Data Scientist in Manchester

At Ambition Institute, we believe that great teaching can transform lives, especially for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our Insights team plays a critical role in making that happen by turning complex data into decisions that improve programmes at scale. We’re looking for a Data Scientist who wants to go beyond analysis, to build systems, shape strategy, and see their work directly influence outcomes across education.

We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive. We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice. We champion every teacher and school leader’s potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

What you’ll be doing

• This is not a narrow modelling role. You’ll operate across the full data science lifecycle, owning problems end-to-end and delivering work that is both technically robust and practically useful.
• Build models that shape real-world decisions.
• Develop predictive and inferential models to understand what drives programme success and where we can improve.
• Apply statistical and machine learning techniques to large, complex datasets.
• Design and contribute to experimentation and evaluation approaches, including causal inference.
• Turn complex outputs into clear, actionable insights for senior leaders.
• Design systems that make insight scalable.
• Build and maintain data pipelines that support reliable, repeatable analysis.
• Work with cloud infrastructure (Azure) to process and store data at scale.
• Improve how data flows across the organisation, making it more accessible, consistent, and usable.
• Embed best practices in reproducibility, versioning, and automation.
• Work across teams to embed data-informed thinking.
• Partner with programme, product, and leadership teams to shape decisions.
• Translate technical work into narratives that influence strategy.
• Support and mentor analysts, contributing to a strong and collaborative data culture.
• Continuously improve how we work.
• Identify opportunities to automate, simplify, or strengthen existing processes.
• Contribute to shared standards in coding, documentation, and modelling.
• Help evolve our data systems as the organisation grows.

Working in a hybrid way, you’ll be attached to either our Birmingham, London or Manchester office and will report to Head of Data and Data Science. In line with our current ways of working, you’ll be expected to be in the office at least 1 day a month, in addition to team days and this may be reviewed by Ambition.

What makes someone effective in this role

• You don’t need to tick every box, but strong candidates tend to bring a combination of the following:
• Technical depth with practical application.
• Experience building statistical or machine learning models that answer real-world questions.
• Experience building AI‑led pipelines.
• Strong programming skills in Python or R, alongside solid SQL for working with complex datasets.
• Understanding of statistical inference (including Bayesian and frequentist approaches).
• Familiarity with cloud‑based data environments (e.g. Azure) and working in Linux/UNIX systems.
• Systems thinking.
• Experience working with data pipelines, data models, or production workflows.
• Awareness of data quality, validation, and reproducibility challenges, and how to solve them.
• Communication and influence.
• Ability to explain complex ideas clearly to non‑technical audiences.
• Confidence working with stakeholders to shape problems, not just solve them.
• Mindset.
• Curiosity and a drive to improve how things work.
• Comfort working independently and navigating ambiguity.
• Care for detail, especially when working with sensitive or high‑impact data.

Why this role is worth your time

• End‑to‑end ownership: You won’t be siloed, you’ll work across modelling, engineering, and decision‑making.
• Visible impact: Your work will directly influence programmes that support teachers and pupils across the country.
• Technical breadth: A rare opportunity to combine advanced analytics with modern data infrastructure.
• Mission‑driven work: Contribute to improving outcomes for children, particularly those facing disadvantage.
• Competitive annual salary.
• Professional development for all staff.
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays and ‘winter shut down’ at the end of December/beginning of January.
• Employer pension contribution of 11%.
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work.
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work.
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring.
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year’s service.
• Shared parental leave package.
• Access to free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line.
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London.
• Work‑from‑home technology package to support hybrid working.
• Interest free season ticket / bike loans.

Additional Qualities

• You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality.
• You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do.
• You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants.
• You always have a great attitude so we can do for all our colleagues, partners and participants.
• You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better.
• You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective.
• You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact.
• You want a career with a person‑centred organisation with a cause at its heart.
• You have a collaborative work ethos, bring warmth and good humour to work and constructive outlook to every situation.
• You enjoy working in a fast‑moving workplace, with a great support structure around you.
• You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time.
• Want flexibility in how you work – splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done.