European Public Policy Lead (Ada Lovelace Institute)

Nuffield Foundation

    • Salary: Starting at £46,000 – £48,000 per annum (dependent upon experience). Full Time, fixed term contract for 18 months.
    • Location: Ideally London-based with regular travel to Brussels, but will consider secondments or Brussels based candidates.

Closing:

     11:59am, 3rd Aug 2021 BST

Job Description

The Ada Lovelace Institute (Ada) is appointing a European Public Policy Lead for 18 months. This is a unique and exciting opportunity to join and help develop a rapidly growing dynamic and energetic organisation working at the intersection of technology and society on some of the most pressing policy challenges presented by emerging technologies.

This role will take responsibility for leading and delivering Ada’s influencing and engagement strategy on the draft EU AI Regulations, by developing Ada’s European presence, conducting stakeholder engagement with senior officials, creating and deepening partnerships with civil society organisations. The post will be managed by the Associate Director for Policy, and work closely with our incoming Legal Adviser, who will lead analysis on the EU AI Regulations.

This is a new role for Ada, and successful applicants will have the opportunity to develop the position in post and to act with some autonomy as Ada interlocutor into Europe. Strategic engagement, networking and advocacy will be a large part of this role. We are looking for an individual who will identify opportunities, develop and build trusted relationships with lawmakers, officials, diplomates as well as policy and NGO networks predominantly in Europe but also internationally.

The successful candidate will be an excellent communicator, with ambition to become an expert in the EU AI Regulations, as well as a strategic and tactical thinker, with a good antenna for impact, ability to spot opportunities and evolve Ada’s positioning. Ideally this individual will already have existing relevant networks in Europe and experience influencing European policy or law. They will be open to spending a significant proportion of their time in Brussels.

While the majority of work will be focused on the EU AI Regulations, there will also be opportunity to engage with connected regulatory debates in Europe, as well as considering implications for UK policy and legislation.

In order to ensure that our work informs policy priorities, law and regulation of data and AI, we:

  • Intervene early and deeply: we are selective and focus on engagement early in policy development, which draws on extensive research, legal analysis or deliberation
  • Work in partnership: we develop relationships with decision-makers and sectoral partners to shape development and practice on the ground
  • Bring sociotechnical perspectives and public voices: we draw on multiple disciplines and perspectives to ensure the policy and regulatory development is informed by a range of evidence, approaches and experience.
  • Build tools and capacity: we acknowledge the novelty and challenge of evolving data and AI tools and support building critical understanding through briefings, tools and frameworks.

About you

You may have a background working in a policy or regulatory setting, or have extensive experience influencing policy and regulation. You know your way around the European policy landscape, have been following key pieces of policy and regulation evolving around data and AI, and enjoy getting up to speed on new technical debates. You are curious and passionate about the issues which arise at the intersection of technology and society, and committed to bring multidisciplinary, sociotechnical and public evidence to bear on policy making. You’re excited about the opportunity to work with some autonomy in a fast-paced and fast-growing organisation, taking a lead role in developing Ada’s position in Europe.

For further information about the role, please click here to download the full job description.

We are also currently recruiting for a complementary Senior Policy Adviser to develop and shape UK Government policy and law related to data and AI, to support Ada’s mission to ensure data and AI work for people and society.  Click here for more information (closing date 4th August 2021)

Further information and how to apply

The closing date for applications is 11:59am (BST) on Tuesday 3 August 2021, with interviews taking place via video the following week.

You will be required to complete some questions as part of this application process, and you are also required to upload an up to date copy of your CV. The Applied platform lets you save an application and resume it ahead of submitting before the application deadline.

We strongly encourage applicants from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the research, policy and technology sectors (for example those from a marginalised community, who did not go to university or had free school meals as a child). We are committed to tackling societal injustice and inequality through our work, and believe that all kinds of experiences and backgrounds can contribute to this mission.

We are open to discussing secondments (for 12 or 18 months) and we will also explore requests to employ a Brussels-based candidate.

The Ada Lovelace Institute

The Ada Lovelace Institute is an independent research institute and deliberative body funded and incubated by the Nuffield Foundation in 2018. Our mission is to ensure data and artificial intelligence work for people and society. We do this by building evidence and fostering rigorous debate on how data and AI affect people and society.  We recognise the power asymmetries that exist in ethical and legal debates around the development of data-driven technologies and seek to level those asymmetries by convening diverse voices and creating a shared understanding of the ethical issues arising from data and AI. Finally, we seek to define and inform good practice in the design and deployment of AI technologies.

After little more than a year of operation, the Institute has emerged as a leading independent voice on the ethical and societal impacts of data and AI. We have built relationships in the public, private and civil society sectors in the UK and internationally. Some of our most impactful work to date includes our rapid evidence review on contact tracing apps, Exit Through the App Store?, and our public attitudes and engagement work on biometrics, including our Beyond Face Value survey and Citizens’ Biometrics Council.

We aim to be a collaborative, welcome and informal place to work. Before Covid-19 the team worked flexibly, with some working from home regularly or on an ad hoc basis. We now operate fully remotely, using collaborative working tools such as Microsoft Teams with regular video calls).

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