Group Leader G52

The Cyber Security and Information Sciences Division (Division 5) is seeking a Group Leader to direct the strategic vision, research portfolio, and operational execution of the AI Technology & Systems Group (Group 52). The Group Leader will join the Division 5 leadership team to develop cutting-edge technologies and advanced prototypes that enable United States national security organizations to maintain leadership in cyber operations artificial intelligence.

Group 52 is engaged in cutting-edge research and development at the intersection of artificial intelligence and national security. The group's strategic vision and technical portfolio are organized into primary pillars including:

• AI Security: A critical and rapidly expanding focus on ensuring the robustness, resilience, and trustworthiness of AI and machine learning systems against adversarial threats. This includes developing methodologies to evaluate and counter AI vulnerabilities, defending against evasion and poisoning attacks, and ensuring ML systems operate securely and reliably in contested national security environments. Group 52 also operates the Laboratory’s AI red team and performs model evaluations up to the scale of leading foundation models.
• AI for Cyber Operations (AI-Cyber): Leveraging advanced artificial intelligence to enhance and scale cyber operations. This pillar focuses on applying machine learning to cyber and transaction analysis, automating threat detection and vulnerability assessment, and developing intelligent capabilities that support cyberspace operations with a focus on agentic techniques.
• Multimedia & Human Language Technologies (HLT): Maintaining a world-class, foundational portfolio in speech, text, image, and language processing. This includes automatic speech recognition, language and dialect identification, machine translation, cross-media recognition, entity and relationship extraction, and the analysis of social networks based on multi-modal information extraction (speech, text, video) including influence operations and information operations.
In each of the group’s R&D pillars, emphasis is placed on realistic data, rigorous experimental evaluation, and the transition of new capabilities to operational deployment. On a global scale, Group 52 leads research across these domains, maintaining a long-standing and extensive publication record and a history of international honors for its staff.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Vision and Strategy

• Define, lead, and execute the long-term strategic vision for the 70+ members of Group 52, ensuring alignment with Division 5 and Laboratory-wide objectives.
• Identify and shape strategically important vectors for internal investment, particularly in the rapidly evolving domain of AI Security. 
• Maintain deep awareness of changing national needs, adversary capabilities, and technology trends to inform strategic planning and program development.

2. External Relationships

• Develop and sustain strategic relationships with senior government and military leaders, including sponsors within the Intelligence Community, DoD, DARPA, and other key U.S. Government agencies.
• Engage with existing and new sponsor representatives to facilitate tight alignment to their technical needs and partner with their mission components to ensure we understand and are addressing their core operational needs as they evolve.
• Foster and facilitate high-impact academic relationships, maintaining strong collaborations with MIT campus and other university partners.
• Have and maintain relationships with the AI Frontier companies, the AI defense start-up ecosystem, and the prime/neo-prime defense contractors.
• Champion the Group’s scientific and academic presence on a global scale by promoting top-tier conference attendance, journal publishing, and technical community leadership.

3. Program Execution and Leadership

• Provide executive oversight for the execution of all programs within the Group’s portfolio, ensuring technical excellence, rigorous evaluation, and successful transition of prototypes to sponsors.
• Oversee the development of major program proposals, white papers, and statements of work, managing high-level staffing and financial plans in coordination with business administration teams.

4. Staff Development and Mentoring

• Provide leadership, mentorship, and guidance to the Group Office management team (Assistant and Associate Group Leaders) and senior technical staff.
• Champion and sustain Division and Laboratory people-and-culture initiatives that promote engagement, inclusion, collaboration, and organizational excellence.
• Oversee the recruitment, hiring, and retention of world-class technical talent in AI, computer science, and engineering disciplines.
• Evaluate staff performance, oversee career development, and execute succession planning within the Group.

5. Division and Laboratory Leadership

• Collaborate extensively across Division 5 to strengthen partnerships, build cross-domain coalitions, and lead multi-disciplinary initiatives with an emphasis on AI.
• Proactively manage the overall fiscal health, space planning, and resource allocation for the Group.

REQUIRED/DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• A Ph.D. in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, or a related discipline is highly desired. (An M.S. degree with significant, demonstrated experience and exceptional accomplishments will be considered).
• A minimum of 10 years of applicable technical experience, including a proven track record of progressively responsible leadership (e.g., serving as an Assistant/Associate Group Leader, Principal Investigator on major programs, or equivalent management roles for at least 4 years).
• Demonstrated technical excellence and industry/academic notoriety in Artificial Intelligence, AI Security, Cyber/Transaction Analysis, or related advanced HLT/multimedia systems.
• Strong strategic planning skills, with experience translating vision into execution through organizational alignment and scalable implementation.
• Proven success in mentoring and developing technical and leadership talent, and a demonstrated commitment to fostering a respectful, inclusive, and high-performing workplace culture.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including experience developing and delivering executive-level briefings to senior government decision-makers.

Hiring Range: $300,000 - $370,000

Disclaimer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a typical hiring range as a good faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to offer for this position at the time of posting. The final salary offered to a selected candidate will depend on various factors, including—but not limited to—the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate’s experience, skills and education/training, internal equity considerations and applicable legal requirements. This range reflects base salary only and does not include additional forms of compensation or benefits.

At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, our exceptional career opportunities include many outstanding benefits to help you stay healthy, feel supported, and enjoy a fulfilling work-life balance. Benefits offered to employees include: 

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
• MIT-funded pension
• Matching 401K
• Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)
• Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs
• Mentorship programs
• A range of work-life balance options
• ... and much more!

Please visit our Benefits page for more information. As an employee of MIT, you can also take advantage of other voluntary benefits, discounts and perks .

Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret level DoD security clearance.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.

Requisition ID: 43272 

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