Data Scientist

BBC; Salford; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A public broadcasting organization is seeking a Data Scientist to join their Content Creation AI team. The role involves working with journalists to enhance content workflows and developing AI products. Candidates should have strong data science knowledge and technical skills in Python. This position is hybrid, offering flexibility in work arrangements.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of data science and machine learning techniques.
• Good general coding skills, particularly in Python.
• Collaborative with technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Deliver value to internal stakeholders using technical skills.
• Develop and support AI products at scale.
• Identify opportunities for applying data science.

Skills

Data science knowledge

Machine learning techniques

Python programming

Collaboration skills

Tools

Cloud services

Job description

JOB DETAILS

JOB BAND: C

CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent, Full-time

DEPARTMENT: BBC Product Group, Authoring & Curation, Content Creation AI

LOCATION: London / Newcastle / Salford / Glasgow – Hybrid

SALARY RANGE: £40,000 - £50,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

We're happy to discuss flexible working. If you'd like to, please indicate your preference in the application – though there's no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

At the BBC, data science is fundamental on our journey towards being a digital-first platform, creating personalised content and products that bring the right content, to the right people, at the right time.

As a Data Scientist in the Content Creation AI team within Authoring & Curation, you will be working with journalists and editors to improve workflows, enabling them to better produce, describe and curate content that serves the needs of our audience.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM

By joining the Content Creation AI team you will be joining a growing, cross-functional team. You’ll work with engineers, user researchers and a product manager to identify and prioritise user needs in authoring and curation workflows, building and testing proof of concepts, and then deploying solutions for integration with user-facing tools.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT

• The role of Data Scientist at the BBC is hands‑on: you’ll use your technical skills to deliver value to internal stakeholders within authoring and curation. We are looking for individuals who value both breadth and depth of knowledge.
• As Data Scientist, you will have impact within your immediate team and beyond. Working with engineers, you’ll be instrumental in developing and supporting AI products at scale.
• You will work within a fully cross‑functional team, providing evidence to the product manager for project prioritisation, exploring proof of concepts and testing them with journalists and editorial stakeholders.
• You’ll collaborate closely with user researchers in initial discovery phases to identify opportunities for where data science can be used, exploiting your knowledge of different AI approaches.
• You’ll have the opportunity to get involved with the wider data science community, both at the BBC and externally. Sharing your knowledge, especially with the other disciplines in the team, is vital and we love to see enthusiasm about sharing your knowledge and growing others.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Knowledge of data science and machine learning techniques, including best practices and recent advances.
• Awareness of cloud services and what they offer.
• Demonstrable understanding of how to evaluate different algorithms when deciding on an approach to solve a business problem.
• Good general coding skills, particularly in Python (including code management and deployment).
• Collaboration: an ability to contribute effectively, clearly communicate with technical and non‑technical audiences and listen to others’ ideas and build on them.

DESIRED:

• Experience using LLMs.
• Working knowledge of cloud services.
• Experience in putting models into production, including the use of model registries, CI/CD pipelines and software engineering best practices. An awareness of production considerations when evaluating which model to put into production.
• Experience of working in a cross‑disciplinary team, possibly within an Agile framework.

If you can bring some of these skills and experience, along with transferable strengths, we would love to hear from you and encourage you to apply.

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Contracts of Employment policy. This allows us to discuss any support you may need and assess any risks. Failure to disclose may result in the withdrawal of your offer.

Disclaimer

This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.

Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.

For any general queries, please contact: [e-mail]

Redeployment

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC 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.