Principal Data Scientist

Job Introduction

The BBC has been serving audiences online for more than 20 years. Across key products including BBC iPlayer, News, Sport, Weather and Sounds, we entertain, educate and inform audiences in their millions every day.

But behind the scenes we have work to do. We are making the shift from being a broadcaster that speaks to our audiences to becoming a service that is directly shaped by them and designed around their wants and needs. We are creating personalised content, products and services that bring the right content, to the right people, at the right time - a personalised BBC. This will be our greatest leap since iPlayer, and that’s why it’s right at the top of our agenda.

At the BBC we see data science as fundamental on that journey. We use data and machine learning to enrich our content and power personalised experiences for millions of audience members. We’re looking for a Principal Data Scientist to join the Product Group and help accelerate the value unlocked by our existing machine learning products and help the discipline grow into new opportunities.

The successful candidate will join the Product Growth team; a small team which builds predictive models and metrics to enable product managers to better quantify and optimise growth across all of the BBC’s digital products.

Interview Process

• Two part interview - 1.5 hours total
  • Case study task - 45 mins (10 min presentation + approx. 30 min Q&A)
  • Competency-based interview - 45 min

Main Responsibilities

The role of Principal Data Scientist at the BBC is hands-on; you’ll use your technical skills to deliver value to BBC audiences. We are looking for individuals who value both breadth and depth of knowledge.

Principal Data Scientists at the BBC are expected to have impact within their immediate team and beyond, across the wider BBC. You’ll be instrumental in developing machine learning products at BBC scale. Not only will you become part of a cross-functional team, you will be responsible for day-to-day technical decision-making for the Product Growth data science team.

You’ll bring significant experience of being an effective team contributor and making use of your knowledge of different machine learning algorithms to solve complex problems. You’ll have a good understanding of data science best practices, and experience implementing effective ways of working in previous teams.

You’ll have the opportunity to get involved with the wider data science community, both at the BBC and externally. We’d love to see enthusiasm about sharing your knowledge and growing others.

Are you the right candidate

We focus on hiring for potential at the BBC, so the main requirement for the position is a strong can-do attitude and willing to learn

Some of the things we love:

Technical skills and analytical thinking:

• Strong understanding of data science and machine learning techniques, including recent advances and their applications for implementation in a production environment
• Strong working knowledge of data science best practices
• Good knowledge of working with cloud services for data science, and some of the main challenges involved
• Good understanding of how to evaluate algorithms and ML model lifecycle management
• Ability to identify suitable algorithms for different purposes, taking into account and balancing different metrics and evaluation strategies
• Strong coding skills, particularly in Python or R
• Good knowledge of code management and deployment
• Experience with model lifecycle management and MLOps would be a plus

Teamwork and stakeholder management:

• Proven track record of delivering value in production
• Ability to steer day-to-day project work for other data scientists, and support the team in working effectively
• Ability to prioritise and work in a structured manner, to ensure delivery in a timely fashion, balancing quality, cost, and speed
• Ability to contribute effectively in a cross-functional team
• Ability to clearly communicate to both technical and non-technical audiences, both regarding short-term decisions and longer-term strategy
• Excited about personal development and learning

About the BBC

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours here.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here.

Our comprehensive benefits package includes: • An employer pension contribution of up to 10% • 26 days annual leave (based on full time hours) + bank holidays and the option to buy/sell additional days • Contributory lifestyle benefit options including discounts at hundreds of retailers, cycle to work scheme, discounted gym memberships and healthcare schemes • Employee assistance and well-being programmes • Learning and development tailored to your role – this could include industry recognised qualifications, coaching and mentoring • An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join staff networks including: Women’s Network, National Disability Networks and many more.

Family friendly flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid working, job sharing, flexi-time and compressed hours can be requested.

We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and especially welcome individuals from underrepresented groups.

If you require any reasonable adjustments at any time, please let us know by contacting us on Reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk with the job reference in the subject.