Lead Data Scientist

Lloyds Banking Group; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 15%

Annual bonus

Share schemes

Discounted shopping

30 days holiday

Wellbeing initiatives

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to drive security-focused AI initiatives within the CSO. You will lead a data science team and shape anomaly detection and predictive models in a data-rich banking environment.

The role emphasizes ethical AI, regulatory alignment, and collaboration with risk, cyber defence and engineering teams across the organization.

Qualifications

• Experience leading data science projects in cybersecurity or related fields.
• Strong Python programming skills and ML framework experience.
• Hands-on with cloud platforms, preferably GCP, for ML deployment.

Responsibilities

• Own delivery of security outcomes, balancing performance, explainability and risk.
• Lead a team of Data Scientists.
• Drive innovation in LLM-based security automation (prompt engineering, RAG, fine-tuning).
• Collaborate with Data Engineers to build scalable ML pipelines on GCP.
• Partner with cyber defence, risk and compliance to ensure ethical, regulated models.
• Contribute to Data Science Community of Practice to share best practices.
• Translate insights into actionable intelligence for Group COO/CSO.

Skills

Data science leadership

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

GCP

LLMs

Generative AI

Ethical AI

Communication skills

Innovation mindset

Job description

LOCATION:

Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester & Bristol

HOURS:

Full time (35 hours)

WORKING PATTERN:

Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of our time, at one of our office sites. Colleagues with disabilities can be supported with workplace adjustments including hybrid working expectations in line with our Flexibility Works policy.

About this opportunity…

At Lloyds Banking Group, we're moving to the next stages of our digital transformation, and it's our job within the Chief Security Office (CSO) to ensure that we keep our customers, colleagues and assets safe from threat. The CSO's Security Data and AI lab have a phenomenal opportunity for an experienced and dynamic Lead Data Scientist to work with our Analytics and Data Engineering feature teams.

In this role, you'll be owning the way in transforming how we detect, mitigate, and prevent cyber threats using advanced AI and machine learning. This is a rare opportunity to build the future of cybersecurity in one of the UK's most data-rich environments.

About us…

Like the modern Britain we serve, we're evolving. Investing billions in our people, data and tech to transform the way we meet the ever-changing needs of our 26 million customers. We're growing with purpose. Join us on our journey and you will too…

What you’ll do...

• Own the delivery of security outcomes, including defining and evolving approaches to anomaly detection that balance performance, explainability, and operational risk.
• Lead a team of Data Scientists
• Drive innovation in LLM-based security automation, including prompt engineering, RAG pipelines, and fine-tuning of models.
• Collaborate with Data Engineers to build scalable, secure, and production-ready ML pipelines on GCP.
• Partner with cyber defence, risk, and compliance teams to ensure models are explainable, ethical, and aligned with regulatory standards (e.g. SOC2, SWIFT, SOX).
• Contribute to the Data Science Community of Practice, helping shape best practices across the organisation.
• Translate sophisticated data insights into actionable intelligence for collaborators across the Group COO and CSO functions

What you’ll need...

• Confirmed experience in leading data science projects in cybersecurity, fraud, or behavioural analytics.
• Data Engineering - Deep expertise in Python, ML frameworks (e.g. TensorFlow, PyTorch), and cloud platforms (preferably GCP).
• Deep Learning Theory & Applications - Strong grasp of anomaly detection, time-series modelling, and deep learning architectures.
• Experience with LLMs and generative AI in production environments is highly desirable.
• Artificial Intelligence Ethics - A passion for ethical AI, model governance, and secure ML operations.
• Excellent communication and customer engagement skills
• Innovators Mentality - An innovator and change agent who keeps up to date with the latest trends and developments in data engineering and cyber security to ensure our strategies remain at the forefront of the industry.

It would be great if you also had…

• Understanding of the emerging threats within Cyber Security

About working for us

Our focus is to ensure we're inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We want our people to feel that they belong and can be their best, regardless of background, identity or culture. We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative. And it's why we especially welcome applications from under-represented groups. We' re disability confident. So, if you'd like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes…

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual bonus award, subject to Group performance
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies