Senior Research Data Scientist

UCL; London; On-site; GBP 51,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading university in London seeks a Research Data Scientist to join their Centre for Advanced Research Computing. The ideal candidate will have a PhD or equivalent expertise, experience in data science tools, and a strong background in statistics and mathematics. This role offers a blend of service delivery, research, and teaching activities, contributing to innovative digital research solutions.

Benefits

41 Days holiday

Cycle to work scheme

On-site gym

Employee assistance programme

Qualifications

• Experience with LLMs and DevOps.
• Advanced knowledge of statistics and mathematics.
• Experience with data analytics techniques.

Responsibilities

• Deliver services and systems for data-intensive research.
• Innovate new tools and practices in digital research.
• Engage with academic disciplines and technology communities.

Skills

Data Science

Statistics

Mathematics

DevOps

Education

PhD Degree

Tools

R

Python

Julia

Job description

About us

UCL is a world-leading teaching and research university, often ranked in the top ten globally, with an annual turnover of over £1 billion. Part of UCL's vision is to address the world's most challenging problems.

The UCL Centre for Advanced Research Computing (ARC) is UCL's new institute dedicated to infrastructure and innovation in digital research—comprising supercomputers, datasets, software, and skilled personnel that enable computational science and digital scholarship. Our research professionals are categorized into four groups: Research Software Developers, Research Infrastructure Developers, Research Data Stewards, and Research Data Scientists, though these categories are fluid, and cross-disciplinary expertise is welcomed. This role primarily aligns with the Research Data Scientist category.

Research Data Scientists, also known as Data Scientists, Machine Learning Specialists, Computational Statisticians, Data Wranglers, Bioinformaticians, etc., may have their job titles modified in agreement with their line managers to better reflect their career aspirations.

About the role

You will join ARC's community of staff scientists and research technology professionals, contributing to service delivery and system development that support data and compute-intensive research. You will also engage in discovering and innovating new tools, practices, and systems in this domain.

We are particularly interested in applicants with expertise in LLMs and DevOps.

As a hybrid research institute and service center, your activities will be synergistic, and you will develop and maintain technical or domain-specific expertise. This could involve engaging with academic disciplines through honorary memberships or collaborating closely with technology communities related to specific platforms, tools, or languages.

Alongside a talented team, you will help define your responsibilities, which may include service delivery, research, innovation, and teaching, tailored to your preferences, skills, and seniority level.

This is a fantastic opportunity!

About you

The ideal candidate will possess a strong combination of the following skills and experience:

• A PhD degree or equivalent professional expertise relevant to the role. We value research degrees but also recognize diverse backgrounds, with about half our staff holding PhDs.
• Experience with core data science and analytics tools within a programming framework such as R, Python, or Julia.
• Experience with LLMs and DevOps.
• Advanced knowledge of statistics and mathematics applied to extracting reliable insights from data.
• Experience with specialized techniques or tools in data analytics, such as natural language processing, neural networks, Bayesian inference, Gaussian processes, or field-specific tools like bioinformatics software.

Salary range for Grade 8 Senior Research Software Engineer: £51,474 to £65,698, including London Allowance, depending on experience.

USS pension scheme offers staff a contribution of 6.1%, with UCL contributing 14.6%.

The detailed job description and person specification are available via the link at the bottom of this page.

What we offer

In addition to this exciting role, we provide a range of benefits, including:

• 41 days holiday (27 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays, 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days' annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Immigration loan
• Relocation scheme for eligible posts
• On-site nursery and gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance

More information is available at UCL Rewards and Benefits.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

As London's Global University, we believe diversity drives creativity and innovation. We are dedicated to equality of opportunity, fairness, inclusivity, and creating a community where everyone belongs.

We especially encourage applications from candidates from underrepresented groups in UCL's workforce.