Principal Virologist, Responsible Development and Innovation, DeepMind
Deepmind
Apply to this jobAbout the Job
Artificial intelligence will be one of humanity’s most transformative inventions. 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.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
US: $307000 - $427000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
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.
- Refine and directly execute advanced biology evaluations to pressure-test frontier AI models against biological threats.
Qualifications
Minimum qualifications:
- 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.
Additional Information
The application window will be open until at least August 11, 2026. This opportunity will remain online based on business needs which may be before or after the specified date.- Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
- Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
- Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
- Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
- Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
- Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
- Holidays: 13 paid days per year
Summary
Lead biosecurity strategies, analyze biological threats, support AI safety research in virology.
Job title
Principal Virologist, Responsible Development and Innovation
Experience level
15+ years
Minimum experience
15+ years exp
Industry
software
Location requirements
Remote work not specified; multiple US locations possible.
Salary
$307k–$427k
Management role
No
Required skills
Preferred skills
Specializations
Structured locations inferred from the posting.
Mountain View, CA, USA
Boulder, CO, USA
Cambridge, MA, USA
Kirkland, WA, USA
New York, NY, USA
Washington, DC, USA