EmergingAI biosecurity and scientific misuse assessment

AI Biosafety Specialist

Also called AI Biosafety Officer

An AI Biosafety Specialist reviews how AI workflows touch laboratory and biological work, and puts protective procedures in place. They help a company find hazards early and keep model-related science within safe, agreed limits.

What they do

They examine AI workflows that sit close to biology and lab practice, and ask where a hazard could arise. They run or support secured evaluations, review the outputs, and write up what they find. They test safeguards to see whether they hold. They agree protective procedures with research, security and policy colleagues, then check those procedures are followed. They also keep scope clear: what has been approved, what has not, and who decides. This work is being done now, often inside biosecurity, red teaming or trust and safety jobs.

What a strong hire delivers

In the first months, a strong hire produces a biosafety review of the company's current AI workflows, with hazards ranked and explained plainly. They put validated protective procedures in place and show that teams are working within agreed scope. They set up a repeatable risk-review process, so later reviews do not depend on one person. They also leave leadership clearer about which risks are open and which are mitigated.

How you can tell they are good

Ask them to walk through a review they have done, from scoping to the final procedures. A strong candidate separates real laboratory hazards from theoretical worry, and explains how they checked a safeguard worked. They talk comfortably to both scientists and engineers. They can say what they would refuse to sign off. Be cautious of people who speak only in general terms or treat compliance as the whole job.

Why it is hard to fill

Almost nobody holds this title today. The people who can do the work usually sit under biosecurity, biosafety, life sciences or evaluation titles, and few have seen all of those sides. Many biosafety professionals have never worked with AI systems. Many AI evaluators lack lab grounding. Careful, authorised experience is also hard to verify, so candidates can be hard to assess from a CV alone.

Where to find them

Look first at biosafety officers and biosecurity analysts in research institutions, public health bodies and biotech firms. Life scientists who moved into evaluation work are another source. So are red teamers and model evaluators at model providers, safety institutes and AI safety groups who have built scientific domain depth. Some come from risk management teams in regulated life sciences companies.

Indicative pay

Not enough published evidence yet to give a fair range for this role, which is common for work this new. We benchmark it for you as part of a search.

Interview questions for an AI Biosafety Specialist

  1. Describe a biosafety or risk review you led. How did you set its scope, and what changed because of it?

    A strong answer names the scope, the hazards found and the procedures that changed. They show ownership of the outcome. Worry if they describe only a checklist exercise, or cannot say what actually improved.

  2. How would you review an AI workflow you had never seen that supports laboratory planning?

    Good answers start with mapping inputs, outputs and who acts on them, then identify where harm could enter. They ask about authorisation and controls early. Worry about jumping to conclusions before understanding the workflow.

4 more questions, with what a strong answer covers, are in the Role Kit.

Job description you can post

We are hiring an AI Biosafety Specialist to assess the laboratory and biological safety implications of our AI workflows. You will work with research, security and policy teams to find hazards early, agree protective procedures and keep our work within approved scope.

What you will do

  • Review AI workflows for laboratory and biological safety implications
  • Run or support secured evaluations and analyse the results
  • Test safeguards and report where they fail
  • Write biosafety reviews with clear, ranked findings
  • Design and validate protective procedures with research teams
  • Check scope compliance and track mitigation of identified hazards
  • Brief leadership on open risks and decisions needed

What you will bring

  • Demonstrated biosafety, biosecurity or life sciences work in a controlled setting
  • Experience carrying out risk reviews that led to changed procedures
  • Familiarity with model evaluation or red teaming methods
  • Clear written reports for both scientists and non-specialists
  • Sound judgement in handling sensitive information
  • Ability to hold a line under delivery pressure

Nice to have

  • Experience of authorised model evaluations
  • Background in AI risk management
  • Experience working with a regulated laboratory

Free to use and adapt. If it saves you time, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Skills that matter

  • Scientific domain expertiseAdvancedApply disciplinary theory and experimental standards
  • AI red teamingAdvancedTest systems adversarially under authorisation
  • AI risk managementWorkingIdentify, assess, treat and monitor AI risks
  • Model evaluationWorkingMeasure capability and failure modes credibly

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How we wrote this

Role definitions are our own editorial work, checked against occupational classifications, standards, research and employer pages. Titles vary by company, and this is a description of the work, not a job advert.

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