Principal Technologist- Gov Voice

This is a 12 Month Fixed Term Appointment Applications for this role close 2nd August 23:59 UK Time

Who We Are

We are a team at the forefront of applying cutting-edge AI to transform how people experience government services. Gov Voice is building a trusted, reusable AI voice service that makes it easier for people to access government services by phone. For millions of people, contact centres are one of the most important and highest-volume ways they interact with government.

We are creating an AI-enabled voice capability that can make those interactions simpler, faster and easier to navigate. Gov Voice is part of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which is working to make digital government simpler, clearer and faster for everyone. We are responsible for helping set, lead and deliver the vision for a modern digital government.

We are a team at the forefront of applying cutting-edge AI to transform how people experience government services. We sit within the Government Digital Service. We are not currently part of the Incubator for AI, although the two teams will work increasingly closely together.

This is not innovation for its own sake. We are building a real service for real users in a high-trust, high-scrutiny environment. Our goal is to create something practical, resilient and reusable that departments across government can adopt with confidence.

This is a rare opportunity to work at the intersection of frontier AI and real-world delivery. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team bringing together product, delivery, AI, design, policy, operations and technical expertise to solve complex problems that matter. This is the kind of role that comes along rarely: a chance to shape the technical direction of an ambitious AI-enabled public service, while helping define what good looks like for modern, trustworthy AI systems in government.

If you are motivated by difficult technical problems, meaningful public impact, and the opportunity to influence how reusable AI-enabled services are built across government, this is an opportunity to make a genuine difference.

What You Will Do

The Principal Technologist role exists to make it easier to build excellent technology in the UK public sector. This is a senior individual contributor role for a high-agency, entrepreneurial technologist who wants their work to matter at national scale. You will lead through technical judgement, influence and clarity of vision rather than line management.

You will help shape and drive the technical direction for Gov Voice, ensuring that architectural decisions are robust, pragmatic and aligned with wider government standards and long-term service outcomes. You will work across disciplines and organisational boundaries to connect strategy with delivery, helping teams make good technical decisions in a fast-moving area shaped by rapid advances in generative AI. You will bring a strong point of view on architecture, engineering quality and responsible technology adoption, while remaining grounded in user needs, operational realities and delivery constraints.