Job Description
<div><strong>Flexible Working:</strong> we offer a strong work-life balance, supporting full-time, part-time, and flexible hours. Youll be office-based, with working from home limited and subject to business need.<br/><br/><strong>The Role </strong><br/>Are you a problem solver that wants to help keep the country safe? As a Data Scientist at MI5, youll be responsible for developing and applying new Machine Learning capabilities to help us automate the detection of the threats we face.<br/><br/>Data Science forms a core part of our strategic approach to tackling the vast and complex data landscape. Data Scientists help teams across our organisation make sense of the ever-increasing volumes of data we receive. Our multi-disciplinary product team translates business requirements into actionable outcomes for customers and stakeholders, while collaboratively managing the end-to-end life-cycle of our Data Science products from concept through to research and delivery.<br/><br/>As a Data Scientist, working closely with technical specialists such as ML Engineers, Business Analysts and Product Managers, your focus will be to understand and prioritise mission problems. Youll develop solutions tailored to meet the organisations unique needs and use dedicated research time to focus on experimenting. Youll do this using state-of-the-art techniques to understand a potential solutions application and value. <br/><br/>Ensuring the customers needs are represented at every stage, youll also work collaboratively to turn proof concepts into optimised and robustly evaluated Data Science Solutions. Youll bring fresh ideas to the team, influencing leaders and working diligently to build close relationships with customers and stakeholders. Your expertise will help support decisions, make recommendations, and define criteria for the success of a product or programme before measuring its delivery.<br/><br/>As an experienced Data Scientist, youll strive to develop your team, ensuring outputs meet customer standards. Youll have the opportunity to mentor colleagues and support the development of best practice for the wider Data Science community. <br/><br/>Managing up to two members of staff, youll support their career development as you grow into this vital role. Day-to-day youll have a varied range of roles and responsibilities, with a variety of additional opportunities too, such as helping to shape the organisations approach to the adoption of AI (Artificial Intelligence). This could be focussing on AI ethics, or Green AI Principles or working with our investigative partners to deliver priority tactical work in response to urgent requirements. The role will encompass individual work, cross-team and organisational working, and the chance to work with external partners. And, as your career develops, you could have the opportunity to move into different areas of the organisation, other security agencies or work abroad.<br/><br/><strong>About You</strong><br/>As a Data Scientist, youll need to demonstrate your knowledge and applied experience <br/>in one of the following areas: Machine Learning, Applied Statistics, Computer Vision, Speech and Audio Processing, Natural Language Processing, Graph theory, ML research, or in a related specialist role. Youll be proficient in Python for data science, data manipulation and data visualisation. <br/><br/>A resilient problem-solver and self-motivated, youll bring innovation to the team, ensuring it continues to deliver the high standards you expect. Youll also be comfortable communicating information clearly and effectively, influencing technical and non-technical colleagues with an ability to explain complex concepts to non- experts. <br/><br/><strong>Training and Development</strong><br/>Were committed to developing our staff and recognise this will look different for everyone. We use the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (formerly the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession Capability Framework) as a compass to provide guidance and tools to support you, and which recognises and rewards specialist expertise.<br/><br/>Therell be opportunities to gain qualifications and pursue specialist pathways, as well as undertaking tailored training, coaching, and mentoring. Individuals can also attend hackathons and have up to 20% innovation and personal development time.<br/><br/>As you develop, grow, and maintain your technical skills, you can progress through Government Digital and Data pay points. Youll need to regularly demonstrate and accredit your skills based on the framework. If you dont maintain the required skills, youll be given the opportunity and support to rectify this, as you could revert to a lower level of capability and pay.<br/><br/><strong>Rewards and Benefits </strong><br/>Youll receive a starting salary of<strong>£59,479 - £66,100 </strong>dependent on skills, experience and location plus other benefits including: <br/><br/> - 25 Day Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years service and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays.<br/> - Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme<br/> - Personal Learning Budget<br/> - Interest-free season ticket loan (travel and parking)<br/> - Excellent pension scheme<br/> - Cycle to work scheme<br/> - Facilities such as a gym, restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)<br/> - Paid parental and adoption leave<br/><br/><strong>Equal Opportunities </strong><br/>At MI5 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds. <br/><br/>Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website. <br/><br/><strong>Were Disability Confident </strong><br/>MI5 are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWPs Disability Confident scheme. This isaimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident,we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the essential criteria for the role.This is our Offer of Interview (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria(in order of application process) are: <br/><ul><li>Demonstrate ability to write python code independently (assessed at application form sift)</li><li>Demonstrate the ability to research, develop, evaluate and apply data science capabilities, e.g. machine learning (assessed at application form sift)</li><li>Demonstrate the value of good teamwork, work well with others and be comfortable communicating with a range of stakeholders and customers. (assessed at application form sift)</li><li>Demonstrate the ability to provide technical guidance, coaching and support. (assessed at application form sift) </li></ul><br/><strong>What to Expect </strong><br/>Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order: <br/><ul><li>Youll be invited to upload your CV and complete an online application form.</li><li>If you pass, youll be invited to an interview where you will be asked questions relating to your motivation and our core competencies.</li><li>If you pass, youll be invited to a technical skill-based interview based on the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework for the role. </li></ul><br/>This will draw on your skills and experience in the area(s) detailed below<br/><ul><li>Applied Maths, Statistics and Scientific Practices</li><li>Programming and Build (Data Science)</li><li>Data Science Innovation</li><li>Data Engineering (Data Science)</li></ul><br/>For more details, please click the link: Data scientist - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework. <br/><br/>Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer. <br/><br/><strong>Before You Apply </strong><br/>To work at MI5, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here. <br/><br/>This role requiresthe highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV).Its something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here. <br/><br/>Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you cant take any recreational drugs and youll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage. <br/><br/>Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practise and will help you to manage your application with us more discretely.<br/><br/>The role is based in London or Central Manchester, so youll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. An interest-free loan via our benevolent fund is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment. <br/><br/><strong>Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application.You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member. </strong><br/><br/><strong>Right to Withdraw Statement: </strong><br/>Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.<br/><br/>/generated inline style */ <br/><br/>/generated inline style */</div>