JOB SUMMARY

This role is being conducted by Global resourcing. For further information please contact CCS-LDS@global-resourcing.com
Are you an experienced Data Scientist, passionate about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)? Do you want to help deliver efficient and valuable public services within a high-impact public sector organisation?
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) plays a vital role in enabling government organisations to access innovative, efficient, and cost-effective solutions. At the forefront of digital transformation, CCS drives initiatives that enhance public procurement, delivering exceptional value and supporting public sector innovation. Through its Digital & Data Services directorate, CCS is building a world-class capability to revolutionise how the public sector approaches change.
As a Lead Data Scientist, you will sit at the forefront of identifying, assessing, and implementing cutting-edge data science techniques including Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Your ability to collaborate with colleagues across the organisation will help optimise customer journeys, predict market trends, and automate internal workflows.

TEAM SUMMARY

The role of Lead Data Scientists sits in the AI Impact and Assurance team, reporting to the Head of AI Impact and Assurance. This team sits at the forefront of exploring, assessing and implementing exciting data science techniques at CCS, including machine learning and artificial intelligence.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Collaboration

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)
• 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

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and guide team members, manage performance to ensure a high-performing team, and support staff development through regular feedback
• Lead the technical delivery of complex data science projects, encompassing data analysis, model development, and presenting clear outputs to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Deploy advanced analytical techniques, including machine learning, with a specific emphasis on Large Language Models (LLMs) and other Generative AI models, exploring novel datasets to drive insight and improve decision-making at CCS.
• Contribute to improving CCS’s understanding of customer journeys using unstructured data and developing sophisticated predictive algorithms.
• Produce high-quality production code in Python (other languages such as R or SQL might be used as needed).
• Promote best development practices, including regular code reviews to other team members, and identifying opportunities for standardisation and process improvement.
• Work collaboratively with key stakeholders across CCS, broader multi-disciplinary teams (including a mix of delivery partners, internal colleagues, and colleagues from across government) to identify where data science and AI can strategically support the organisation and the government commercial agenda more widely.
• Review and understand product capabilities from native AI within existing platform partners, and proactively identify opportunities to exploit these tools effectively, navigating inherent ambiguities and dependencies.
• Champion building out the data science capability across the department – supporting analysts, thinking about how we can embed data science across all areas of the business and supporting CCS’ goals to be using data in innovative ways.