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We are recruiting for 3 Data Scientists! (including one embedded role in our Sustainable Future mission)

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet.

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation.

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk .

The Roles

Nesta’s Data Analytics team is looking for three data scientists of varying seniority, to work on projects that will benefit Nesta and advance our Data Analytics capabilities. Our work is highly varied, and could include training a model for a web application or using novel data science techniques to answer questions and build knowledge to change policy.

We are seeking one Data Scientist who will be embedded in Nesta’s A Sustainable Future mission:

• A Sustainable Future is focused on making it easier for people to use clean, green sources of energy to heat and power their homes. Embedded data scientists work as part of the mission team to design and deliver data science projects that specifically address mission objectives. As an embedded data scientist you will develop specific domain expertise in mission relevant areas such as net zero, decarbonisation, home heating, and green jobs. Working to benefit the mission, you will advocate for and enable data science approaches supported by members of the Data Analytics Practice.

We have two further roles available - one for another Data Scientist and one for a Principal Data Scientist

• who will sit in the core Data Analytics Practice and work across all three of Nesta’s missions https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/nesta-strategy-2030/our-missions/ and with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) https://www.bi.team/work-with-us-3/our-expertise/

All three roles offer the opportunity to play a role in designing and delivering data science projects for public good. If you have a strong background working with data and are motivated by deploying creative data science solutions, as well as contributing to real-world outcomes for public benefit, then these are the roles for you.

The people

We are interested in people with a variety of backgrounds and a range of skill sets. If you think you don’t fit a ‘typical’ data scientist profile, but have valuable experience to offer, we are interested in hearing from you. For example, you might class yourself as a statistician who is also comfortable with predictive methods. You might be a data scientist who likes to dip their toes into engineering and writing robust pipelines. Or maybe you are a technical product manager looking to get back to doing more hands-on technical work. You might have a background in research or applied data science and be looking to continue that work or diversify the types of projects you do.

As a Data Scientist at Nesta you will:

• Deliver data-driven projects that advance Nesta’s missions, ranging from research and analysis to model development
• Design, scope and deliver projects with technical colleagues, domain experts and practitioners from other disciplines
• Communicate outputs of your work to a wide range of internal and external audiences
• Work with specialists in our Responsible Research Unit to implement work ethically and rigorously
• Manage more junior team members, providing mentorship and technical guidance (principal data scientist role only)
• Coordinate with the Data Engineering and Data Visualisation teams to realise impactful projects
• Help the team stay at the cutting edge by keeping abreast of new techniques and developments in the field and seeking ways to use them
• Collaborate with quantitative researchers on projects at the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) (which is wholly owned by Nesta).

Skills and Qualifications

Please note: We will adjust our expectations of each skill (described below) in line with the seniority of the applied-for position.

Essential

Data Scientist

• A Bachelor or Masters qualification in a relevant quantitative discipline plus one year of relevant experience in academia, industry or public/third sector

Or

• At least three years of relevant experience in academia, industry or public/third sector

Principal data scientist

• A Bachelor or Masters qualification in a relevant quantitative discipline plus three years of relevant experience in academia, industry or public/third sector

Or

• At least five years of relevant experience in academia, industry or public/third sector

For both roles

• Strong experience programming in Python
• Advanced data analysis skills. Ideally you will have proficiency with machine learning methods, but other experience is also valued (see Desirable skills below)
• Willingness to be an active team member who collaborates with others and contributes to strengthening team connections.
• Ability to design data science approaches that will solve problems and answer questions
• Ability to make decisions and prioritise tasks to keep projects on track and ensure outputs are of a high quality
• Ability to communicate with technical and non-technical stakeholders, with evidence of clear and structured written outputs such as blogs, reports or papers.

Desirable

• Experience of data engineering methods such as scalable data collection (e.g. APIs, web-scraping), data pipeline technologies (e.g. Airflow, Luigi, Metaflow) or database management systems (SQL or NoSQL)
• Experience in statistical methods such as, experimental data analysis, statistical explanatory modelling or causal inference.
• Experience programming in R
• Domain knowledge in one of Nesta’s three missions
• Experience using Git and GitHub (or equivalent) for version control, preferably in a collaborative or production environment
• Project management experience
• Line management or mentorship experience

The Team

The post holders will work within Nesta’s Data Analytics Practice. We are a diverse team, of approximately 25 members, who include data scientists, engineers and visualisation experts from backgrounds, covering academia, industry and the third/public sector.

We deliver data analytics work for all of Nesta’s missions and BIT’s goals. Projects may involve a wide range of methods, from data collection and analysis, to machine learning, natural language processing, and network science. We are curious about new methods and enthusiastic about working with people from other disciplines.

As well as providing data driven solutions, we think critically about data for social impact. This includes identifying who is affected by our work and how, assessing the trade-offs between short- and long-term priorities and the values that are embedded in our work. We strive to balance rigour and integrity in our work, as well as principles such as openness, with the real-world needs of the organisation and wider world.

Learning and development is a high priority in the team. There are opportunities for collaborative and individual learning and there may also be opportunities to take secondments to other parts of the organisation.

You can read more about our work on the Data analytics at Nesta blog .

What we offer

Salary range for a data scientist (embedded in ASF): £43k-£58k

Salary range for a data scientist (in core team): £43k-£58k

Salary range for principal data scientist (in core team): £50k-£62k

Each position includes an array of benefits, including free private health care insurance, health care plans, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more.

Location: This role can be based in London and all of our employees work in a hybrid model.

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Reports to: Director of Data Analytics

Making an application

To apply for any of these roles , please submit your application before 8:00am on Friday 28th of April 2023. Please submit a CV and answer the questions on Applied.

We will review applications each week whilst the job advertisement is live. Roles may be filled at any point, when a suitable candidate is found. If successful you will be invited to interview and to complete a short technical task.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results.

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.