Senior Data Scientist

Job Description

Ofcom is the regulator for the communications services that we use and rely on each day. We make sure people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services, as well as keeping an eye on TV and radio. We also oversee the universal postalservice, look after the airwaves used by wireless devices, and also help to make sure people dont get scammed and are protected from bad practices, and we have recently taken on the regulation of video-sharing platforms, and we are preparing for a role inprotecting people from online harms. Protecting consumers is at the heart of what we do.Our culture is clear - we live by our values: Empowerment; Excellence; Collaboration; Agility and Respect. These define how we work to deliver our purpose, now and in the future. The behaviours which support these values set the path for a fully inclusiveand innovative culture at Ofcom. We focus not only on what we do, but how we do it. We pride ourselves on being an organisation of people who genuinely care about helping others.The Data Innovation Hub works with colleagues across the organisation to improve Ofcoms capability to process, analyse and extract insights from data. For example, we crunch terabytes of data to give us an unparalleled understanding of the coverage andperformance of the UKs broadband and mobile networks. And were exploring how artificial intelligence and machine learning can help us extract more insights from complex data sets or help us do things more efficiently. Purpose of the roleThis role will support the delivery of our data strategy and growing data agenda by bringing an open mind and strong intellectual curiosity to develop our data analysis capability. Identifying and solving complex business problems with data science and ensuringthat we continue to innovate and leverage our data.We are looking for talent to join a central team that can work with all areas of regulatory work, assisting and working alongside colleagues across the organisation, including those working on the new online safety regime. by, exploring the application of deeplearning for anomaly detection, combining social media analysis and natural language processing to understand issues affecting consumers or developing new ways to visualise and interact with our geospatial data.Expectations

• To work collaboratively with colleagues in the Data Innovation Hub, policy and operations teams to understand where data science can add value and deliver innovative projects
• Work with data engineers to source, access, manipulate and engineer data across a range of sources and data formats
• Build credible statistical models from a range of data sources data and use best coding practices to generate reproducible work in an agile way. Taking projects through to productions where appropriate
• Explore and visualise data to present a story in a meaningful way, and communicate new insights to a range of technical and non-technical audiences
• Maintain an awareness of, and utilise an evolving range of data analysis tools and techniques, including open source, some of which must be learnt quickly, as and when required
• Promote data science skills and inspire best practice in other teams, building an understanding the variety of data science methods and how they can be effectively applied to solve problems
• Ensuring compliance with our relevant data and information security principles
• Support colleagues in engagement with external stakeholders on a range of data and data science related topics.

Essential Skills & KnowledgeYou will need to demonstrate knowledge or experience of:

• Translating complex business problems into analytical projects, then leading or delivering impactful data or analysis with tangible outcomes.
• A range of data and analytic tools (such as Python, R, Power BI, Azure Databricks, or equivalent), and cloud computing environments.
• Machine Learning, statistics, or other data analysis tools and techniques. In particular, but not limited to, we would welcome applications from candidates with experience in the following areas of data science:
• Natural Language Processing
• Geospatial Data Science
• Graphs / Network Analytics
• Neural Networks and Deep Learning

Additional experience:

• Applying scientific methods through experimental design, exploratory data analysis and hypothesis testing to reach robust conclusions, including reviewing the work of others
• Acting as a thought leader within the Data Science community, including through management and development of junior staff and others projects.
• Exploring and advocating ways of utilising new data science tools and techniques to tackle business and organisational challenges, drawing on the application of, and innovation in communication services industries, academia, and other sectors.
• Strong interpersonal skills and evidence of ability to interact effectively with a range of stakeholders, both internally and externally, to communicate technical concepts across organisational and technical boundaries.
• Working independently, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability, and supporting a culture of collaboration and trust.

Previous experience in the one of our regulatory areas, particularly in online, would be desirable, but is not essential.