Human + AI. The sovereign builder model. 5-person founding pod + 15 hires Year 1 + 33-agent BFT council.
Build the UK's first sovereign, open-source, multi-domain defence AI operating system. Ship in 100 days. Pitch the MOD. Win the first contract.
One human visionary + autonomous AI swarm. The human sets direction. The AI executes, audits, improves. 24/7. Provably. With Ed25519 SIGIL receipts.
SC clearance target for all founding pod. Cyber Essentials Plus. JSP 936 compliant. SC→ DV via partner labs (Dstl).
5-person pod → 15 hires Y1 → 50 hires Y2. 4 engineering + 3 sales + 2 ops + 2 security + 4 research. Functional org chart.
Founder, Executive Director & CSOAI Ltd (UK 16939677)
Visionary behind DEFONEOS. 26-domain business portfolio. Domiciliary eye care entrepreneur (Templeman Opticians, 20+ years). Founder of NetworkNick.co.uk (social media agency) and COBOLBridge.ai (legacy modernisation consulting). Driving the UK's sovereign defence AI from concept to first MOD contract in 100 days — leveraging 25+ years of independent operator experience across healthcare, finance, and government contracts.
Why DEFONEOS: After watching Helion/Anduril/Palantir consolidate Western defence AI under US ownership, Nick decided the UK needs its own sovereign, open-source alternative. Open source isn't charity — it's the only durable way to defeat vendor lock-in for allied nations.
Strategic Commander · AI Agent Persona · Hermes / Nous Research
The strategic brain of the build. Diplomatic, systems-oriented, executive-level perspective. Reads the AGENTS.md board, claims work, executes sprints, emits SIGIL receipts, releases. Coordinates across all hives, agents, and platforms — Kimi for research, Claude for code, Hermes for orchestration.
Engine codename: Internal only. Buyer-facing: "DEFONEOS autonomous fleet."
Sovereign AI Substrate · Public API at fm.csoai.org/v1
The AI core. 188+ tools. 14 neural models (Mamba-2 SSD + Mamba-3 SSM + MoE + BFT council + OLM learner). Runs on M4 + M2 + GCP VM. Learns every 5 minutes without human intervention. Signs every decision with Ed25519. The brain the team reasons with.
Autonomous AI Nodes · Spawn Worms, Hornets, Dragonflies, Killer Bees
33 autonomous AI nodes. Each with domain specialty. Spawn specialised agents (worms scan ports, hornets strike, dragonflies recon, bees swarm). Communicate via SIGIL pheromones — environmental markers that persist after the agent leaves. Form the BFT council (22-of-33 quorum).
Research Subagent · 596 files · 41 MB
The deep research engine. Built the tunnel architecture, pheromone SIGIL system, frequency→intuition research. Continuously mines open-source defence AI repos, NIST/ENISA publications, EuroStack documents, and academic papers for sovereign patterns.
| Role | Count | Salary | Cleared? |
|---|---|---|---|
| VP Engineering | 1 | £180K | SC → DV |
| Head of Defence (ex-MOD) | 1 | £160K | SC |
| Head of Compliance (ex-IASME) | 1 | £140K | SC |
| VP Sales (MOD procurement exp.) | 1 | £150K + comm | SC |
| AI/ML Engineer (senior) | 6 | £110K-£140K | SC target |
| Full-Stack Engineer | 4 | £85K-£110K | — |
| DevOps / SRE | 3 | £95K-£125K | SC preferred |
| Security Engineer | 2 | £100K-£130K | SC mandatory |
| Compliance Officer | 2 | £70K-£95K | SC preferred |
| BD / MOD Liaison | 2 | £70K base + £30K comm | SC mandatory |
| Account Executive | 1 | £60K + £40K comm | — |
| Operations / Office Manager | 2 | £50K-£70K | — |
| TOTAL YEAR 1 | 26 | £2.4M |
Ex-FAANG or defence-engineering background. Hands-on with distributed systems, Rust/Go, AI/ML inference. Experience scaling teams from 5 → 50. SC willing.
Ex-MOD (rank Major-Lt Col or SCS equivalent). Understanding of JSP 936, DEFCON procurement, capability requirements. Network in Dstl/DSTG/DISA. SC cleared.
PyTorch + JAX. Multi-modal (text+image+geo+time-series). Experience with Mamba or other SSMs a plus. UK-based, remote-first.
Cyber Essentials Plus, ISO 42001, SOC 2 Type II, JSP 936. Experience with defence/government audits. SC preferred.
NATO procurement experience. STO/DIANA connections. Willing to travel. SC mandatory.
Defence domain expertise. Understanding of MOD procurement, operational requirements, military culture. SC/DV clearance preferred. Quarterly commitment + 1 board day/quarter.
Technical defence science background. Understanding of Dstl R&D priorities, testing methodologies, TRL 1-9, capability roadmap. SC essential.
NATO science & technology experience. Understanding of NATO interoperability standards (STANAG 4586, 4609), CMRE programmes, multi-nation collaborative research. CMRE connections.
Experience scaling deep-tech / defence companies from Series A to IPO. UK/EU defence and security investment ecosystem. Helsing/Anduril/Lattice exit experience a plus.
PQC implementation (ML-KEM-768, ML-DSA-65). NIST FIPS 203 / 204 / 205 compliance experience. UK National Quantum Technologies Programme connections.
Trilateral US/UK/AU collaboration experience. AI, autonomy, quantum integration. Australian or American with UK nexus.
The 33-hive BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerant) council is DEFONEOS's autonomous governance layer. Hive leaders vote 22-of-33 quorum on every escalation decision (any action above confidence 0.85). This prevents any single AI agent from taking unauthorized action — including against its own creator.
| Hive Cluster | Specialty | Hives | Voting weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensor & Data | Sentinel, ONS, Companies House, GDELT | 6 | Equal × 1 |
| Domain Engines | Land, Sea, Air, Space, Cyber, EW, Underground, Cognitive, Bio, Quantum, Arctic, Urban | 12 | Equal × 1 |
| Compliance & Audit | JSP 936, OWASP ASI, C2PA, ISO 42001 | 4 | Equal × 1.2 (veto-capable) |
| Defence Operations | C2 (TAK), Swarm (Mava), ISR, FreeTAK | 4 | Equal × 1.5 (operations weight) |
| Strategic Layer | SOV3 core, JEEVES, OLM, Intuition Engine | 4 | Equal × 2 (strategic weight) |
| External Counsel | Human observers (Nick + 3 NEDs) | 3 | Equal × 3 (final veto) |
We're hiring. UK-based, remote-first within UK, SC clearance a major plus. Apply via careers@csoai.org or LinkedIn.
5 senior+ engineers Y1. AI/ML, full-stack, DevOps, security. £85K-£180K + 0.1-1.5% equity.
2 ex-MOD operators. Operational understanding + JSP 936. £120K-£160K + equity.
2 compliance specialists. CE+, ISO 42001, SOC 2, JSP 936. £70K-£110K.
3 sales + BD. MOD procurement, NATO DIANA, AUKUS Pillar II. £70K base + comm.
2 ops. London office, finance, legal, HR. £50K-£80K.
5 advisors sought. Major-General, Dstl scientist, NATO STO, deep-tech investor, quantum expert.