Junior Data Scientist – Policy & Ai Prototyping

ICF International; Madrid; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF International is seeking a data science professional to deliver data science and AI solutions across client projects in the UK and EU. You will work with subject matter experts to frame questions, analyse evidence and present findings, while contributing to proposals and developing prototypes into reliable solutions.

You will bring hands‑on Python experience, solid statistics and ML knowledge, and familiarity with large language models.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in Python for analysis and modelling with data libraries.
• Sound grounding in statistics and machine learning including regression, forecasting and validation.
• Familiarity with large language models in analysis or prototyping and evaluating outputs.

Responsibilities

• Define problems with stakeholders and determine success metrics and data needs.
• Develop and evaluate models or prototypes using statistical methods and ML techniques.
• Present findings to technical and nontechnical audiences and handle feedback.
• Collaborate across disciplines to document work and ensure reproducibility of results.
• Contribute to proposals with technical estimates and manage multiple projects.
• Share methods and reusable approaches with the data science team.

Skills

Python

SQL

Statistics

Machine Learning

Language Models

Data Wrangling

Version Control

English

Education

Quantitative degree or equivalent

Tools

Python

SQL

Job description

ICF supports governments and organisations on challenges in areas such as energy, the environment, aviation, health and public policy. Our data science team works with subject matter experts to turn evidence and data into practical solutions for clients in the UK and EU.

You will help deliver data science and AI solutions across client projects, working with subject matter experts to frame questions, analyse evidence and deliver findings. This is a hands‑on technical and consulting role: you will discuss needs with specialists, present approaches and results to varied audiences, and contribute to proposals. You will join an established team and work across technically diverse projects.

What you will do

• Speak with subject matter experts and clients to define the problem, success measures, data needs and an appropriate analytical approach.
• Prepare and analyse data, develop and evaluate models or prototypes using statistical methods, forecasting, machine learning or language models where suitable.
• Present findings, assumptions and limitations to subject matter experts, clients and nontechnical audiences, invite challenge and adapt the work to their feedback.
• Collaborate with colleagues across different technical disciplines to document work, make results reproducible and develop promising prototypes into reliable solutions.
• Contribute technical ideas, estimates and evidence to proposals, and manage your work across several concurrent projects.
• Share methods and reusable approaches with colleagues across the data science team.

What you will bring

• Hands‑on experience in Python for analysis and modelling, including common data and machine learning libraries, ability to use SQL to extract, join and check data.
• Sound grounding in statistics and machine learning, including regression or classification, forecasting, validation, baseline comparisons and appropriate performance measures.
• Practical familiarity with using large language models in analysis or prototyping, including prompting, checking outputs against evidence and recognising privacy, accuracy and reliability risks.
• Experience preparing imperfect data, building reproducible analyses and writing maintainable code with version control and testing.
• Ability to take an ambiguous question from discovery to a working demonstration, explain assumptions and uncertainty, and judge whether a solution is worth developing for operational use.
• Confidence working independently and engaging stakeholders across teams, clear written and spoken English for technical and nontechnical audiences.
• A relevant degree or equivalent practical experience in a quantitative field.

Useful additional experience

• Experience working in public policy, government, research or evaluation
• Experience in consulting, public policy research or client‑facing delivery, familiarity with cloud platforms, APIs, data pipelines or deployment.
• Experience building AI agents or applications that connect language models to data and tools, such as retrieval‑based systems. We can train someone with strong core skills.

What you can expect

You will work alongside colleagues with a wide range of technical and subject expertise, tackle varied client challenges from discovery to delivery. We will support your career development with ongoing training and opportunities to deepen both your technical and consulting skills.

Right to Work, Location & Sponsorship

• We welcome applications from candidates based anywhere in the world. For roles located in the UK, Belgium, Spain, or Germany, applicants must: Hold the right to work in the country where the role is based, or be eligible for visa sponsorship, which we may consider on a case‑by‑case basis, and Be physically present in that country by their first day of employment (or able to relocate beforehand).
• Unless stated otherwise, relocation support is not automatically provided.

Working at ICF

ICF is a global advisory and technology services provider, but we're not your typical consultants. We combine unmatched expertise with cutting‑edge technology to help clients solve their most complex challenges, navigate change, and shape the future.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

At ICF, we are committed to ensuring a fair and equitable interview process for all candidates based on their own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate or assist with responses during interviews (whether in‑person or virtual) is not permitted. This policy is in place to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the interview process.

However, we understand that some candidates may require accommodations that involve the use of AI. If such an accommodation is needed, candidates are instructed to contact us in advance at . We are dedicated to providing the necessary support to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Madrid, Spain (ES01)