Associate Data Scientist - Government Digital Service - SEO in Manchester

Location: London, Manchester

About The Job

Job summary

Please note, whilst this role is being recruited by GDS, it will sit within the Government Cyber Unit in central DSIT. The Government Cyber Unit's mission is to protect public services from cyber threats and digital resilience failures. We are working to achieve a step change in our cyber and digital resilience across government, through delivery of the Government Cyber Action Plan, and working closely with departments and national technical authorities including the National Cyber Security Centre to deliver.

This is a challenging time to be working in cyber security and digital resilience, but we have an incredible opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives and promote national security by protecting the public services and national infrastructure they rely on. We work at the forefront of shaping the UK’s national response to emerging cyber and technology issues – from the increasingly complex range of state-sponsored cyber-attacks and supply chain compromises, through to the transformational benefits and security challenges of frontier AI and quantum computing.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive working environment where people can learn, develop and do their best work. Continuous professional development and a focus on wellbeing is core to our unit culture. We welcome applications from candidates who share this ethos and are excited by our mission.

Job Description

The GCU is establishing a new Data and Insights function to strengthen decision‑making on cyber and digital resilience through coordinated analysis and providing strategic insight. This is a key role in an emerging team that will bring together data governance, analytics and insight product delivery to ensure data is trusted, accessible and effectively supporting the GCU to meet its commitments within the Government Cyber Action Plan (GCAP).

As a Data Scientist, you will deliver high-quality analysis and insights to support decision‑making on cyber risk and digital resilience. You will analyse complex datasets such as cyber assurance results, vulnerability data and incident reporting to identify systemic risks and emerging threats, helping shape how data is used across the GCU. You will bring strong analytical and data handling skills, enabling you to work with complex datasets with BI tools and in code. You will work with a multidisciplinary team to deliver insight products, particularly foundational work to establish baseline datasets and metrics, and cross‑cutting analysis that spans multiple services or data sources. Over time, you will contribute to a portfolio of sprint‑based projects working with a wide range of complex and sensitive datasets. This includes data on cyber assurance, vulnerabilities, incidents, and threats, as well as externally delivered analysis from other government departments, NCSC, industry and academia.

As An Associate Data Scientist You’ll:

• Produce analysis and data visualisations to deliver timely, actionable insights for government cyber stakeholders.
• Assure the quality of data analysis and outputs from other analysts, helping build review and validation processes.
• Deliver analysis within sprint‑based, multidisciplinary teams, collaborating with cyber and other data specialists.
• Support and help develop consistent analytical practices, including documentation, version control, reproducible analytical pipelines, and reuse of outputs.
• Translate complex analytical findings into clear narratives, recommendations and trade‑offs for senior leaders.
• Develop effective ways of sharing insights with departments, the wider public sector, UK CNI sectors and international partners.
• Work with data governance and product leads in the insights team to align analytical priorities, delivery and standards.
• Support and collaborate with other analysts, sharing knowledge and good practice (including potential future line management of one HEO data scientist).

The post holder may be required to support out of hours on call rotas for responding to cyber and digital resilience incidents, for which remuneration and/or flexible working arrangements will be available.

Person specification

We’re Interested In People Who Can:

• Deliver data science and insight products in time‑bound sprints to support decision‑making.
• Frame ambiguous problems into clear analytical hypotheses, defining what success looks like and how it will be measured.
• Apply appropriate statistical and data science techniques and methods to real‑world problems.
• Use code (SQL, Python, R) or BI tools to extract, transform, model and analyse data in a reproducible way.
• Create accessible data visualisations and dashboards to communicate findings effectively, using tools such as PowerBI, QuickSight, Plotly, and Shiny.
• Review data, methods, models and analysis to support quality, robustness and accuracy of outputs.
• Explain complex analytical findings, assumptions and limitations clearly to non‑technical audiences, including senior leaders.
• Work collaboratively with data engineers, data scientists and other technical specialists, and support knowledge sharing within the team and across analytical communities.