Data Science Jobs

We are recruiting for a Junior Data Scientist

About the Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet.

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation.

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk .ge millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk .

The role

Nesta’s Data Science Practice is looking for a Junior Data Scientist to work on projects that will benefit the Nesta group by advancing our Data Science capabilities across Nesta and BIT. The role holder will be part of our core team within the Data Science Practice, contributing to projects that serve Nesta’s missions. From time to time, the post holder may also work on projects with BIT.

Our work is highly varied, and could include training a model for a web application or using novel data science techniques to answer questions and build knowledge to change policy. This role offers the opportunity to play a role in designing and delivering data science projects for public good. If you have a strong background working with data and are motivated by deploying creative data science solutions, as well as contributing to real-world outcomes for public benefit, then this is the role for you.

As a Junior Data Scientist you will:

• Deliver data-driven projects that advance Nesta’s missions, ranging from research and analysis to model development
• Assist in designing, scoping and delivering projects with the support of technical colleagues, domain experts and practitioners from other disciplines
• Communicate outputs of your work to a wide range of internal and external audiences
• Collaborate with the Data Engineering team to realise impactful projects
• Help the Practice to stay at the cutting edge by keeping abreast of new techniques and developments in the field and seeking ways to use them

Skills and Qualifications

Essential

• A Bachelor or Masters qualification in a relevant quantitative discipline

Or

• At least one year of data science experience in industry or the public/third sector

Plus:

• Experience programming in Python
• Advanced analytical skills. Ideally you will have some proficiency with machine learning methods, but other experience is also valued (see Desirable skills below)
  (N.B. We will provide opportunities to build up your knowledge of ML methods)
• Willingness to be an active team member who collaborates with others and contributes to strengthening team connections
• Ability to design data science approaches that will solve problems and answer questions
• Ability to make decisions and prioritise tasks to keep projects on track and ensure outputs are of a high quality
• Ability to communicate with technical and non-technical stakeholders, with evidence of clear and structured written outputs such as blogs, reports or papers

Desirable

• Experience in statistical methods, such as experimental data analysis, statistical explanatory modelling or causal inference
• Experience programming in R
• Domain knowledge in one of Nesta’s three missions
• Experience using Git and GitHub (or equivalent) for version control
• Awareness of data engineering methods such as scalable data collection (e.g. APIs, web-scraping) or database management systems (SQL or NoSQL)

The person

We are interested in people with a variety of backgrounds. For example, you may have recently acquired a qualification in a quantitative field (with a data science component) and you’re now looking to apply and expand your knowledge. Alternatively, you may be working in an analytical role (where you dabble in data science) and you are now looking to transition into a full-time data science position.

The Team

The post holder will work within Nesta’s Data Science Practice. Projects may involve various parts of the data pipeline, from data collection and processing to modelling to visualisation. You will have access to the skills and capabilities of the whole Data Science Practice, including data engineering, to deliver projects.

We employ a wide range of methods in our work, ranging from machine learning, to natural language processing, to network science. We are curious about new methods and creative when it comes to combining approaches to achieve our goals. We also work closely with other teams at Nesta who have specialisations in other quantitative, qualitative and creative methods.

As well as providing data science solutions, we think critically about data for social impact. This consists of thinking about who is affected when designing a project and how, assessing the tradeoffs between short and long term project outcomes and the values that are promoted through our work.

Learning and development is a high priority in the team. There are opportunities for collaborative and individual learning available both inside and outside the organisation covering data science and beyond.

What we offer

Salary: £35k-£48k (offers are expected to be made towards the bottom of the band) plus array of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more

Location: This role can be based in London or Edinburgh, and all of our employees work in a hybrid model.

Term: Fixed-term contract (2 years)

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Reports to: Director of Data Science

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 8:00am on 27th of October 2023 . Please submit a CV and answer the questions on Applied.

Please note that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. As such, we recommend candidates to apply as early as possible.

We will aim to get back to applicants within one week of their application. Successful candidates will be invited to a first round interview. If successful, this will be followed by a short technical task and a second round interview.

Interviews will take place w/c 6th November 2023 , although early applicants may be invited to interview before this date.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results.

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.