Epidemiologist / Health Data Scientist on OpenSAFELY in the Bennett Institute

University of Oxford; England; Hybrid; GBP 39,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious academic institution in the UK is seeking an Epidemiologist, Statistician, or Health Data Scientist to contribute to health data science initiatives. You will analyze health records, develop analytic pipelines, and work on diverse research projects. The role demands strong analytical skills, familiarity with statistical software, and a commitment to collaborative research. This position offers a salary of £39,424 - £47,779 with remote work flexibility.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Support for professional development

Collaborative working environment

Qualifications

• Experience in health data science with strong analytical skills.
• Proficiency in statistical programming languages, preferably R or Python.
• Strong communication skills to collaborate with technical and non-technical users.

Responsibilities

• Build tools and dashboards to analyze health data.
• Develop reproducible analytic pipelines for clinical practice evaluation.
• Produce automated data quality checks.

Skills

Health data analysis

Statistical software proficiency

Project management

Education

Relevant degree in health sciences or related field

Tools

R or Python

OpenSAFELY platform

Job description

Overview

Applications are invited for an epidemiologist, statistician or health data scientist to work in our OpenSAFELY platform, deployed across the full electronic health records of 55 million patients. The post holder will help lead a new approach to delivering health data science. OpenSAFELY is a highly secure, modular, open source data analysis platform, combining best practice from both academia and the open source software community.

Responsibilities

• Build tools and dashboards to gain insights from routinely collected health data
• Innovate processes and tools for statistical disclosure control of outputs released from OpenSAFELY
• Develop, maintain, and document reproducible analytic pipelines for evaluating trends and variation in clinical practice
• Produce automated data quality checks and data validity reports
• Co-pilot external OpenSAFELY users

Projects and opportunities

There are several ongoing research projects within the Bennett Institute using OpenSAFELY. You will have the opportunity to contribute to these projects:

• NIHR-funded research to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines for respiratory viruses
• Wellcome supported NHS Talking Therapies research
• NIHR-funded Winter pressures and service delivery planning
• NHS England\'s Primary Care and Medicines Analytics Unit

If you have a specific interest in any of these research areas, please indicate this in your cover letter, highlighting relevant experience. We are happy to answer questions about the projects prior to applying.

About the Institute and working culture

The Bennett Institute is a mixed team of clinicians, software developers, policy experts, data scientists, and academic researchers, all pooling skills and knowledge. We have a strong track record of delivering high-impact research in Nature, Lancet and BMJ; real-world impact on policy and clinical practice; and high-impact services such as OpenSAFELY, OpenPrescribing and TrialsTracker.

Our mission is to create a modern, open, collaborative ecosystem for health research. We ship code, deliver papers, build capacity, and advocate for new ways of working. We turn recurring tasks into packages and libraries; all code is shared openly for review and re-use; analyses are delivered in re-executable notebooks for others to read, evaluate, re-purpose, and learn with.

We welcome outstanding researchers who share this vision and have or can rapidly develop the skills needed to deliver it with us. We are particularly interested in contributors to open science community-building, our codebase, open teaching resources, or policy work.

Location, work pattern and terms

You will report to one of our Research team leads. You will be based at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Radcliffe Primary Care Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG as your normal place of work, but you will be able to agree a pattern of regular remote working with your line manager. The position is funded by the Wellcome Trust, for a duration of two years in the first instance.

How to apply and selection

For further information or to discuss the post, please contact William Hulme ( [e-mail] ). Applications for this vacancy are to be made online and you will be required to upload a CV and Supporting Statement as part of your online application. The Supporting Statement should include a cover letter and should clearly describe how you meet each of the selection criteria listed in the job description. Do not attach manuscripts, papers, transcripts, or certificates as these will not be considered as part of your application. The closing date for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 3 October 2025. Interviews are expected to be held during the week commencing Monday 20 October 2025.

Pay scale: Research Grade 7. Salary £39,424 – £47,779 with a discretionary range to £53,483 per annum (pro rata).

Legal notice and contact

We are actively seeking to increase our team\'s diversity and welcome applications from those in under-represented groups.

Contact Person: HR Team

Contact Email: [e-mail]