Principal Data Scientist I

Elsevier; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Shared parental leave

Study assistance

Sabbaticals

Wellbeing initiatives

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to provide technical leadership across data science teams, shaping AI, NLP and generative AI solutions for knowledge discovery and decision support. You will set standards, governance, and oversee architecture while guiding delivery with hands-on involvement when required.

You will mentor teams, harmonise tooling, and communicate strategy to senior stakeholders, ensuring high-quality, scalable implementations across our life sciences platforms.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in data science, AI, ML, NLP, information retrieval, or a related field at senior/principal level.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction and architectural standards for AI/ML, NLP, and generative AI solutions across teams.
• Guide integration of metadata, ontologies, taxonomies into AI workflows for reusable patterns.
• Review code and architecture for production readiness; step in hands-on when needed.
• Unify disparate approaches into shared libraries and frameworks to reduce duplication.
• Define and maintain standards, evaluation and monitoring frameworks for quality and reliability.
• Lead or contribute to AI governance, including model risk and regulatory adherence.
• Mentor and coach multiple data science teams to raise capability and ensure high-quality delivery.
• Represent data science in senior management meetings and translate business priorities into technical direction.

Skills

Senior leadership

Python

NLP

LLMs

AI governance

Stakeholder management

Cloud platforms

Research & architecture

Tools

LLM platforms

RAG systems

Vector search

Job description

About our Team

Data Science Life Sciences is a diverse team focusing on GenAI, ML, NLP. We mainly develop best-in-class enrichment pipelines for Elsevier’s life science .com products such as Reaxys, Embase and Pharmapendium.

About the Role

As Principal Data Scientist (AI/NLP & Generative AI), you will provide technical and thought leadership across multiple data science teams, shaping how we design and deliver advanced AI, NLP, and generative AI solutions for knowledge discovery and decision support. Your focus is on setting technical standards, quality, and governance across teams, representing data science in senior forums, and staying close enough to the work to guide architecture and delivery decisions. Hands on involvement will be occasional, on high priority or high risk work.

Responsibilities:

Technical Direction & Oversight

• Set technical direction and architectural standards for AI/ML, NLP, and generative AI solutions across teams, including LLM powered workflows, RAG systems, retrieval, ranking, and recommendation capabilities.


• Guide how scientific metadata, ontologies, taxonomies, and knowledge assets are integrated into AI workflows, favouring reusable, consistent patterns over one off implementations.


• Review code, architecture, and technical decisions across teams to ensure production readiness, stepping in hands on when needed.


• Unify disparate technical approaches into shared patterns, libraries, or frameworks, reducing duplication and divergence across teams.

Standards, Quality & Governance

• Define and maintain shared standards, evaluation, and monitoring frameworks that ensure consistent quality, trust, and reliability across all teams.


• Lead or contribute to AI governance and compliance activities, including responsible AI practices, model risk assessment, and regulatory adherence.


• Conduct or oversee technical reviews and quality audits, identifying gaps and driving remediation.

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Mentor and coach across multiple data science teams to raise capability and support consistent, high quality delivery.


• Bring uniformity and agility to distributed teams by harmonising tooling and delivery practices without stifling team level autonomy.


• Represent the data science function in senior management and governance meetings, communicating strategy, risk, and progress to non technical stakeholders.


• Act as a trusted technical advisor to senior leadership, translating business priorities into technical direction.


• Collaborate across teams and functions to turn complex, ambiguous challenges into practical solutions.

Requirements:

• Significant experience in data science, AI, machine learning, NLP, information retrieval, or a related field, including operating at a senior or principal level.


• Strong hands on background building AI/ML, NLP, generative AI, and retrieval based systems, with the ability to step into technical detail when required.


• Expertise with LLMs, including fine tuning, prompt engineering, grounding strategies, and responsible AI practices.


• Demonstrated experience defining technical standards, evaluation frameworks, or governance processes across teams, not just within a single project.


• Working knowledge of AI governance, model risk, and compliance requirements.


• Strong Python skills and solid machine learning fundamentals.


• Experience with large scale text or content rich datasets and modern AI/ML frameworks.


• Experience with RAG, semantic, vector, or hybrid search, and experimentation approaches that measure user impact.


• Familiarity with cloud platforms and modern software engineering practices.


• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with proven ability to represent technical work to senior and non technical audiences.


• Strong mentoring and leadership skills, with experience influencing and coordinating across multiple teams.

Work in a Way That Works for You

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance, and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long-term goals.

Working Pattern

Working flexible hours - flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive

About the Business

A global leader in information and analytics, we help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Building on our publishing heritage, we combine quality information and vast data sets with analytics to support visionary science and research, health education and interactive learning, as well as exceptional healthcare and clinical practice. At Elsevier, your work contributes to the world's grand challenges and a more sustainable future. We harness innovative technologies to support science and healthcare to partner for a better world.

If performed in NLD Amsterdam (Radarweg), the base pay range is €86,900 - €144,600.This job may be subject to a collective labor agreement in the Netherlands. Please consult with the hiring team for further details.

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