Senior Data Scientist

Job band: D
Contract type: Permanent, Full‑time
Department: BBC R&D
Location: London – Hybrid, Manchester – Hybrid
Proposed salary range: up to £69,700, depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience.
We’re also happy to discuss flexible working; you may indicate your preference in your application. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at the offer stage.

BBC R&D is hiring a Senior Data Scientist to join our AI Research team, working at the forefront of AI, news and broadcasting. You’ll tackle complex, high‑impact challenges – from automated fact verification to contextual language understanding and developing editorially aligned LLMs – and see your work embedded in BBC News products, journalistic workflows and editorial decision‑making.

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• Innovate and solve complex problems: apply creative thinking and sound judgment to develop innovative solutions to technical challenges, often exploring diverse approaches.
  
• Prototype and evaluate technologies: design, build and test prototypes to explore research questions and assess new technologies through trials, lab tests and user feedback.
  
• Drive impact through knowledge transfer: translate research outcomes into practical solutions for the BBC or broader industry via operational systems, open‑source contributions or standards input.
  
• Collaborate across and beyond the BBC: work closely with internal teams and external partners, including universities and manufacturers, to deliver impactful results on joint projects.
  
• Communicate and represent the BBC: share findings through internal documentation, external publications and research conferences.
  

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• Bachelor’s, Master’s or Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science or a closely related discipline (or equivalent practical experience).
  
• Hands‑on experience with cutting‑edge NLP models (GPT family, Google Gemini, Claude, BERT) and proficiency in frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow and Scikit‑Learn.
  
• Excellent Python coding abilities and familiarity with software engineering best practices.
  
• Proven track record in designing experiments, building training pipelines and translating business needs into technical solutions.
  
• Competence in cloud deployment, data management and MLOps workflows, including versioning and performance evaluation.
  

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• Experience deploying systems to Azure and/or OpenStack, with a strong grasp of cloud‑native architectures and best practices.
  
• Proven web application development experience, from building responsive UIs to integrating complex back‑ends.
  
• Experience managing and evolving large‑scale codebases with a focus on maintainability, scalability and clean architecture.
  
• Collaborative approach to innovation, working closely with Data Scientists, ML Engineers and researchers to translate cutting‑edge ideas into production‑ready solutions.
  
• Academic background, participation in published documents within your area of specialism.
  

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Contracts of Employment policy. Failure to disclose may result in withdrawal of your offer.