Data Scientist

Salary: National ranging from £47,000 to £67,000 and London from London £50,000 - £75,000 per annum

Are you someone who wants to join the Data Strategy & Services department at the FCA?

In Data Strategy & Services, we believe in doing things differently. We believe the best approach is sometimes a new approach. We place emphasis on curiosity and experimentation. We collaborate widely with academics, innovative companies and the rest of the FCA. We believe that people need space to continue learning and the support to develop new ideas, so we commit to giving them both

What You Will Be Doing

We are recruiting a Data Scientist to work in the Data Discovery and Research Team (DDR). The ideal candidate will be highly analytical and detail-oriented with a passion for data, problem-solving and continuous learning. As a Data Scientist, you will work closely with cross-functional teams across the FCA to ensure data is properly integrated, pipelines are efficient, reliable, and scalable.

The successful candidate will design and carry out rigorous experimentation and development work both independently and as part of a team, working towards the departments common objectives. As a Data Scientist, you will contribute to team efforts to address business challenges by experimenting and applying new technologies to automate processes.

You will contribute to team efforts to address business challenges by experimenting and applying new technologies to automate processes.

• Your colleagues are building an understanding of the business’ data pain points. You will use new and existing data sources with data science toolsets (including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and operational research) to provide new and innovative solutions, delivering insight and informing data-led decisions
• You will work individually, with the team and cross-functionally with colleagues in the department, division and across the FCA to devise and deliver solutions
• Present, disseminate and explain our work to a diverse group of stakeholders via presentations, reports, and workshops
• Mentor junior staff by providing guidance throughout data science related projects

What You Will Get From The Role

• Working with likeminded colleagues to advanced analytical skills and expertise extract valuable insights, identify patterns and help the organisation spot and stop harm faster
• Play a key role in delivering the FCA Data Strategy agenda across the FCA
• The opportunity to build productive relationships across the FCA, enabling internal stakeholders to achieve their strategic objectives
• The opportunity to work in a new team that will drive the organisation towards becoming a more data-enabled organisation

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core Benefits That You Will Receive As Standard Are

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Private healthcare with Bupa
• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)
• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary
• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The Skills And Experience You’ll Have

Minimum

We're a signatory to the Government's Disability Confident scheme. This means that we guarantee an interview to any disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Experience in applying data science techniques to solve business problems
• Excellent Communication Skills – it is incredibly important to describe findings to a technical and non-technical audience
• Ability to think through problems creatively and independently

Essential

• Practical experience working closely with diverse stakeholders to identify business problems and use data to propose solutions for effective decision making
• Skilled in programming languages such as R, Python, and database query languages like SQL is desirable. Familiarity with Scala, Java, or C++ is an added advantage
• Experienced in a variety of Data Science techniques. It would be beneficial to have knowledge of methods such as Natural Language Processing, Network Analytics, Predictive Modelling
• Experience with Data Visualization Tools like Tableau

About The FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

We particularly welcome applications from women, disabled, and minority ethnic candidates, as under-represented groups.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.

Multilocation & hybrid working

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices.  This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

Useful information

Applications for this role close on at midnight on Monday 25 September 2023.

This role is graded as Senior Associate

Got a question?

If you are interested learning more about the role, please contact the following:

For internal applicants, please contact Lucy Shave on Lucy.Shave@fca.org.uk

For external applicants, please contact Ifrah Azam on Ifrah.Azam@fca.org.uk

What To Expect From Our Assessment And Selection Process

The assessment process consists of a competency based interview.