Principal Data Scientist

Made Tech; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 105,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in public sector digital transformation is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to deliver complex client engagements. The successful candidate will lead data science initiatives while mentoring the team and ensuring exceptional client satisfaction. You'll leverage advanced machine learning techniques and collaborate with clients to drive impactful change in public services.

Benefits

30 days holiday

Flexible working hours

Part time remote working

Paid counselling

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex AI projects in an agile environment.
• Deep expertise in Data Science or AI domains.
• Proven track record in delivering high-impact data science projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead Data Science aspects of client engagements ensuring high satisfaction.
• Coach and mentor team members for performance and career growth.
• Collaborate with clients as a trusted advisor and develop lasting relationships.

Skills

Leadership

Machine Learning

Data Science

Stakeholder Management

Cloud Platforms

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Principal Data Scientist

Application Deadline: 4 July 2025

Department: Technology

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Any UK Office Hub (Bristol / London / Manchester / Swansea)

Compensation: GBP 105,000 - GBP 115,000 / year

Description

Our Principal Data Scientists are responsible for leading and delivering strategically significant, complex client engagements across our portfolio of clients.

We believe that great delivery stems from a thorough understanding of our clients and their needs, strong discipline skills and subject matter expertise, excellent leadership and a clear vision of lasting and effective change in a public sector environment. We expect our Principal Data Scientist to bring all of that and enthuse our delivery teams with the same passion.

The successful candidate will lead the Data Science aspects of our client engagements while overseeing the wider delivery within the account (or industry) when appropriate. They will coach and develop team members on their engagements providing them with detailed performance feedback, as well as monitoring overall delivery to achieve the highest levels of client satisfaction.

In addition, our Principal Data Scientists are responsible for engaging with our clients to understand their challenges and build lasting, trusted advisor relationships. They will also oversee multiple, concurrent client deliveries to help ensure quality and drive the sharing of best practice across our engagements and industries.

Our Principal Data Scientists are members of the Data & AI Practice leadership team with the responsibility to develop the capability of the practice to meet business needs and to accelerate the growth of the practice, their account and the wider business.

You will be responsible for the practice and service line-specific delivery elements of your engagement/account as well as a shared ownership for the overall delivery of client outcomes. You will leverage your client and delivery insight to support the account and industry teams to identify opportunities and develop client solutions.

The right person for this role will do this by combining their technical discipline/craft experience, leadership skills and industry network with Made Tech's unparalleled experience of delivering digital services and digital transformation for the Public Sector.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with clients to understand their needs, provide solution advice in your role as a trusted advisor and shape solutions that leverage Made Tech's wider capabilities and credentials
• Assess project performance as a part of the billable delivery team, Quality Assure (QA) the deliverables and outcomes, and ensure client satisfaction. Coach and mentor team members as well as providing direction to enable them to achieve their engagement outcomes and to develop their careers
• Act as a Technical Authority to provide oversight and ensure alignment with internal and industry best practices. Ensure engagement experience is captured and used to improve standards and contribute to Made Tech knowledge
• Participate in business development activities, including bids and pre-sales within the account, industry and practice. Coach team members on their contributions and oversee the relevant technical aspects of the proposal submission
• Undertake people management responsibilities, including performance reviews and professional development of your engagement and practice colleagues
• Serve as a thought leader within Made Tech, our account engagements and the wider public sector and represent the company at industry events

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

• Lead the delivery of high-impact data science deliveries across multiple client accounts and projects
• Design and implement advanced machine learning solutions and propositions using state-of-the-art techniques and best practices coupled with pragmatism to meet clients' needs.
• Deep expertise in one or more Data Science or AI domains
• Proven track record of leading complex AI projects in an agile environment
• Strong technical proficiency with modern ML tools and frameworks:
• PyTorch, TensorFlow, SparkMLLib, SciPy, Scikit-Learn, NLTK (etc)
• MLflow or similar ML lifecycle tools
• Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Experience with AI governance and responsible AI practices
• Understanding of public sector data requirements and compliance
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences
• Knowledge of Data & Platform Engineering practices, allowing you to interface effectively with Agile delivery teams
• Drive AI governance and ethical implementation, including model quality assurance, fairness and bias mitigation and safety and security protocols
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to client delivery teams as a billable member of the team and in providing technical oversight
• Partner with stakeholders to develop and execute AI strategy and roadmaps
• Support business development through solution design and pre-sales activities
• Maintain high billable utilisation while delivering exceptional client value
• Contribute to Made Tech's thought leadership in AI/ML
• Guide clients in building robust MLOps practices and data-driven cultures
• Hiring and line-managing data scientists and analysts

Experience in the following things isn't essential, but it's highly desirable

* Central Digital & Data Office's Data Ethics Framework

* Leadership of a data science capability or function

* Working within an account or programme leadership team

* Working within bid teams to win contracts exceeding value of GBP 1m

* Working with multidisciplinary digital and technology teams

* Working within the public sector

* Experience in hiring, forming and running teams

* Track record of sustainable AI implementations

* Experience with AI accessibility and inclusion

* Knowledge of upcoming AI regulation and its implications

Job Benefits

Support in applying

If you need this job description in another format, or other support in applying, please email [e-mail].

We believe we can use tech to make public services better. We also believe this can happen best when our own team represents the society that actually uses the services we work on. We're collectively continuing to grow a culture that is happy, healthy, safe and inspiring for people of all backgrounds and experiences, so we encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply for roles with us.

When you apply, we'll put you in touch with a talent partner who can help with any needs or adjustments we may need to make to help with your application. This includes alternative formats for documents, the time allotted for interviews and any other needs. We also welcome any feedback on how we can improve the experience for future candidates.

Life at Made Tech

We're committed to building a happy, inclusive and diverse workforce. You can get a sense of what it's like working here from our blog, where we talk about mental health, communities of practice and neurodiversity (as well as our client work and best practice).

Like many organisations, we use Slack to chat to each other. The Slack groups that have formed give an idea of the diversity within Made Tech. If you'd like to speak to someone from one of these groups about their experience as an employee, let your recruitment agent or Made Tech Talent Specialist know.

The groups are:

• antiracist-activists
• disability
• lgbtqiaplus-allies-and-activists
• neurodiversity
• parents-carers
• women-in-tech

Benefits

We are always listening to our growing teams and evolving the benefits available to our people. As we scale, as do our benefits and we are scaling quickly. We've recently introduced a flexible benefit platform which includes a Smart Tech scheme, Cycle to work scheme, and an individual benefits allowance which you can invest in a Health care cash plan or Pension plan. We're also big on connection and have an optional social and wellbeing calendar of events for all employees to join should they choose to.

Here are some of our most popular benefits listed below:

30 days Holiday - we offer 30 days of paid annual leave

Flexible Working Hours - we are flexible with what hours you work

Flexible Parental Leave - we offer flexible parental leave options

Remote Working - we offer part time remote working for all our staff

Paid counselling - we offer paid counselling as well as financial and legal advice

An increasing number of our customers are specifying a minimum of SC (security check) clearance in order to work on their projects. As a result, we're looking for all successful candidates for this role to have eligibility. Eligibility for SC requires 5 years' continuous UK residency and 5 year' employment history (or back to full-time education). Please note that if at any point during the interview process it is apparent that you may not be eligible for SC, we won't be able to progress your application and we will contact you to let you know why.