Lead Data Scientist

Lloyds Banking Group; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 15%

Annual bonus

Share schemes

Discounts on lifestyle products

30 days’ holiday

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking a Lead Data Scientist within the Chief Security Office to shape how we detect, mitigate, and prevent cyber threats using AI. You’ll own security outcomes, lead a Data Science team, and push forward on LLM-based security automation in a data-rich environment.

Collaborating with Data Engineers, you’ll build secure ML pipelines on GCP, ensuring models are explainable, ethical, and compliant with SOC2/SOX.

Qualifications

• Experience leading data science projects in cybersecurity, fraud, or behavioural analytics.
• Strong Python and ML framework skills with cloud platforms (GCP preferred).
• Experience with LLMs and generative AI in production environments is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Own the delivery of security outcomes, including anomaly detection approaches balancing performance and risk.
• Lead a team of Data Scientists.
• Drive innovation in LLM-based security automation (prompt engineering, RAG pipelines, fine-tuning).
• Collaborate with Data Engineers to build scalable, secure ML pipelines on GCP.
• Partner with cyber defence, risk, and compliance teams to ensure models are explainable and compliant (SOC2, SWIFT, SOX).
• Contribute to Data Science Community of Practice across the organisation.
• Translate data insights into actionable intelligence for cross-group collaboration.

Skills

Leadership

Security data science

Communication

Innovator mentality

Ethical AI

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

GCP

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.

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