Principal Virologist, Responsible Development and Innovation, DeepMind

About the role

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

• Synthesize, "roll up," and clearly communicate complex technical risk data to senior stakeholders, C-suite executives, and policy leaders with clarity and authority.
• Integrate ongoing scientific community insights regarding biological pathogens to ensure our safety frameworks reflect real-world threat vectors.
• Shape Google DeepMind’s broader biosecurity mitigation strategies, ensuring safety guardrails protect against genuine misuse without bottlenecking legitimate scientific innovation.
• Partner closely with Research Scientists, Engineers, and ethics experts to embed biosecurity protocols directly into the model development lifecycle.
• Refined and directly execute advanced biology evaluations to pressure-test frontier AI models against biological threats.

Requirements

• PhD in Virology or equivalent practical experience in post-doctoral, clinical, or industry experience.
• 15 years of experience working with high-consequence biological pathogens within a national security, defense, or biosecurity context.
• Experience translating scientific or threat data into summaries for senior leadership and non-technical decision-makers.
• Experience in wet-lab virology, working within BSL-3 or high-containment BSL-2 environments.
• Experience analyzing the challenges of dual-use research of concern (DURC), biological weapons frameworks, and the global stakeholder landscape.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience designing novel science evaluations, red-teaming protocols, or threat-modeling frameworks for emerging technologies.
• Experience utilizing or evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs) or biological foundation models.
• Comfort with technical infrastructure, command-line tools, or basic coding elements to interface effectively with AI research engineers.
• Active engagement with ongoing national security or international biosecurity working groups.
• Interest in AI safety frameworks, tech policy, and the ethics of frontier technologies.

Benefits

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. US: $307000 - $428000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits