Senior Data Scientist

Location: Bristol, occasional travel to customer and Leidos sites may be required.

We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist to join us on a permanent basis. You will apply advanced analytical, statistical, and machine‑learning techniques to support major UK Government programmes and the wider enterprise, working across multidisciplinary teams throughout the UK.

You will collaborate with delivery managers, engineers, architects, and customer stakeholders to design, develop, and operationalise data‑driven solutions that deliver meaningful impact. This role offers the opportunity to deepen your expertise, contribute to high‑value projects, and help shape the analytical capability within one of the strongest teams in the business.

Your Responsibilities Will Include:

• Designing, developing, and validating statistical models and machine‑learning solutions
• Conducting exploratory data analysis and feature engineering to uncover insights and support decision‑making
• Working closely with data engineers to ensure high‑quality, scalable data pipelines for modelling
• Translating analytical findings into clear, actionable recommendations for technical and non‑technical audiences
• Supporting the development of analytical roadmaps, risk identification, and mitigation planning
• Contributing to the operationalisation and monitoring of models in production environments
• Evaluating emerging tools, frameworks, and methodologies to enhance analytical capability
• Providing guidance and informal mentorship to junior data scientists and analysts
• Ensuring responsible, ethical, and secure use of data and AI

Required Skills:

• Experience in data science, machine learning, or applied analytics
• Strong proficiency in Python and common ML libraries (pandas, NumPy, scikit‑learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch)
• Experience designing, training, and evaluating machine‑learning models
• Solid understanding of statistical methods, predictive modelling, and experimental design
• Experience working with large or complex datasets, including data cleansing and feature engineering
• Ability to communicate analytical concepts clearly to non‑technical stakeholders
• Experience working in an agile delivery environment
• Strong problem‑solving skills and attention to detail

Desired Skills:

• Experience with cloud‑based ML services (AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, Databricks)
• Familiarity with MLOps practices and model lifecycle management
• Experience with NLP, deep learning, or computer vision
• Knowledge of data visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau)
• Exposure to big‑data technologies (Spark, Hadoop)
• AWS certifications
• Experience supporting government or highly regulated environments

Clearance Requirements:

• Clearance to Start BPSS
• Clearance for Role SC
• Applicants must have (or be able to obtain) SC clearance

Commitment to Diversity:

We welcome applications from every part of the community and are committed to a truly diverse and inclusive culture. We foster a sense of belonging, welcoming all perspectives and contributions, and providing equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone.

What we do for you:

At Leidos we are PASSIONATE about customer success, UNITED as a team and INSPIRED to make a difference. We offer meaningful and engaging careers, a collaborative culture, and support for your career goals, all while nurturing a healthy work-life balance.

We provide an employment package that attracts, develops and retains only the best in talent. Our reward scheme includes:

• Contributory Pension Scheme
• Private Medical Insurance
• 33 days Annual Leave (including public and privilege holidays)
• Access to Flexible benefits (including life assurance, health schemes, gym memberships, annual buy and sell holidays and a cycle to work scheme)
• Flexible Working Scheme

Who We Are:

The Logistics Commodities & Services Transformation (LCST) Programme for the UK Ministry of Defence is a critical effort to enhance and improve the UK's defence supply chain. The programme provides essential services such as storage and distribution for the MOD's materiel, including a global freight service and the procurement and inventory management of 70,000 commodity NATO Stock Number (NSNs).

Working together as Team Leidos we are helping to transform the UK's defence supply chain by providing an integration of a complex mixture of services, at low risk, using a modern suite of systems that will deliver one version of the truth.

What Makes Us Different:

• Purpose: you can use your passion and abilities at Leidos to keep the people you care about safe.
• Collaboration: having flexibility to do your job is one of our core benefits, enabling you to become part of our extraordinary team.
• People: Leidos empowers people from every background to be themselves and gives you the tools to learn new skills by enabling growth whilst developing.