Senior Data Analyst

Elsevier; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday allowance

Private medical benefits

Pension scheme

Share option scheme

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Senior Data Analyst to lead analytics and evaluation for search and retrieval systems. You will own analytical workflows, define measurement strategies, and generate insights to improve ranking quality, relevance, and user experience.

You will work with Databricks, Spark, and SQL-based platforms to analyze large datasets, design robust experiments, and partner with product teams to drive data-informed decisions.

Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Data Analytics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related field
• Significant experience in data analysis, business intelligence, or analytics roles
• Proficiency in SQL and Python for large-scale data analysis
• Advanced experience with data visualization and BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker)
• Experience working with Databricks or similar large-scale data platforms
• Excellent understanding of experimentation design, A/B testing, and statistical analysis
• Experience defining and analyzing search/retrieval metrics (e.g., NDCG, recall, precision)
• Proven ability to translate complex data into actionable insights and influence decisions

Responsibilities

• Lead analytics and evaluation for search and retrieval systems, improving ranking quality and relevance
• Define and standardize evaluation metrics (NDCG, MAP, recall, precision, CTR)
• Analyze query behavior and user signals to identify optimization opportunities
• Conduct deep-dive analyses on ranking performance and retrieval gaps
• Support evaluation of downstream GenAI-powered features dependent on retrieval quality
• Design and lead A/B testing and experimentation frameworks for search improvements
• Collaborate with product and data science to define success metrics and experiments
• Ensure rigorous experiment design, analysis, and interpretation
• Build reusable analytics templates and scalable workflows
• Own dashboards and reporting tracking search performance and engagement
• Develop clear data storytelling for stakeholders
• Enable self-service analytics through reporting tools
• Collaborate with search data scientists, engineers, and product teams

Skills

SQL

Python

Data Visualization

Experimentation design

A/B testing

Ranking metrics

Search analytics

Communication

Education

Master’s or PhD in Data Analytics/Statistics/CS

Tools

Databricks

Tableau

Power BI

Looker

Spark

Job description

About the team: Elsevier’s mission is to help researchers, clinicians, and life sciences professionals advance discovery and improve health outcomes through trusted content, data, and analytics. As the landscape of science and healthcare evolves, we are pioneering intelligent discovery experiences — from Scopus AI and LeapSpace to ClinicalKey AI, PharmaPendium, and next-generation life sciences platforms. These products leverage retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), semantic search, and generative AI to make knowledge more discoverable, connected, and actionable across disciplines.

The Search & AI Evaluation team sits within the Platform Data Science organization and is responsible for advancing enterprise-scale search, retrieval, and evaluation capabilities across Elsevier's global products.

About the role: We are looking for a Senior Data Analyst to lead analytics and evaluation efforts for search and retrieval systems. You will own key analytical workflows, define measurement strategies, and generate insights that directly improve ranking quality, relevance, and user experience.

This role is ideal for someone with deep experience in search analytics, experimentation, and data visualization, who can operate with high autonomy and influence decision-making across cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities:

Search Evaluation & Analytics

• Perform a leading role in analysis of search and retrieval system performance, including ranking quality and relevance.
• Help define and standardize search evaluation metrics (e.g., NDCG, MAP, recall, precision, CTR).
• Analyze query behavior, user interaction signals, and content performance to identify optimization opportunities.
• Conduct deep-dive analyses on ranking performance, query intent, and retrieval gaps.
• Support evaluation of downstream applications (including GenAI-powered features) where they depend on retrieval quality.
• Help design and lead A/B testing and experimentation frameworks for search and ranking improvements.
• Partner with product and data science to define success metrics and experiment strategies.
• Ensure statistical rigor in experiment design, analysis, and interpretation.
• Build reusable experimentation templates and scalable analysis workflows.
• Own and evolve dashboards and reporting systems tracking search performance and user engagement.
• Develop clear, actionable data storytelling to communicate insights to technical and business stakeholders.
• Enable self-service analytics for partners through well-designed reporting tools.

Data Management & Tooling

• Work with large-scale datasets using modern platforms (e.g., Databricks, Spark, SQL-based systems).
• Ensure high standards for data quality, metric consistency, and instrumentation reliability.
• Collaborate with engineering to improve logging, tracking, and observability of search systems.
• Act as a key analytics partner to search data scientists, engineers, and product teams.
• Help elevate the team’s understanding of retrieval performance and measurement frameworks.

Requirements:

• Master’s or PhD in Data Analytics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• Significant experience in data analysis, business intelligence, or analytics roles
• Proficiency in SQL and Python for large-scale data analysis
• Advanced experience with data visualization and BI tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker, matplotlib, seaborn)
• Experience working with Databricks or similar large-scale data platforms
• Excellent understanding of experimentation design, A/B testing, and statistical analysis
• Experience defining and analyzing search/retrieval metrics (e.g., NDCG, recall, precision, ranking metrics)
• Proven ability to translate complex data into actionable insights and influence decisions

Preferred qualifications

• PhD in Data Analytics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• Experience working on search, ranking, or recommendation systems
• Familiarity with information retrieval concepts (e.g., indexing, ranking, query understanding)
• Exposure to clickstream data, user behavior analytics, and event tracking systems
• Experience supporting evaluation of ML-based ranking or retrieval systems
• Familiarity with RAG systems or GenAI applications

Work in a way that works for you:

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organization. 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.

• Flexible working hours - flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive.

Working for you

We know that your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. These are some of the benefits we are delighted to offer:

• Holiday allowance with the option to buy additional days
• Health screening, eye care vouchers and private medical benefits
• Life assurance, plus optional additional life cover and spouse's life cover at own cost
• Access to a competitive contributory pension scheme
• Save As You Earn share option scheme
• Access to optional self funded benefits, including electric vehicle scheme, cycle to work scheme, dental insurance, critical illness cover, health cash plan, personal travel insurance
• Travel season ticket loan
• Paid time off when you become a parent, and paid time off for carers
• Support for personal and work-related challenges
• Access to emergency care for both the elderly and children
• Time off to support the charities and causes that matter to you
• Awards to recognize key service milestones

About the business

As 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.