Data Scientist

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

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

BBC Data Science Community

Job summary

The BBC is seeking a Data Scientist to join the CCOG Audiences Data team in either London or Salford with a hybrid pattern (2 days in the office). You will build statistical and machine learning models to understand audience behaviour, improve measurement, and support strategic decisions across BBC platforms.

You will work with data from digital activity, panels and surveys, collaborating with data engineers and stakeholders to deliver robust analyses and reproducible workflows.

Qualifications

• Further degree in mathematics, statistics, computer science, econometrics or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience applying data science and statistical techniques to solve business problems.
• Understanding of statistical inference, experimental design and causal reasoning, with the ability to analyse audience behaviours and draw evidence-based conclusions.
• Proven ability to communicate analytical findings clearly to stakeholders, adapting detail to different audiences.
• Good programming skills in Python or R with version control and strong SQL skills for large datasets.

Responsibilities

• Apply statistical and machine learning techniques to answer business questions and understand audience behaviour.
• Contribute to design, development and evaluation of analytical models and solutions with senior data scientists and engineering partners.
• Develop reproducible workflows using SQL, Python or R on our data and ML platform.
• Develop understanding of BBC and media landscape to contextualise models and communicate findings to non-technical stakeholders.
• Keep up to date with developments in ML and generative AI and contribute ideas for team practices.

Skills

Statistics

Analytical thinking

Python

SQL

Data storytelling

Education

Bachelor's or higher in Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Science

Tools

Git

SQL

Job description

JOB DETAILS

JOB BAND: C – Data Scientist

CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent

DEPARTMENT: BBC CCOG Audiences Data

LOCATION: London Broadcasting House or Salford Dock House – Hybrid (2 days a week in the office on average).

PROPOSED 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

Fancy working on one of the largest media datasets in the world, helping the BBC model how audiences discover, consume and engage with content?

The BBC is a major stakeholder in industry-leading audience measurement systems. Alongside this, our digital products—including iPlayer, Sounds, News and Sport—reach millions of people every week and generate billions of audience interactions.

As a Data Scientist, you will develop statistical and machine learning models that help understand audience behaviour, improve audience measurement, and support strategic decision-making across the BBC. Working with a range of data sources, from digital behavioural data to audience panels and surveys, you'll deliver robust analysis that influences how the BBC measures success and plans for the future.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM

You’ll join a team of around 12 Data Scientists working on a diverse range of modelling challenges. Our work spans audience measurement, forecasting, consumer behaviour, experimentation and applied machine learning.

We work closely with data engineers, researchers, analysts and stakeholders across the BBC, giving you the opportunity to contribute to high-impact projects with visible organisational value.

You’ll also be part of a wider data science community and have dedicated time to develop your technical skills, explore new approaches and contribute to best practice across the organisation.

Your Key Responsibilities And Impact

• Apply statistical and machine learning techniques to answer business questions and improve understanding of audience behaviour, combining data from multiple sources including digital activity data, audience panels and surveys.
• Contribute to the design, development and evaluation of analytical models and solutions, working with senior data scientists and engineering partners to support project delivery and production deployment where appropriate.
• Develop reproducible analytical workflows using SQL, Python or R on our data and machine learning platform, including exploratory analysis and proof-of-concepts.
• Develop an understanding of the BBC and wider media landscape to contextualise models and analysis, and communicate findings, assumptions and recommendations appropriately to non-technical stakeholders.
• Keep up to date with developments in machine learning and generative AI, applying relevant techniques appropriately and contributing ideas for improving team practices.

Essential Criteria

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Further degree in mathematics, statistics, computer science, econometrics or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience applying data science and statistical techniques to solve business problems by translating ambiguous business questions into practical analytical solutions and selecting appropriate methods, models or algorithms.
• Understanding of statistical inference, experimental design and causal reasoning, with the ability to analyse audience behaviours and preferences, distinguish meaningful patterns from statistical noise, and draw robust, evidence-based conclusions.
• Proven ability to communicate analytical findings clearly and confidently to stakeholders, adapting detail and recommendations to different audiences.
• Good programming skills in Python or R with version control (Git or others), alongside strong SQL skills for working with large datasets, including data preparation and validation.

Desired But Not Required

• Experience in a commercial, research or consulting analytical role.
• Experience applying data science techniques to audience, consumer, marketing or media measurement problems.
• Experience working with audience behaviour data, digital activity data or related panel datasets, in a research, marketing, strategy or product environment.
• Experience building machine learning models to scale and deploying them into production.
• Experience writing clean, well-structured and maintainable code, with an understanding of software engineering best practices such as unit testing, test-driven development, version control and collaborative development using GitHub.
• Familiarity with applying modern AI techniques, including large language models, to analytical or operational problems.

Freelancers are eligible to apply if they have been on a Worker Contract (more info here) continuously for 6 months. If less than 6 months (or they have had a break of 3 weeks or more between engagements), they must seek Divisional HR approval to apply.

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.

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Recruitment 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.

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

We are unable to accept applications via CV and only applications made online will be considered.

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.