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Data Scientist, Data and Statistics Division

The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

Department Overview

The Data and Statistics Division (DSD), part of the Data and Analytics Transformation Directorate (DAT), is the central data division within the Bank. Our responsibilities span production and management of some of the Bank’s core datasets and aspects of data management and data culture that reach into the working lives of almost all Bank staff. Data are collected from banks and building societies, credit unions, insurance companies and regulated mortgage lenders.

We have evolved our operating model, culture and approach to management, to enable delivery of the technology & analytical process changes we need. These changes include migrating analysis out of Excel and ageing in-house data management software towards scripting packages like R and providing data and analytics to others using Shiny and Tableau. We are also building our engagement with the PRA, Technology, and other areas to ensure that our outputs are meaningful and to improve end-to-end data pipelines.

The role offers the opportunity to be at the forefront of much of the change agenda, given the volume, range and complexity of data for which we’re responsible. In this landscape, there is the room for creativity, eagerness to learn and keenness to face new data challenges.

Job description

We are seeking proactive and strongly motivated data scientists to engage with a variety of data-related and engagement challenges in DSD. The role offers scope to develop new skills and to support improvements to our analytical techniques and engagement across the Bank.

At a high level, the role will allow the job holder to use their analytical skills to produce high quality statistics and analysis on a variety of different data sets. They offer the opportunity of developing both analytical and technical skills, and have the flexibility to be moulded towards the job holder’s current skills.

The role will involve working with regulatory data collections, both COREP/FINREP and Solvency II, to provide analysis and to support the assessment of data quality. The job holder will be expected to identify innovative ways to improve the existing approaches and to lead on the implementation of these.

The role also provides the opportunity to use skills in tools and techniques, such as R, Python and machine learning as we look for innovative ways to benefit from the power these offer our work. Using these tools in line with best practice is one of DAT’s broader directorate objectives. The successful applicants will collaborate and have the opportunity to upskill and mentor others in the team and across DAT. The team also works closely with other areas across the Bank, including MA, FSSR, and the PRA.

Role Requirements

• Strong demonstrable experience of using R and Python programming languages (and knowledge of SQL) and advanced data manipulation techniques with an ability to understand their practical application in numerical analysis and data quality.
• Demonstrable experience in identifying and implementing improvements in data processes through the use of automation, with experience of handling and manipulating large volumes of data in an efficient, effective and accurate way.
• Understanding of regulatory data for financial institutions, whether COREP/FINREP or Solvency II.
• Strong communication skills and interpersonal skills, to build positive relationships with reporting institutions and within the Bank.
• Strong workload management skills, demonstrating a high level of proactivity, motivation and an ability to effectively re-prioritise.
• Demonstrable capability to change, evolve and to learn new tools and techniques and help and encourage others to do likewise.
• Experience of implementing machine learning models.

• Understanding of regulatory requirements for banks (e.g. capital, liquidity, balance sheet).
• Experience of developing and improving data pipelines.
• Experience of data visualisation, particularly using R Shiny or Tableau.
• Experience of using collaboration, version control and DevOps tools including but not limited to Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, Git is an added advantage.
• Experience of line management and/or project management responsibilities.

Our Approach to Inclusion

The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.

At the Bank of England we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.

We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.

For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.

Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme. You can find more information on what this means here. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Salary and Benefits Information

This specific role offers a base salary of £50,630 per annum (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis. We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits. (Note that for the Benefits year 2023/24, this will increase to 8%)
• 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

National Security Vetting Process

Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank’s Privacy Notice at Privacy and the Bank of England | Bank of England.

The Application Process

Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.

The closing date for applications is Friday 07 July 2023.

We anticipate that the assessment process will comprise of two rounds of interviews.