Senior Data Scientist in Manchester

Salary: £46,062 plus an additional skills allowance of up to £11,338 pending assessment

Location: Croydon | Manchester | Sheffield (hybrid with 60% office attendance)

Close Date: 11:55pm Thursday 5th February

Home Office Digital designs, builds and develops services for the rest of the department and for government. Every year our systems support up to 3 million visa applications, checks on 100 million border crossings, up to 8 million passport applications and deliver 140 million police checks on people, vehicles and property.

Senior Data Scientists provide technical advice and guidance to project teams, specialising in various Data Science areas within government. You’ll work on high-profile projects, engaging with senior stakeholders to promote the value of Data Science. With expertise in advanced techniques, you’ll contribute to the wider Data Science community and mentor junior staff, fostering their development and ensuring best practices are followed across projects.

You’ll get to work with some of the largest and most varied datasets around, and benefit from a wealth of continuous professional development resources and career opportunities. You’ll play a key role in delivering joined-up, intelligent services that unlock the value from data and deliver better outcomes for the UK.

As a Senior Data Scientist, you will be a recognised authority on a number of data science specialisms within government, with some knowledge of cutting-edge techniques. You will be challenged to undertake work in our Automation Centre on delivering AI at scale, supporting the roll out of emerging AI technology and products to help automate and streamline processes for teams across the Home Office.

Main responsibilities

• Developing knowledge of cutting-edge techniques and sharing knowledge of data science within the Data Science team.
• Creating data science products which are proportionate to the business benefit and achieve significant impact.
• Presenting analysis and visualisations in a clear way to communicate complex messages to technical and non-technical audiences outside of the Data Science team.
• Supporting the evolution of data governance and ensuring that both project teams and users of the products apply core Data Science ethical frameworks in their business area.
• Designing, coding, testing, correcting and documenting moderate to complex programmes and scripts from agreed specifications and subsequent iterations, using agreed standards and tools.
• Working with data engineers to map, produce, transform and test new data feeds for data owners and consumers, selecting the most appropriate tools and techniques.

Essential skills

• Proficiency in Python or R and in version control (Git).
• Cloud Platform experience (Azure, AWS).
• A deep understanding of a range of Data Science techniques and the ability to apply them effectively.
• Proven ability to work within multi-disciplinary teams, (e.g. engineers, architects).
• Ability to clearly communicate complex analyses to both technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring impact and understanding.
• Track record of identifying opportunities for innovation and actively sharing knowledge and best practices with colleagues.

A civil service pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%. In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements. The ability to potentially adopt flexible working options that suit your work/life balance, plus the opportunity in future to take a career break. 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service. Eight days public holidays, plus one additional privilege day. 26 weeks maternity, adoption or shared parental leave at full pay, followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks’ unpaid, after qualifying service. Maternity and adoption support leave (also known as paternity leave) of two weeks full pay, after qualifying service. Paid leave for fostering approval processes, support when a child is substantively placed with you plus a foster to adopt policy. Support for guardians and kinship carers. Corporate membership of ‘Employers for Carers’ providing additional information and advice for carers, plus a ‘Carer’s Passport’ to discuss workplace needs and underpin supportive conversations. Time off to deal with emergencies and certain other unplanned special circumstances.