Senior Data Scientist

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Data Scientist to work at the forefront of artificial intelligence and machine learning, delivering high-impact digital solutions that contribute to the safety and security of the UK.This role sits within a specialist AI and data science team supporting a range of government and national security clients. The team delivers work across defence, space and public sector organisations, spanning exploratory research, advanced analytics, bespoke AI solutions and large-scale data platforms operating on complex and sensitive datasets.The RoleThe Senior Data Scientist position offers significant variety and challenge. The successful candidate will work with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, applying advanced AI, machine learning and statistical techniques across diverse data types, including text, images, audio, video, graphs, time-series and geospatial data.Responsibilities will include shaping future AI initiatives with customers, researching and evaluating emerging AI approaches, and delivering robust, production-ready solutions. The role combines hands-on technical delivery with customer engagement, thought leadership and mentoring.Key ResponsibilitiesActing as a senior technical authority for AI and data science, contributing expertise across projects, bids and stakeholder discussionsLeading and delivering complex machine learning and AI projects in collaboration with ML engineers, delivery teams and customersEngaging with users to define requirements, scope AI use cases and develop realistic delivery plansSupporting the design, development and deployment of models within AWS cloud environmentsContributing to written proposals and bid responses, including research into relevant academic and industry literaturePresenting technical findings and insights to internal teams and external stakeholdersMentoring junior data scientists and graduates, supporting capability growthPromoting AI knowledge across multidisciplinary teams and representing the organisation through blogs, events and conferencesAbout the CandidateThe ideal candidate will demonstrate strong depth and breadth across data science, AI and machine learning, alongside the ability to translate complex technical concepts into practical, business-focused outcomes.Essential experience includes:Degree (BSc, MSc or PhD) in a quantitative or scientific discipline such as computer science, mathematics, physics or engineeringSeveral years’ experience working as a Data Scientist or in a closely related roleExpert knowledge of machine learning, AI and statistical methods, applied across domains such as NLP, computer vision, audio, graphs, time-series or tabular dataStrong Python skills and experience with common libraries (e.g. pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, PyTorch, Transformers, statsmodels, PyMC)Understanding of software engineering and ML best practices, including version control, packaging and model deploymentExperience training and deploying models using cloud platforms, particularly AWSAbility to communicate complex ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiencesCommitment to high-quality, ethical and robust scientific workAwareness of ethical, privacy, security and policy considerations in applied AIDesirable ExperienceHands-on experience with AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, S3, SageMaker or BedrockKnowledge of ML engineering and MLOps practices (e.g. Docker, MLflow)Experience working in government, defence or other highly regulated environmentsProven application of large language models (LLMs) to real-world problemsSecurity ClearanceThis role requires UK Security Clearance. Applicants must either already hold clearance or be eligible and willing to undergo the vetting process.