
- Work with investors to understand an investment or diligence question, alternatives being considered and the evidence needed to move it forward.
- Turn those questions into clear study briefs with the simulation team, including assumptions, relevant workloads and criteria for a useful result.
- Help investors use the framework through guided studies and clear explanations, and translate their feedback into proposed improvements for the engineering team.
- Produce concise assessments explaining technical findings, assumptions, uncertainty, integration requirements and the next evidence worth obtaining.
- Bring together simulator results, company and research developments, and investor questions to contribute to the Scientific Director's technology roadmap for SIL.
An example early project would be to work with an investor and the engineering team to compare two AI infrastructure options, producing a concise assessment of the findings, assumptions and further evidence needed to inform an investment decision.
Requirements
- The ability to understand complex technology, connect technical findings to investment questions, and explain their implications clearly to engineering and investment audiences.
- Relevant experience in technical analysis, technology diligence, deep-tech commercialisation, engineering with customer or investor engagement, or a comparable field.
- Sound quantitative judgement and the curiosity to test assumptions and assess the evidence behind performance or cost claims.
- Strong listening, relationship-building and writing skills, including the ability to make uncertainty understandable and earn trust with different audiences.
Familiarity with AI infrastructure, semiconductors, HPC or the economics of deploying technology would be useful, as would experience helping non-specialists navigate technical decisions.
Why join us
- Help build UK AI capability and improve how investment and compute serve the public good.
- Build a network spanning UK hardware SMEs, major technology companies, venture and public investors, and leading universities.
- Shape a growing team with startup pace and close academic links.
- Use frontier models and coding agents with a substantial tooling budget.
Benefits
- A collaborative and supportive work environment
- The opportunity to have a high impact in a growing organisation
- Competitive salary package, including pension and benefits
- Professional development opportunities
- Networking opportunities with influential figures from across the tech sector and academia
- A vibrant office environment located a few minutes’ walk away from Cambridge train station
Working with us
Hybrid, with Cambridge attendance agreed individually around collaboration and the work; applicants across the UK are welcome. We are open to permanent employment, part-time arrangements and consultancy. We would like you to start as soon as practical and can be flexible for the right person.
The core role could be part-time. We would consider a full-time appointment for a candidate with an interest in and talent for technical writing and communications, extending the role to take responsibility for reports and other material relating to SIL's wider work. We value your experience and the quality of your analysis and communication over a particular qualification or professional route.
CommonAI CIC is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace.
