Lead Specialist, Data Scientist

About Pearson
At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. Every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. That’s why our ~17,000 employees are committed to creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact. We are the world’s lifelong learning company, serving customers in nearly 200 countries with digital content, assessments, qualifications, and data. For us, learning isn’t just what we do - it’s who we are.

About the Innovation Team
The Innovation Team drives transformation by creating new products and services that improve learning outcomes for students, educators, and parents. We combine cutting-edge technology (including AI), Pearson’s unique data and content, and our diverse skillset to deliver deeper insights and personalized learning experiences. Our culture is built on curiosity, collaboration, courage, and a customer-centric approach. We value open-mindedness, teamwork across departments, smart risk-taking, and a relentless focus on solving real customer problems. Experimentation, agility, versatility, and clear communication are at the heart of how we work.

Success for us means rapidly shaping and implementing solutions that address validated customer needs, learning and growing with each project cycle, and delivering measurable impact for Pearson’s business objectives. We are committed to supporting each other, acting with integrity, and keeping learners at the centre of everything we do.

You will be part of a small, growing team (currently 5 people) reporting into the team manager for Innovation, focused on driving innovation in the Assessments & Qualifications area of our business. Your work will primarily involve identifying ways to address customer needs and market demands through new technologies, including AI. We support both General and Vocational qualifications and aim to enhance our teaching and learning product offerings (including Active Hub and Revise Online). The team is a mix of developers, Product/Strategy Managers, a UX/Product Designer, and a Content specialist. This is a unique opportunity to join a collaborative, agile team shaping the future of learning at Pearson.

Role Description
As a Data Scientist at Pearson, you will interpret data to uncover trends and patterns, transforming raw data into actionable insights both for internal stakeholders and to form basis for customer-facing solutions. You will create clear visual representations, such as charts and graphs, and clickable prototypes to communicate findings to stakeholders effectively. Your insights will enable data-driven decision-making that aligns with strategic goals and form the basis of product features that will end up in customers’ hands. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure analysis drives meaningful business actions and contributes to innovation in learning solutions.

Required Skills & Proficiencies

• Strong experience in Data Analysis and Data Engineering
• Proficiency in Machine Learning concepts and techniques, including model evaluation and optimization
• Advanced Python programming skills
• Solid understanding of statistical analysis and core statistics
• Ability to design, train, and evaluate models for real-world scenarios
• Strong prototyping skills, with the ability to visualize and present models in a way that demonstrates practical value for customers
• Familiarity with front-end development using a web-app framework such as Dash/Streamlit is desirable
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and storytelling skills, including the ability to clearly explain how models work and the value they bring to stakeholders
• Knowledge of or strong interest in Generative AI, including Large Language Models (LLMs) and their applications in education
• Familiarity with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques
• Passion for education, learning, and innovation

The Data Science role within the Innovation team
As a Data Scientist in the Innovation Team, you will transform complex educational data into actionable insights and produce simple prototypes underpinned by trained models that demonstrate how these insights can power customer-facing products. You will analyse patterns in teacher and student performance data, design predictive models, and create interactive prototypes that showcase potential product features. Your work will bridge data science and product innovation, enabling stakeholders to understand and experience the value of data-driven solutions. Collaboration with cross-functional teams and clear communication skills will be key to ensure your prototypes inform strategic decisions and inspire future learning product features.

This role is for someone who...

• Is keen to continuously improve and learn, able to identify and create real-time, iterative solutions to customer and business problems.
• Has/is keen to develop knowledge of business and product strategies, bringing digital mindset and data scientist experience to bear in solving challenges and capturing opportunities.
• Acts as a member of cross-functional teams with minimal guidance and partners closely with internal stakeholders.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.