Data Scientist

at  Government Office for Science

JOB SUMMARY

The Government Office for Science works at the heart of Government, ensuring policies and decisions are informed by the best scientific evidence and strategic long-term thinking. It’s an exciting time to join the organisation; we have outstanding and high-profile positions providing you an opportunity to inform and influence policy-making and the systems for use of science and engineering across government. If you are highly motivated and looking for your next career challenge we want to hear from you.

OUR MISSION IS:

• Science advice mechanisms that are efficient, effective, speak truth to power and are embedded irreversibly in Government systems.
• Visible impact through both pro-active and demand-led science advice that is relevant, excellent, and delivered fit for purpose.
  Further information can be found here:
  https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-office-for-science
  We strongly believe diversity of experience, thought, perspectives, skills, and background makes us a more innovative, welcoming Department, thus making better decisions and better delivering our objectives. We are actively seeking applications from every part of the community and particularly welcome applications from candidates of any age, background, disability, or from an ethnic minority background and any other protected characteristics. This will help us move to a workforce that reflects the people we serve to deliver better policies.
  We are a friendly, inclusive team and emphasise personal development. We will ensure individuals with disabilities are provided adjustments to participate in the job application and interview process. We support your wellbeing by putting flexible working at the heart of our offer.; if successful, you will be able to discuss working arrangements with your new manager.
  We maintain an internal surge capability of staff who may be called at short notice to support an activation of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). Training and support will be provided. This is an excellent opportunity to develop crisis management skills.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This data scientist role sits within our Technology Insights, Futures and Foresight (TIFF) team. Our team is diverse, inclusive and focused on individual wellbeing. We are proud to support lots of different working patterns, locations and learning and development activity. We are a multidisciplinary team of analysts, data scientists, scientists, economists, and policy professionals.
The team’s purpose is to provide high quality, independent evidence to inform strategic decisions on science and technology. We undertake horizon scanning for new technologies and international comparisons to understand the UK’s relative areas of strength and weakness in science and technology. We work with a wide range of data and information sources including academic publication records, patents, financial and national security information.
This Data Scientist role sits within the Science Capability Analysis (SCAN) team within TIFF. The SCAN team seeks to identify the areas of benign neglect in the UK S&T landscape. As an example, a Covid-19 vaccine was created in the UK but there was no manufacturing capability. This issue was likely known to those in industry but not considered as part of a set of risks. Combining analysis of a wide range of data and information, you will work collaboratively to develop a register of issues in S&T capability areas requiring government-led or -initiated intervention, and produce assessments, reports and data on these issues to inform policy decisions. These assessments will help Government understand new and emerging risks and opportunities, and support strategic decision making within the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), the Office for Science and Technology Strategy (OSTS) and other departments across government.
We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible and recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• Undergraduate degree or qualification of an equivalent level in a quantitative/analytical science, engineering, technology, finance or economics subject.
• Good analytical skills, with the ability to design analysis to provide evidence to support decision making, make sound and evidence-based decisions, and justify them.
• Good teamwork skills to access the breadth of knowledge available on the subject matter.
• Good communication skills, with the ability to: select between different approaches for communicating data-driven insight and be able justify those choices; present findings and explain complex technical concepts clearly for non-technical audiences.
• Some ability at programming languages such as Python, R, SQL or similar, or a desire to develop this skillset.

Desirable:

• An interest in horizon-scanning and in using an understanding of science and technology to improve government policy and operations.
• Ability to use agreed standards and tools to design, code, test, correct and document programs and scripts from agreed specifications and subsequent iterations, maintaining and updated relevant data models for specific business needs.
• Some project management experience.

QUALIFICATIONS

Undergraduate degree or qualification of an equivalent level in a quantitative/analytical science, engineering, technology, finance or economics subject.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Working closely with the G7 Assessment Manager and SEO lead Data Scientist, the HEO Data Scientist will:

• Develop methodologies and conduct robust qualitative and quantitative analysis of data to inform horizon scanning-type research and analysis projects, informing independent assessments of UK S&T capability issues.
• Contribute to the production of a range of report types assessing S&T capability issues, risks and opportunities for the UK society, the economy and national security. These reports will inform and support decision making of policy makers and senior officials across government.
• Review team outputs, with a particular focus on ensuring the correct use and communication of data.
• Maintain data repositories to ensure information remains accurate, up to date, and accessed appropriately.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the team to link TSI to the wider community of government S&T analysts, sharing knowledge and developing best practice in using common data sources to inform advice across government.
• We work flexibly across different projects, and there will be opportunities to work with teams across GO Science. GO Science maintains an internal surge capability of staff who may be called on at short notice to support urgent areas of work. There may be opportunities to volunteer to support this activity.