Junior Researcher

Digital Skills ltd; Greater London; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 68,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Skills is seeking an early-career technologist to work at the intersection of journalism, data and software development in Canary Wharf. You will build practical tools to ingest, search and understand complex datasets, with exposure to AI-enabled newsroom technology and mentorship from an experienced engineering team.

The role emphasizes hands-on coding, data processing and collaboration with journalists to translate editorial objectives into technical solutions.

Qualifications

• Recent graduate with practical Python knowledge and a genuine interest in AI, data and journalism.
• Ability to write clear, tested and well-documented code.
• Interest in using technology to support investigative journalism and editorial workflows.

Responsibilities

• Ingest and process large datasets and support data pipelines.
• Build tools to search data and identify entities, relationships, and connections.
• Develop LLM pipelines and MCP agents within editorial workflows.

Skills

Python

AI literacy

Data literacy

Cloud platforms

APIs

LLMs

MCP or agent systems

Tools

Terraform

AWS

GCP

Job description

• The Rate - Up to £42 per hour
• IR35 Status - Inside
• The Location - Canary Wharf
• The Working Pattern - 35 hours per week
• Duration - 6 months

About the Client

Digital Skills are working with a global news and media corporation that is developing technology to support ambitious investigative journalism. The organisation brings together editorial, product and engineering expertise to help journalists analyse large volumes of data and uncover connections that can lead to impactful stories.

About the Role

This is an opportunity for an early career technologist to work at the intersection of journalism, data and software development. You will help build practical tools and infrastructure that enable investigative journalists to ingest, search and understand complex datasets.

The role offers hands-on exposure to AI-enabled newsroom technology, including LLM pipelines and MCP agents, supported by mentorship from an experienced engineering team.

Responsibilities

• Support the ingestion and processing of large datasets.
• Help maintain stable and reliable data pipelines.
• Build and enhance tools that allow journalists to search data and identify relevant entities, relationships and connections.
• Build and integrate LLM pipelines and MCP agents into editorial workflows.
• Work with journalists to understand their editorial objectives and translate them into practical technology solutions.
• Produce clear, tested and maintainable code.
• Contribute to tools used in real investigative journalism projects.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Strong AI literacy, with an understanding of how LLMs can be used to develop practical tools.
• Strong data literacy and an interest in finding meaningful insights within large or complex datasets.
• Working knowledge of Python, gained through coursework, personal projects, internships or other practical experience.
• Some exposure to cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP.
• An interest in journalism and using technology to support meaningful editorial work.
• An ability to write clear, tested and well-documented code.
• Curiosity, problem-solving ability and an eagerness to learn.
• Exposure to Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code technologies would be beneficial.
• Experience with APIs, LLMs, MCP or agent-based systems would be advantageous.
• Knowledge of data pipelines, ETL processes or relational databases would be useful.
• Experience within, or working alongside, an editorial or media environment would be beneficial.

Summary of the Best Candidate

The strongest candidate is likely to be a recent graduate or student nearing graduation, with practical Python knowledge and a genuine interest in AI, data and journalism. This is an early-career position, so aptitude, curiosity and evidence of relevant projects are more important than extensive commercial experience.

You will be comfortable working with data, interested in how LLMs and software agents can solve real-world problems, and motivated by the opportunity to build technology that supports investigative journalism. Exposure to cloud technology, data engineering or modern AI development would strengthen your application.