The Role Optima Partners is a forward-thinking
professional services firm on an exciting growth trajectory. As we
expand from 50 to 200 employees over the next two years, we are
strengthening our team and are now looking for a skilled and
experienced Head of Analytics & Data Science to lead and guide
a team of data science professionals in the data space to help our
clients deliver on their chosen business priorities. As Head of
Analytics and Data Science, you will play a leading role in driving
the analytics & data science agenda in the Advanced Data
Practice. Your primary role will be to develop and grow a team of
data analysts and data scientists as they deliver across a varied
portfolio of client facing projects. You will support business
development leads in creating and converting new opportunities, as
the technical authority on application of data science in use cases
across all our sectors. You will use your knowledge and practical
experience to develop a best practice operating model to assure
robust and commercially viable machine learning solutions are
deployed and adopted with clients. You will line-manage members of
the Decision Sciences and Machine Learning team, setting their
goals, helping their personal development and enhancing overall
colleague satisfaction. This is a fantastic opportunity for a
passionate and experienced data science practitioner looking to
progress their career in a leadership role, to drive forward an
ambitious data science agenda. In return, you will benefit from our
Advanced Data Practice’s continuous learning and development,
helping us all to stay at the forefront of a fast-paced data-driven
world. Key Responsibilities - Line Management: Managing 8-10 team
data scientists and analysts (via 2-3 lead/managers), looking after
their performance, PDP and career growth. Keeping abreast of their
workstack, client engagements and contribution to the DSML
knowledge base. Looking after their wellbeing and pastoral care. -
Client delivery: Delivery assurance on client projects, principally
in the role of a technical oversight or technical expert. Providing
client teams with best practice methods and standards in principled
application of data science to achieve business goals. Ensuring
robust project management and consulting approaches are trained and
adhered to, and providing oversight/quality checking of models and
client facing insights. - Business and Commercial Development:
support the Director of DSML and Director of Solutions in maturing
BD opportunities, by co-attending sessions (on-site or remote),
co-authoring slide materials. Work with the Commercial function to
solidify our data science footprint in existing clients, ensuring
strong health of existing engagements and roll-overs, and providing
relevant information into commercial planning material. - Financial
Discipline: support the DSML director in having an accurate view of
the team’s key financial metrics (Metrics That Matter) supporting
tight team discipline on commercial draw-down and reporting. You
will work with the delivery team and client engagement managers to
set standard ways of working and templated approaches to different
types of engagements. You will be a natural communicator, able to
articulate business problems/requirements to data scientists and
engineers within delivery teams and data science/engineering
solutions and concepts to business stakeholders. You will also have
had experience in delivering technical data projects or have a
strong grounding in delivery of large-scale data projects and have
performed a translation role between business and technical
stakeholders. Skills and Experience The Person - A highly
motivated, enthused, and energised attitude. - A solution-finding
mindset that seeks solutions rather than spots obstacles. - Passion
to foster a One-Team mentality, through driving and promoting a
dynamic team activity agenda. - A passion to nurture and grow
talent in the Advanced Data Practice. Qualifications and Education
Requirements - Min 2.1 degree in a scientific/mathematical
discipline (STEM). - Preferably a MSc/other postgraduate degree in
a quantitative discipline. - A postgraduate degree (MSc/PhD) in a
quantitative discipline. - Desired: professional qualification or
membership of a data science-related body. Key Technical Skills -
Ability to abstract complex business problems into data, model and
decisioning ecosystems, articulating clearly to business leaders
how these assets fit together and address their problem. - Advanced
knowledge of Statistics (including design and analysis of
experiments, uncertainty quantification, range of predictive
modelling methods). - Advanced knowledge of ML techniques (in both
a supervised and unsupervised learning context). - Proficient in a
range of programming languages (Python and/or R preferable, SQL,
C#, Java). - Solid grasp of popular and emerging technology stack
for building and orchestrating ML solutions and decision
algorithms, such as Databricks. - A strong grasp of profit-loss
dynamics and value drivers in a range of commercial settings. Key
Business Skills - Ability to spot commercial opportunities for data
science use cases in existing and new client conversations. -
Excellent people skills, with ability to engage confidently with
senior/C-suite leadership within clients. - Strong coaching and
mentoring skills. - Excellent written and presentation skills. The
Company Optima Partners is an advanced data and business
consultancy headquartered in Edinburgh, UK. We are a
practitioner-led organisation that collaborates with top consumer
brands to drive transformation and foster customer-centricity
through our expertise in customer strategy, innovative design, and
advanced data science and engineering. We help our clients get
closer to their customers, to truly understand them, and deliver
exactly the right products, engagement, and experiences across all
channels and interactions. We specialise in unlocking latent value
within organisations through a three-pronged approach that focuses
on identifying and enhancing value for customers, within the
customer base, and within the business itself. In doing so, we
foster sustainable value, paving the way for consistent business
growth. We work with leading consumer brands to tackle and overcome
complex business and customer problems to drive transformation and
champion customer-centric agendas. We are proud to include some of
the leading UK and global brands among our current clients such as
Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Bank of Ireland, Nationwide,
Aviva, Biogen, Eon Next, OVO, Virgin Media O2, BT, HMD Global,
Centrica, and GSK. We are obsessive about delivering value for our
clients and work in a collaborative, engaged, and creative way with
our colleagues and clients. We strive to support the transition of
knowledge and capability into strategic teams. In the
pharmaceutical sector, we are internationally recognised for our
expertise in early-phase drug discovery, genomics, and human
genetics. In late 2023, we proudly launched our new division,
bioXcelerate AI, which stands at the forefront of revolutionising
life sciences and healthcare research. bioXcelerate AI uses
state-of-the-art data science and proprietary algorithms to
accelerate the transformation of data into actionable insights,
redefining industry standards. #J-18808-Ljbffr
