Onboarding Lead- i.AI

About the role

The central Recruitment Operations team across i.AI and AISI is responsible for attracting, selecting and onboarding the exceptional technical and policy talent needed to deliver on our mission. We are a small, high-performing team that enables the organisation we support to hire and retain the world-class engineers and policy professionals who do the work that matters. The team covers end-to-end recruitment for all of the AI Security Institute and the i.AI incubator, as well as onboarding, process improvement and operational delivery. We work closely with Hiring Managers, the People Team, GRS, and a range of internal and external stakeholders. The team is building out its infrastructure and processes as the organisation scales rapidly. This is an exciting time to join Recruitment Operations focussing on the Incubator for AI. We are building something from scratch, and the person in this role will have genuine scope to shape how i.AI onboards its people - with a direct and visible impact on the experience of every new joiner.

Responsibilities

• Primary objective: To improve the efficiency of i.AI's onboarding processes and enhance the new joiner experience - ensuring every candidate who joins i.AI, however complex their circumstances, has a smooth, well-managed and professional onboarding journey.
• Core responsibilities:
• Complex Candidate Onboarding (~50% of time): Own the end-to-end onboarding journey for all non-standard candidates - those requiring visa sponsorship, security clearances, non-standard pay arrangements, or other bespoke handling. Candidates include secondees, Amber contractors, fellows, SCS and above, and those with conflicts of interest.
• Process Improvement & Efficiency (~35% of time): Lead a programme of work to improve onboarding processes and self-serve capability. This includes working with GRS, facilitating workshops, defining and documenting onboarding SLAs, and creating new joiner and contractor guidance.
• Recruitment Account Management (~15% of time): Maintain recruitment accounts for up to 8 live roles across the organanisation, supporting Talent Partners with campaign administration and candidate management.
• Success in the first 90 days looks like: all non-standard RU candidate journeys are actively managed and on track; initial GRS engagement has taken place; onboarding SLAs are drafted for review.
• Success at 6 months: self-serve onboarding guidance is live; GRS workshop completed; onboarding process is measurably faster and more consistent.
• Success at 1 year: the function is running smoothly and the postholder has taken on all complex candidates across both CS and RU pipelines.
• Person specifications
• Essential Criteria:
• Experience managing complex HR, onboarding or people operations processes - including cases with non-standard requirements (e.g. visa, security clearance, contractor arrangements)
• Strong organisational skills - able to manage multiple cases, deadlines and stakeholders simultaneously without losing accuracy or pace
• Process improvement mindset - comfortable identifying inefficiencies, designing solutions and building guidance that reduces manual effort
• Excellent written communication skills - able to produce clear, accessible guidance and documentation for a range of audiences
• Strong stakeholder management - able to work confidently with candidates, hiring managers, HR teams and external partners
• High level of discretion and sensitivity - this role involves handling complex personal circumstances, pay cases and sensitive information
• Self-starter - able to work independently and make sound judgements without close supervision
• Preferred Criteria:
• Experience working with visa, immigration or security clearance processes in a government or large organisation context
• Familiarity with government recruitment systems such as GRS, Civil Service Jobs or equivalent ATS platforms
• Experience facilitating workshops or cross-team process improvement initiatives
• Understanding of Civil Service HR frameworks, pay policies and contractor/secondee arrangements

Benefits

Additional Information

Grade- HEO Salary- £39,850- £43,020 This role closes on 12th July 2026 at 23:59 About the Incubator for AI (i.AI) The Incubator for Artificial Intelligence ( i.AI ) is the UK government's engine room for building products that shape national outcomes. We will be building tools used daily by thousands of civil servants, directly impacting millions of citizens. We take on the hardest problems in government, backed directly by No10, and solve them with a small, high-performing team. Our work is shaping how government adopts AI in practice; through what we build, who we hire, and the standards we set.

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