Data Scientist

Ref:

384312Salary:

£46,000 - £49,950A DDAT allowance of up to £4750 may be applicableA Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%Location:

Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, ManchesterClosing date:

11:55 pm on Monday 13 January 2025.

Job summaryThis is an exciting opportunity to use your data science skills for the public good and join the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as a data scientist within its Data, Technology and Insights Directorate. The directorate is a multidisciplinary team that brings together data scientists, data engineers, technologists, behavioural scientists and digital forensics and eDiscovery experts. It provides the CMA with specialist skills and capabilities to keep pace with fast-moving digital markets, rapidly developing business models and the growing use of data and algorithms.The CMA is a world-leading competition authority at the forefront of tackling pressing public policy questions, including the regulation of the biggest digital markets. Our mission is to make markets work well in the interests of consumers, businesses, and the economy.

The data science and engineering teamYou will join an established team of approximately 20 data scientists and data engineers within the wider DaTA Unit. We provide analytical support for CMA legal cases and develop tools to improve how the CMA operates. We build most of our tools ourselves, on top of open-source software, using our custom analysis platform built in AWS. Data scientists in our team have space to explore the use of new, cutting-edge techniques in data processing and machine learning, including large language models and generative AI. We work in a collaborative way, with a focus on sharing our knowledge and experience across the team.Examples of projects we’ve worked on recently include:Building a machine learning tool that collects and classifies news articles to support the CMA’s merger investigation teamExperimenting with and testing LLMs as part of our digital transformation strategyUsing web-scraped data to run a causal study to determine the features in a tech platform’s ranking algorithm.

Job descriptionAs a Data Scientist, you will work with senior team members on the technical delivery of data science and analysis projects to support CMA legal cases. You will contribute to scoping projects and designing their data science solutions and assist in identifying competition and consumer protection issues that the CMA could address using data science methodsYou will develop data science tools to support the functions of the CMA, produce "production" code in Python (other languages such as R or SQL might be used as needed) and assist other team members with regular code reviews.Working within a multi-disciplinary case team, you will write and present the output of analyses to both technical and non-technical stakeholders and develop strong working relationships across the CMA.

Person specificationIt is essential that you can provide evidence and examples for each of the following selection criteria in your application.Experience delivering data science projects as part of a team and experience of shaping and leading analytical projects (Lead Criteria)Strong knowledge of modern machine learning methods and tools, as well as data extraction and manipulation (knowledge of data engineering tools and techniques, such as cloud services and git version control is a plus) (Lead Criteria)A degree in a quantitative subject or equivalent experience working in data scienceSubstantial ability and experience of coding in Python and/or RGood communication skills, with the ability to write reports for a non-technical audience and to present analysis in a straightforward and engaging wayExperience of working collaboratively with stakeholders, building excellent working relationships.While a good understanding of competition and consumer issues would be useful, this is not essential, and the CMA prides itself on ensuring that staff can grow and develop their skills.We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.

Contact point for applicantsJob contact: Tom Skidmore,

team,