Principal Data Scientist

Trilateral Research have a fantastic opportunity for a Principal Data Scientist to join our Sociotech for Good Team. In this role you will actively lead and manage data science contributions across at strategic and operational levels, bringing best practices of commercial-level production-ready data science methods into our ethical AI. You will act as a line manager and ensure the growth and maturity of the data science function within the company via the leadership of the Data Science tribe.

Our company and what we do

At Trilateral Research we provide ethical AI solutions for tackling complex social issues, from human trafficking and child exploitation, citizen security in crisis to pollution and climate change. We transform research into innovation and sustainable impact​, focusing our efforts where we can enhance societal wellbeing.

Our products help users make decisions when tackling complex social challenges such as protecting civilians during crisis, preventing child exploitation and modern slavery. If these are the kinds of challenges you find inspiring, and you have a passion for solving problems that make a real and positive impact in the world, come talk to us.

Are you the Data Scientist we are looking for?

Beyond the core responsibilities and experience listed below, we are looking for the right kind of person to join our growing team. This role may be for you if:

• You would rather lead and nurture teams in exceling in explainable AI, than prioritising your own coding efforts.
• You would rather be given a goal and the freedom to figure out how to achieve it, than be told exactly what to do and how to do it
• You would rather creatively solve real-world problems, than write code and build technology for its own sake
• You are solutions-orientated and are comfortable proposing well-reasoned ideas in the absence of perfect knowledge
• You want to help build something important, and you understand this isn’t easy

If you are a qualified candidate and these characteristics resonate with you, we encourage you to apply

What are your responsibilities?

• Guide the company in production-ready data science components within our products, with a focus on explainable AI.
• Actively support strategic product definition and identification of the role and opportunity of ethical AI and its realisation at the product and business level. Challenging perspectives where required.
• Actively support in identifying ethical AI innovation strategic priorities and team-wide implementation of strategic priorities in collaboration with business and product management.
• Actively lead a product team incl. ML-Ops – ensuring timely and quality-assured innovation and development in line with strategic objectives
• Actively lead DS support to product implementation and ongoing support meeting customer requirements for pilots and/or production systems
• Actively lead in team-wide implementation of standards and operational procedures
• Sign-off development/ innovation conceptualisation and technical contributions to innovation proposals and business development in-line with business objectives
• Design, plan and implement technical tasks and documentation in-line with product objectives
• Provide line management to no more than 5 members of staff including active management of the full employee life cycle & performance management in line with company values
• Support internal training and development of data science expertise across the team.
• Demonstrate expertise through collaborative peer-reviewed, publication and/or conference papers and wider marketing collateral (e.g., blogs, webinars, podcasts) – working across the team as required.

Requirements

What skills and experience you will bring to the role

Interpersonal Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Willingness to learn, knowledge share, coach others and improve
• Experience in line management and supporting professional development of others
• Experience in working at a strategic level with senior management (business & technical)
• Disposition to remain calm under pressure, with a proactive approach to problem solving and risk management

General Knowledge and Technical Skills:

• Excellent organizational skills, including ability to prioritise in an agile and confident manner
• Proven design and delivery of data science initiatives, including ideation, discovery, evaluation and iteration, and deployment with live software products
• Ability to translate business and customer requirements into data science solutions, including identifying areas where data science can add high value
• Good understanding of statistics - hypothesis testing, p-values, confidence intervals, regression, classification, and optimization.
• Strong algorithmic problem-solving skills.
• Ability to design and implement user-friendly and maintainable APIs
• Experience manipulating large data sets (structured and unstructured data) through statistical software or other methods
• Experience delivering NLP projects from ideation, through discovery, iterative development, evaluation, and deployment into working software and/or products.
• Excellent technical skills – Python, SQL, ElasticSearch, Neo4J, pandas, scikit-learn, Keras, PyTorch, etc.
• Experience with natural language processing – Topic modelling, Word2Vec, Transformers
• Ability and willingness to use and learn new technologies
• Demonstrable experience and interest in the realization of ethical AI

Required Education and Experience:

• 5+ years’ experience in data science inclusive of commercial SaaS experience (Essential).
• Experience taking data science initiatives from discovery through development to successful product deployment (Essential).
• Masters/PhD in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Data Science, or related subject (Desirable)
• Experience in ML-Ops (Desirable)
• Experience with relevant AWS services (Desirable)
• Experience working in a start-up environment (Desirable)
• Demonstrable desire and motivation to solve complex challenges under conditions of uncertainty (Desirable)

About us

Our culture is based on delivering high-quality outputs, through our commitment and passion for what we do. We work in an open and collaborative environment where the team culture provides support amongst peers and colleagues. We believe in the strength of a diverse, gender-balanced environment with positive work-life balance, and value the passion and talents of our team.

Find out about our people and culture, and see how our mission drives the research projects we take on, the key data protection services we provide, and the technology products and supplementary services we develop, by visiting our website Trilateral Research.

What else do I need to know?

Our compensation package includes:

• Competitive salary
• Flexible working hours
• Remote working/working from home options
• Competitive pension scheme (applies to permanent contract only)
• Continuous career development

Location: This position is open to candidates based in the UK (Home-based/Some European travel may be required for projects)

Salary: Commensurate with experience (£65 - £70K)

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term or Permanent

How to apply

Please submit both your CV and a cover letter, linking your experience to our requirements in order to have your application considered. References will be required prior to appointment and candidates must be eligible to work in the UK.

We are an Equal Opportunities employer and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates, regardless of their age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital/civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity. We are a Disability Confident committed and Living Wage employer.

At Trilateral Research, we value privacy and data protection rights. We have a longstanding data protection culture and promote robust ethical standards in data management and research ethics. Please read our Recruitment Privacy Notice in relation to our recruitment activities before submitting your application to work with us.