Data Scientist Specialist - Reinforcement Learning

London, Birmingham or Bristol

3 days in the office/2 wherever

About EE

We’re EE. We are the biggest mobile and broadband operator in the UK and we have a relationship in every second household in the country. But we’re for everyone, on any network – serving up new tech, new services, and heaps of inspiration for every aspect of your connected life.

We’ve been awarded the UK’s best network for the last 10 years. It’s central to our vision – to be the most personal customer-focused technology company in the UK.

That means earning a place on customers’ home screens by offering them more than ever before, whether that’s helping their home run smarter with EE Home, levelling up their play with EE Game, helping them work on their terms with EE Work, or even unleashing their kids’ learning with EE Learn. 

We’re also part of BT Group, which we’re even bigger than you might think. Millions of people rely on us every day to help them live their lives, power their businesses, and keep their public services running. We connect friends to family, clients to colleagues, people to possibilities. We keep the wheels of business spinning, and the emergency services responding. 

We think we’ve got something special here. We want everyone to feel proud about working at EE – and feel excited about where we’re going and what we’re going to do. Want to join in? 

Why this job matters

In this job you’ll be working closely with a Data Science Capability team to deliver solutions that meet the business’ strategic direction. You will be expected to be comfortable working with very large datasets, deep learning frameworks, and advanced statistical techniques.

You will be developing new features to improve our existing RL models in production and working to extend our reinforcement learning and continuous AB testing capabilities. You’ll also need to have good communication skills and be able to explain your output clearly to all levels of the business.

What you’ll be doing

• Uses advanced statistical analysis to select and tune algorithms and quantify performance in a business relevant way.
• Tells engaging stories using non-technical language and exciting visualisations to influence change.
• Deploys machine learning models as resilient applications within a reinforcement learning setting.
• You will implement solutions from primary research papers, keeping the team at the cutting edge of technology.
• You will lead and upskill the team in deep reinforcement learning, sharing your experience through creating learning resources.
• You will feel confident extracting and manipulating data from our various data stores and storage frameworks.
• Owning Outcomes: Works with senior technical stakeholders to understand the business problem and translate into deliverables, making the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation.
• Building for the Future: You will lead new chapter initiatives and input into the data science strategy.

The skills and experience you will have under your belt

• Masters/PhD in relevant field or considerable experience related to RL.
• Experience with Deep Reinforcement Learning frameworks such as OpenAI’s Gym Library
• Experience with deep learning libraries such PyTorch, Tensorflow, or others. 
• Advanced statistics such as sequential analysis and/or bandit algorithms (desirable)
• Programming skills in Python and SQL. (Terraform is desirable)
• Appreciation of good software engineering practice e.g. version control, test driven development.
• Hands on experience using big data technologies such as Apache Beam and Vertex AI.
• GCP (or other cloud platform) experience is desirable.

What's in it for you? What are the benefits?

At BT, we entertain, educate and empower millions of people every single day. We’re a brand built on connecting people – whether that’s friends, family, businesses or communities. Working here, you’ll receive an attractive salary and a range of competitive benefits, but – more than that – you’ll be joining an ambitious organisation with a culture of togetherness, collaboration and inclusivity, that takes a genuine and proactive interest in your progress and development. Benefits of working for BT include:

• Competitive salary 
• Performance related bonus - 10%
• World-class training and development opportunities
• 25 days’ annual leave (not including bank holidays)
• Volunteering days, so you can give back to your local community
• Discounted broadband, mobile and TV packages
• Pension scheme - you contribute 5%, BT contributes 10%
• Flexible benefits to fit around you

BT is an equal opportunities employer. We’re working hard to create an inclusive working environment, where people from all backgrounds can succeed. We want to make sure your recruitment experience is the best it can be – so, if you’re selected for an interview, please let us know if there’s any adjustments we can make that would be helpful for you.

Our leadership standards

Looking in:
Leading inclusively and Safely
I inspire and build trust through self-awareness, honesty and integrity.
Owning outcomes
I take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation.

Looking out:
Delivering for the customer
I execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business.
Commercially savvy
I demonstrate strong commercial focus, bringing an external perspective to decision-making.

Looking to the future:
Growth mindset
I experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation.
Building for the future
I build diverse future-ready teams where all individuals can be at their best.

We value diversity and celebrate difference. ‘We embed diversity and inclusion into everything that we do. It’s fundamental to our purpose: we connect for good.’ 

We all stick to the same values: Personal, Simple, and Brilliant. From day one, you’ll get stuck in to tough challenges, pitch in with ideas, make things happen. But you won’t be alone: we’ll be there with help and support, learning and development. 

A FEW POINTS TO NOTE:

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.