The Alan Turing Institute is seeking a Data Scientist Partner Integrated to join their Defence & Security Department.

ROLE PURPOSE

ARC Data Scientists understand the latest breakthroughs in Machine Learning and work to apply them to Defence and Security challenges. Data Scientists perform investigations based on tasking from D&S partners to derisk new technologies and create proof-of-concept work to inform future research. Investigations often involve understanding whether a new algorithm is suitable for a particular problem, how academic technology performs when applied in real-world situations, and what the potential drawbacks of adopting a new technology are.

Integrated Data Scientists will spend part of their time on partner sites, working alongside partner data scientists. The classified nature of this work means that, unlike standard ARC Data Scientists, ARC Integrated Data Scientists must achieve security clearance.

Integrated Data Scientists will spend three days a week working with their ARC colleagues on unclassified data science research. Unclassified ARC projects usually last between 1-3 months, are exploratory, have a high risk of failure, and generally output Proof of Concept code and technical write-ups. Work is done in collaboration with other ARC members.

Two days a week will be spent on a partner site, understanding the projects that partner data scientists face, and collaborating with them to identify the most suitable ML tools, or develop new ones. Previous knowledge of Defence and Security is not required, however Integrated Data Scientists are customer-facing, and so require communication and collaboration skills.

20% time is provided to allow Data Scientists to keep their Machine Learning and programming skills up to date. Data Scientists choose what they would like to do in their 20% time, and budget is available to pay for courses and conferences.

DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

• Engage with data scientists from the ARC’s Defence and Security partners to learn their aims and requirements, and understand and identify problems they face
• Apply state-of-the-art Machine Learning and Data Science techniques emerging from the Institute, broader academia and industry to problems faced by the ARC partners, both as part of unclassified ARC projects and on partner systems
• Perform rigorous investigations into new algorithms and applications, providing consultancy to inform our Partners’ decisions and developing high-quality proof-of-concept outputs which can be deployed in real-world situations
• Design and carry out rigorous experimentation and development with some guidance from Senior and Principal staff, both alone and in small teams
• Present, disseminate and explain our work via presentations, reports and workshops

REQUIREMENTS

• Experience in a field with significant use of both computer programming and advanced statistical or numerical methods, evidenced by - a PhD degree; or equivalent professional experience.
• Must be eligible to hold a UK Developed Vetting (DV) clearance and secure DV clearance within 6 months of the commencement of their employment, or in such longer period as the Institute may in its absolute discretion consider reasonable to obtain such clearance.
• Either practical experience with or demonstrable interest in Machine Learning and adjacent topics.
• Fluency in one or more modern programming languages used in research in data science and artificial intelligence. We primarily work in Python, but demonstrable use of other programming languages for research, together with a facility for learning new languages, will be considered. Experience with Machine Learning frameworks such as PyTorch is beneficial.
• An understanding of the importance of good practices for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses, such as version control, issue tracking, automated testing, package management and literate analysis tools such as Jupyter and Rmarkdown.

This full time post is offered on a fixed term basis until March 2025.

Please find below a link to the advert, job description and application form.

https://cezanneondemand.intervieweb.it/turing/jobs/data_scientist_partner_integrated_21896/en/

Closing date: Sunday 8th May 2022, 23:59pm.

Should you have any queries, please email recruitment@turing.ac.uk.