Data Scientist

About FT Product & Technology

Here at the FT, gold-standard journalism is just the beginning. 500-people strong, our Product and Tech team keeps us ahead of the ever-changing digital landscape by delivering cutting-edge products to over one million digital subscribers every day. Our plans for growth rely on a diverse, dedicated and dynamic group of product, tech, delivery and data specialists - everyone’s welcome in this friendly, forward-thinking team. And with entrepreneurial spirit, intelligence and opportunity at every turn, there’s no limits to where your FT career will take you.

About the role

As a Data Scientist at the FT, you will shape the future of the products we build. By applying your analytical mindset, technical skills, and customer-first approach, you will help define the experiences we build for our subscribers and reach a wider and more diverse audience. You will be part of a supportive team that influences product strategy with dynamic cutting edge solutions, driven by our data and advanced data science and machine learning techniques. This is a unique opportunity for someone passionate about solving problems to advance a career within a growing Data Science team.

Collaboration is central to how we work. Teams of Data Scientists work together on projects alongside Developers, Product Managers, Marketers and Journalists. We believe a diverse set of opinions and backgrounds generate better ideas and solve problems faster. Our tech stack varies depending on the project, but usually involves R or Python and Google BigQuery, SingleStore or AWS Redshift. We place special importance on clear and engaging explanations of our projects and models.

We are lucky to be able to work on a wide range of ideas from across the FT. These include building metrics to understand customer behaviour; helping the business set data-driven targets; predicting which subscribers will cancel; measuring the gender balance of homepage images with facial recognition; quantifying the causal effect of user behaviour on engagement and customer lifetime value; segmenting our user base; recommending articles to users based on their reading behaviour; and many others. 

Role requirements

Essential

• A friendly and collaborative approach to the people you work with
• Proficiency with R and/or Python for data analysis and machine learning
• Working with large data sets to solve complex problems
• Building, deploying, testing and evaluating the performance of machine learning models on production systems and in end user applications
• Motivation to help others keep up-to-date with the latest developments in Data Science and AI including AI ethics

Desirable

• A talent for turning analytical results into compelling stories in written, verbal and visual form
• Experience of collaborating with stakeholders to produce data-driven solutions (or a desire to do so)
• Git or SVN knowledge
• Interest in and experience with Large Language Models and/or Natural Language Processing (NLP)
• Experience in agile teams or knowledge of agile methodologies
• Experience in media and news
• Experience producing Model[s] as a Service (MaaS)
• Experience in A/B testing
• Bachelors or Masters degree in Data Science, Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Economics, or other fields that use quantitative methods, or practical application of statistics and ML algorithms (e.g. Regression, Clustering, Decision Trees, Social Networks, Inference, Classification, Significance Tests, Time Series Analysis, Forecasting, Recommender Systems)

What’s in it for you? Our Benefits

• Annual bonus scheme
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Program
• 25 days annual paid leave
• Private Health Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave policy
• Food Vouchers
• Multisport Card
• Work-life balance and work from home practice
• Both in house and external training programs
• Your own training dedicated budget (for conferences, courses etc.)

Further Information

At the FT, we are committed to providing an inclusive working environment for all. We are an equal opportunities employer that seeks to recruit and appoint the best talent regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We also promote flexible working and will consider specific requests around flexibility for all roles where it can be accommodated. We aim to treat all employees in a fair and consistent manner, promote good working relationships to encourage high standards of conduct and performance within a work environment free from harassment, bullying and discrimination. Please let us know if you require any adjustments as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements, or have any questions, please contact a member of our HR team who will be happy to help.

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