Data Scientist

This hands‑on, production‑focused role involves contributing to the full lifecycle of data science—building data pipelines, generating insights, and supporting live systems. You will work alongside experienced data scientists, software engineers, and product managers, and receive structured support as you grow confidence in production environments.

In the first year, you will develop and maintain data pipelines, support existing digital products, and contribute to short‑term projects that provide data‑focused support to non‑technical teams. Over time, you will take increasing ownership of data‑science backlogs, deploy and manage changes safely, and continue collaborating across the team. This role suits someone who enjoys solving real‑world problems with data, is comfortable with a range of technical tasks, and is interested in how emerging AI tools can transform data science.

Join a small multidisciplinary team that bridges data science, data engineering, and software development. The team collaborates with product managers and stakeholders across the public sector (NHS, central government, voluntary sector). Modern development practices—version control, code review, CI/CD—ensure robust, tested, and safe production deployments. As an early‑career member you will receive ongoing support while working on real operational systems. Given the team’s size, you will have opportunities to contribute to new techniques and rapidly evolving AI developments.

• Build and extend data pipelines using Python following established templates and patterns.
• Contribute to ingestion, transformation, and validation of data within a shared platform.
• Support ongoing improvement of pipeline performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Participate in a collaborative development process using GitHub, including code reviews and version control.
• Write clear, maintainable, tested, and well‑documented Python code suitable for production.
• Support testing and deployment within established CI/CD processes.
• Assist short‑term data projects, helping non‑technical teams integrate data into solutions.
• Clean, analyse, and interpret data to generate insights for stakeholders.
• Develop dashboards and visualisations (e.g., Power BI) to communicate findings clearly.
• Respond to client user requests, such as queries about data outputs.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand requirements and improve existing products.
• Stay informed about data science and AI developments and explore opportunities for improvement.

• Experience with Python for data analysis or processing, including libraries such as pandas or NumPy.
• Understanding of data‑analysis workflows—cleaning, transformation, exploratory analysis.
• Motivation to develop skills with production data systems and modern development practices.
• Strong communication skills, able to convey technical and non‑technical concepts.
• Experience with data pipelines or ETL processes.
• Familiarity with version control (Git) and collaborative workflows.
• Exposure to CI/CD and deployment to production.
• Experience creating data visualisations or dashboards (Power BI, Tableau).
• Basic understanding of web applications or frameworks (Django).
• Previous experience working on real‑world data projects.

• Strong problem‑solving skills, attention to detail, and willingness to debug.
• Comfortable working as part of a team, receptive to feedback.
• Interest in emerging AI approaches, e.g., LLMs or workflow automation.

Social Finance is an ambitious not‑for‑profit organisation that designs, funds, and scales solutions to complex social problems. Working in partnership with local and national governments, funders, communities, and the social sector, we tackle challenges such as homelessness, domestic abuse, child services, health, employment, and skills.

We believe in curiosity, empathy, and pioneering spirit to create lasting change.

The fixed salary for this position is £40,000 per annum. In addition to pay, you will be part of a mission‑driven culture, collaborative environment, and opportunities for training and career progression.

We actively encourage applications from under‑represented and minoritised groups, including those with lived experience of the social issues we address. We are an equal opportunities employer.

Flexible working options are available. We welcome UK‑based applications from outside London or the South East if they can meet in‑person meeting requirements. Secondments and part‑time work are also accommodated.

Closing date for applications: Thursday 8 July 2026, 5pm.