Principal Data Scientist

Compare the Market; London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the financial services sector seeks a Principal Data Scientist to drive innovation through AI across various business domains. This high-impact role requires extensive experience in AI solutions, strong leadership skills, and a passion for mentoring. Join a diverse team committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace.

Benefits

Generous holiday allowance

Private healthcare

Electric car scheme

Paid development and wellbeing days

Qualifications

• Extensive experience delivering high-impact AI solutions.
• Strong hands-on expertise in machine learning frameworks.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead mission-critical data initiatives from vision to deployment.
• Set best practices for experimentation and modelling across the team.
• Shape ML platform strategy, ensuring responsible AI practices.

Skills

Python

Machine Learning

Statistical Modelling

Education

Relevant degree in Machine Learning, Statistics, or Computer Science

Job description

Our purpose is to make great financial decision making a breeze for everyone, and that purpose drives us every day.
It’s why we’re on a mission to create an automated quoting engine, with the simplest of experiences, wrapped in a brand everyone loves!
We change lives by making it simple to switch and save money and that’s why good things happen when you meerkat.

We’d love you to be part of our journey!
As a Principal Data Scientist, you’ll shape the future of applied AI across our business, driving innovation in personalisation, optimisation, and intelligent decision systems.
This is a high-impact, hands-on role. You’ll lead technically complex, cross-functional projects while setting standards and direction across the Data Science team. You’ll work closely with engineering, product, and leadership to ensure our AI systems are not only effective but scalable, responsible, and future-proof.

Everyone is welcome!
We have a culture of creativity. We approach our work passionately, improve constantly and celebrate our wins at every turn. We are an inclusive workplace and our employees are comfortable bringing their authentic, whole selves to work. Everyone is welcome. Be you.
This means we’re excited to hear from people with a range of skills, experiences and ideas. We don’t expect you to tick all the boxes, but would love to hear what makes you great for this role.

Some of the great things you’ll do:
AI Strategy & Delivery
• Lead mission-critical data initiatives from vision to deployment and continuous improvement
• Solve highly complex and ambiguous problems through structured experimentation, modelling, and optimisation
• Define the technical direction for high-priority use cases across multiple domains
Scientific & Technical Leadership
• Set best practices for experimentation, modelling, and measurement across the team
• Review and guide the work of other data scientists to ensure technical excellence
• Translate emerging research and market trends into practical, high-value applications
Platform & Governance
• Shape our ML platform strategy, including architecture for scalable training, deployment, and monitoring
• Lead the definition of responsible AI practices, ensuring models are explainable, fair, and aligned with policy
• Drive innovation in MLOps tooling and end-to-end reproducibility
Team & Influence
• Act as a technical coach and mentor to senior individual contributors and early-career talent alike
• Collaborate with heads of Data, Product, and Engineering to align roadmaps and investments
• Foster a strong culture of learning, transparency, innovation, and cross-functional collaboration

What we’d like to see from you:
• Extensive experience delivering high-impact AI solutions in complex, data-rich environments
• Strong hands-on expertise in Python, machine learning frameworks, and statistical modelling
• Deep understanding of ML system design, from experimentation through to production deployment
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional technical initiatives with executive visibility
• Excellent storytelling, stakeholder influence, and strategic communication skills
• Experience mentoring senior technical talent and shaping data science culture
• Advanced knowledge of machine learning, statistics, or computer science, typically backed by a relevant degree or substantial applied experience in complex environments

There’s something for everyone.
We’re a place of opportunity. You’ll have the tools and autonomy to drive your own career, supported by a team of amazingly talented people.
And then there’s our benefits. For us, it’s not just about a competitive salary and hybrid working, we care about what matters to you. From a generous holiday allowance and private healthcare to an electric car scheme and paid development, wellbeing and CSR days, we’ve pretty much got you covered!

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