Lead Data Scientist

About us

CF is a leading consultancy dedicated to making a lasting impact on health and healthcare. We work with leaders and frontline teams to improve health, transform healthcare, embed life science innovation and boost growth through investment.

Our consultancy serves the entire healthcare sector, from healthcare systems and life sciences to health tech and sector suppliers. CF’s multi-disciplinary team provides end-to-end services, spanning strategy, finance, performance, organisational improvement, data and digital. We also create optimal policy conditions for healthcare advancements through evidence-based thought leadership, taking a proactive stance on key issues.

As an inclusive and values-driven organisation, we are committed to excellence and are honoured to have received multiple industry awards. With unmatched access to UK healthcare data and specialist data science expertise, our consultants are a driving force for delivering positive and meaningful change.

About the role

The Lead Data Scientist is a senior technical leader at CF, responsible for driving data science strategy and innovation in line with company goals. The Lead Data Scientist oversees the development and implementation of data-driven solutions that enhance our service offerings and ways of working. They apply evaluation approaches and ensure these solutions deliver quantifiable impact, drive efficiencies and optimise value for money for our clients and for CF. These solutions are required for our clients directly, for the management consulting team to leverage in their client service delivery, and for the corporate operations of the business. The Lead Data Scientist collaborates with clients, CF team members (both technical and non-technical), and partner organisations to understand requirements and develop highly effective solutions.

The Lead Data Scientist leads and manages technical components of blended projects, offering oversight, mentorship, and quality assurance to junior employees in the Data Innovation team. They proactively identify and solve challenges in client projects and corporate initiatives while supporting business development efforts relating to technical services. The Lead Data Scientist also contributes to proposal development, technical bid writing, and resource planning to drive business growth.

Being agile and unfazed by rapidly evolving and emerging priorities will be critical in this role as will being open to new ideas and entrepreneurial to enable CF to grow and capitalise on new opportunities.

As a senior member of the CF team, clear communication and strong interpersonal skills are essential, role modelling the leadership behaviours we are committed to at every level of the company. When working with colleagues in CF, clients, suppliers, and people seeking to engage CF, professionalism, kindness, diplomacy and professionalism are essential qualities.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities and duties of the role will include, but are not limited to:

Data Strategy and Innovation

• Work with the Data Innovation Team to develop and implement data science solutions that align with CF’s corporate strategy.
• Identify and apply emerging technologies, such as AI and machine learning, to enhance our consulting services and drive business growth.
• Collaborate with clients to understand their data challenges and develop innovative solutions to address their needs.
• Stay ahead of healthcare sector trends and leverage data to provide insights that support strategic decision-making.

Technical Development and Implementation

• Develop and deploy advanced analytics models, including machine learning algorithms and statistical techniques, to solve complex healthcare challenges.
• Ensure the robustness, scalability, and accuracy of data models and solutions.
• Work with data engineers to design and maintain scalable data pipelines and infrastructure.
• Develop and maintain data visualisation tools to communicate insights effectively to non-technical stakeholders.

Business Development

• Support business development activities by providing data-driven insights and contributing to proposals and client pitches.
• Work with Partners and consultants to identify opportunities where data science can add value to our clients.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including clients and industry partners, to advance CF’s data capabilities.

Data Operations and Governance

• Ensure compliance with data governance policies and industry regulations, including GDPR and healthcare-specific standards.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of data management processes and best practices.
• Work alongside the information governance team to ensure safe and ethical use of healthcare data.

Team Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing

• Collaborate with consulting and technical teams to integrate data science into client projects effectively.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to junior data scientists, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Share knowledge and insights across CF through presentations, workshops, and thought leadership initiatives.

Requirements

To be successful in this role, you should have a combination of the following skills and experiences:

Mandatory:

• Experience of containerisation and cloud deployment of models and software.
• Knowledge and understanding of data privacy issues and requirements to enable data access.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team.
• You actively share your knowledge and seek opportunities to teach others.
• Able to translate business problems into technical solutions and synthesise outputs in client-friendly language and visualisations.
• Proficient in Python and an excellent command of the standard algorithmic and statistical toolkit for data science.
• The knowledge of when to deploy a particular approach given the constraints of time, data, team, and technical complexity.
• Experience using cloud services and containerisation.
• Proficiency using relational database systems.
• Excellent understanding of statistics.

Preferred:

• Experience working in healthcare or life sciences consulting.
• Familiarity with healthcare data sources, standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Knowledge of natural language processing and AI techniques.
• Experience with big data technologies and frameworks.

Flexible Working

We embrace a hybrid working model, combining the best of remote and in-person collaboration. Our DI team are together in-person at least four days a week with flexibility to be in the office between our core hours of 10-4pm. Our default approach is to be in-person with our clients.

In addition, up to four weeks a year each member of staff can work entirely virtually.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to building an inclusive and supportive culture where diversity thrives, and all our people can excel. We only recruit, promote, and reward our people based on their skills and contributions, without regard to gender, race, disability, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or other characteristics.

We are Disability Confident Accredited, and we want you to feel comfortable and able to perform at your best during the recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments, please let us know.

• Holiday entitlement: 25 days/year for staff and 30 days/year for leadership increasing by 1 day for every year of service up to a maximum of 35 days of holiday per year.

• We contribute 7% of your salary into your pension, while you contribute 3% (or more if you like).
• Access to a flexible benefits programme giving you the chance to increase pension contributions, gain access to a cash plan or benefit from a ClassPass subscription.
• Annual leave purchase: employees with less than 35 days annual leave entitlement are able to purchase additional annual leave days.
• Income protection: in the event of long-term incapacity and a qualifying claim, 75% of salary will be paid.
• Enhanced sick pay benefit beyond Statutory Sick Pay for up to a total of 12 weeks in any 12-month period.
• Life insurance covering four times your basic salary in a tax-free lump sum payable to your beneficiaries in the event of your death whilst in service.
• Enhanced family leave policies: additional pay for parents who have a baby or adopt.
• Access to an interest-free loan of up to £10,000.
• Access to an interest-free season ticket loan, repayable by 12 monthly instalments.
• Workplace nursery scheme: access to a scheme to help working parents save tax and NI on the cost of nursery care.
• Flexible working policy: including the ability to work fully remotely for up to 4 weeks a year.
• An employee assistance and wellness program: including access to telephone counselling, life coaching, interactive tools online and digital content downloadable from Lifeworks.
• Seasonal flu jabs: provided by Boots annually.
• Eye care tests: vouchers and discounts at Vision Express.
• Ride to work scheme, saving up to 42% on bikes and cycling accessories at Evans Cycles.
• Membership to the Health Service Journal (HSJ).

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