Associate Director of Data Science

Office location: Cambridgeshire, UK – This position offers flexible working options, including predominantly remote work. However, applicants should be based (or be willing to relocate) within a comfortable commuting distance of our office to attend onsite as required. Are you an experienced data scientist who loves building models that make a real impact, and is ready to lead and grow a talented team? As Associate Director of Data Science at Jagex, you'll lead a team of data scientists, setting their direction and supporting their development, while continuing to build and own models yourself. Working closely with senior stakeholders across Player Support, Marketing, Analytics, and our Game Teams, you'll develop the algorithms and models that power our business and help shape the experience of millions of RuneScape players. This is an exciting opportunity to combine hands‑on delivery with team leadership, owning our MLOps practice and making sure the models we build are deployed, monitored, and maintained reliably once they're live. What you’ll be doing: Lead a team of data scientists, setting direction, managing workload, and supporting their growth and development. Build and own data science models that support teams across the business. Lead the exploration of new business areas and data science models that can be embedded within the business, drawing on both industry developments and internal use cases. Own the team's MLOps practice, including model deployment, monitoring, versioning, and retraining pipelines, working closely with Data Engineering. Lead the delivery of data science initiatives from ideation through to production. Act as the day‑to‑day point of contact for Player Support, Marketing, Analytics, and the Game Teams on all things data science. Coach and mentor data scientists on both technical delivery and stakeholder management. Stay current with the latest data science and MLOps tooling and practice, bringing that knowledge into the team. What we’re looking for: Significant experience applying data science to complex commercial, product, or player‑facing problems. Strong practical knowledge of statistical methods, predictive modelling, and machine learning, including evaluating model performance. Hands‑on experience with MLOps in a production environment, including model deployment, monitoring, versioning, and retraining. Experience leading or mentoring data scientists, with evidence of coaching and workload management. A track record of taking analytical or modelling work from exploration through to live, adopted use. Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience working directly with senior, non‑technical stakeholders. Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate technical work into plain language for business audiences. What we offer: When you join Jagex you can look forward to a generous Perks We Honour our Vows by being honest and transparent; We are our Customers’ Heroes by striving to understand our team