Length of employment:
Job Summary:
Are you looking for a role where you can use data science to influence, innovate and inspire improvements?
Would you love the opportunity to use our wealth of data to inform the customer journey for millions of users?
DWP is the UK's largest government department. We help people into work and make payments worth over £195bn a year to support some of society's most vulnerable people.
We're using fresh ideas to drive a once in a generation transformation of government services, creating innovative, scalable, and user-centric digital solutions - join us as a Data Scientist and help us get this right.
If you can use a variety of programming languages or data science techniques to harness the power of data and would like to bring your analytical skills, curiosity, and innovation to bear, we'd love to hear from you.
Please note this role requires you to passSecurity Checkclearance. For further information, please see 'Selection process details'.
Job Description:
Joining the Working Age Services (WAS) team, you'll apply data science on a massive scale and help influence outcomes that affect millions of UK citizens.
WAS Data Scientists are part of the multidisciplinary development teams that design and deliver new features for the Universal Credit (UC) digital service. WAS is an evolving part of DWP, expanding to support ambitious plans for labour market growth, such as the Jobs and Careers Service. We use our expertise in datasets and data science techniques to ensure the development of the service is supported by data, helping to improve outcomes for UC claimants, users of emerging labour market services and DWP staff.
DWP Data Scientists collaborate with colleagues from a range of different digital professions to promote the use of data. Your primary stakeholders will include the Design & Build and Strategy teams that support the Universal Credit programme, but you'll also work closely with members of the Data Practice across DWP.
Data Science requests are commissioned by primary stakeholders, and include feature discovery & prioritisation, hypothesis testing, trial & feature evaluation, natural language processing & machine learning, and success measures. You'll also contribute to the delivery of cross-cutting Data Science projects, aiming to develop our technical capabilities in areas such as machine learning, visualisation and experimentation.
DWP Digital is a great place to work, learn and grow your career. We provide comprehensive training and a collaborative environment that encourages continuous professional development.
We care about our employees and can offer you an environment that is family-friendly, supportive and inclusive in an organisation with real social purpose.
We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
- Generous annual leave - at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro-rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
- Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
- Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service.
- Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
- An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women's Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.
Salary Information
Pay for this role is from £42,614 to £55,091.
The maximum salary for the grade is £45,081, however a Digital Allowance of up to £10,010 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed.
Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.
Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary.
Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater.
When giving details in your employment history you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria below:
- Academic background in Data Science, Maths, Statistics or Computer Science or equivalent Data Science-related business experience.
- Experience of writing code in R, Python or SQL.
- Hands-on experience using data science to solve problems or improve established processes.
- Stakeholder management skills and experience working with colleagues to understand their requirements and deliver complex analytical projects in a timely manner.
- Being proactive in recognising opportunities to use Data Science to contribute to team or wider organisational priorities.
If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact .
Stage 1: Application
Your application will consist of four parts:
1. A Personal Details application form.
2. Civil Service Numerical Test - a fter submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete the Civil Service Numerical Test. I f you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended). The closing date for a fully completed application is Sunday 15th June at 23:55pm.
Please allow sufficient time to complete the online tests and your full written application before the deadline.
If you fail to complete the online tests and full written application before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the tests will be available when you are invited to take the tests.
The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.
Following successful completion of thetests, you will then be asked to complete:
3. Your employment history detailing your responsibilities plus your qualifications and relevant training which align to this job role based on the Person Specification.
Please copy this information into the box field provided.
4. Personal Statement (250 words) - as part of the Personal Statement Section of the application, we require you to provide evidence of the following:
- How you use data science to solve a business problem or improve an established process.
Please use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach to answer this question.
Technical Skills (250 words) - candidates will also be asked to provide a 250-worded technical statement for each of the technical skills required.
The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge.
An initial sift will be conducted using the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift.
For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.
Applications will be sifted at regular intervals from the date the posts are advertised. Please apply as soon as you can, do not wait until the end of the campaign.
Important Information
- You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
- Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
- If your employment history or technical statement contain any personal details your application will be withdrawn.
- We recognise that AI may be helpful when applying for this role, but it is important to use it in the right way. Read the DWP AI Candidate Guide to understand how you can make the best use of GenAI while ensuring your application remains authentic and effective.
Stage 2: Interview
If you're successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the essential criteria and Technical Skills listed above.
You will be asked to do a 10-minute presentation on a specific topic. The use of visual aids such as PowerPoint is optional. There will be a further 5 minutes for questions on your presentation. The presentation details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.
As part of the interview, you will also be asked to provide evidence that you are able to code.
Interviews will take place from mid July 2025. Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed.
Further Information:
Find out more about Working for DWP
If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.
All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location.
Security Clearance Requirement
You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.
For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website .
Reasonable Adjustment
At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.
We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the "Reasonable Adjustments" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.
For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page.
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.
