Data Scientist

The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

Research and Statistics Divisions – Advanced Analytics, the Centre for Central Banking Studies, the Research Hub and the Data and Division – lie at the heart of the Bank of England, acting as a centre of excellence for analytics, research and statistics across the institution as a whole.

Data and Statistics Division(DSD) is the Bank’s centre of expertise for compilation, dissemination and publication of regulatory and statistical data, promoting innovation and quality to support analysis, policy and decision making by the Bank’s Committees, UK government departments and international organisations.

Data is collected from banks and buildings societies, credit unions, insurance companies and regulated mortgage lenders and administrators. This takes place via 35 statistical collections and over 200 regulatory collections.

We cleanse a sizeable proportion of these datasets and publish a large number of Statistical data via our interactive database. We support MPC, FPC and PRA Board and our data are used in the Inflation Report, Financial Stability Report, Credit Conditions Review, Stress Test Results, FPC Core Indicators and Quarterly Bulletin.

Department Overview

The Data and Statistics Division (DSD), part of the Bank’s Data and Analytics Transformation Directorate (DAT), is the division with responsibilities that span production and management of some of the Bank’s core datasets. The directorate more broadly is responsible for aspects of data management and data culture that reach into the working lives of almost all Bank staff.

This is a time of significant change as the way we collect and handle data, and compile statistics, evolves in the light of the use of new technology with DSD at the forefront. The change draws on a wide range of skills, including data management; data science; data systems, data modelling; operational work; subject matter expertise in aspects of economics, statistics and banking and insurance supervision; and people and process management.

The advertised role is in the Regulatory Data Group (RDG) whose focus is on the collection and quality checking of regulatory data for PRA Supervision and other teams across the Bank, as well as compilation and publication of aggregate data. This particular role encompasses both insurance firms and credit unions.

Data compiled by RDG are used by the PRA, the ONS and a variety of international organisations, including the OECD. RDG has made good progress building skills in data science applications, such as R and Tableau, in order to build new tools to better facilitate the work of the team. Such experience can contribute to wider divisional and directorate work, including the large project that DSD is undertaking to replace and upgrade its in-house database and standardise its tools for data quality checking.

Job description

RDG are looking for a Data Scientist who possesses, or can develop, a high level of regulatory data expertise and has the relevant skills to implement processes for quality assuring very large volumes of data.

We are seeking a proactive and strongly motivated individual to support and develop the processes used to compile, analyse, and publish the Bank of England’s high profile regulatory datasets.

The role will encompass responsibilities for the regular analysis, data quality assurance and production of high-profile regulatory datasets. In addition, the individual will have the opportunity to work across RDG and DSD to develop efficient approaches for quality assurance for our data and especially answering questions of what more can we do to improve our data quality.

This Data Scientist role provides a good opportunity for candidates who are interested in working in a high profile, live, operational, and analytical area of the Bank.

As part of this role, your focus will be:

• RDG’s approach to data quality assurance while also ensuring that the underlying processes are reviewed regularly to improve efficiency. This is likely to involve the development of innovative approaches in collaboration with other areas of RDG and DSD where relevant.
• Lead on developing data liaison with our customers while ensuring that analytical pipelines and processes remain relevant and fit for purposes.
• Play a leadership role in group wide change projects to develop improved processes for data quality.
• Lead on presenting data developments to relevant stakeholders. This may involve presentations to stakeholders within the Bank including occasional presentations to the Regulatory Data Board, PRA RegTech Working group where relevant.

Other tasks will include:

• Being responsible for the analysis of sophisticated data issues and business processes. This includes:
  • Developing new solutions to improve processes through better use of existing technology.
  • Applying different technology to the required processes (for example, using programming languages such as R, Python and SQL)
• Supporting the implementation of changes to data collections and their related outputs.
• Engagement with users, partners and stakeholders, such as Technology and the PRA.
• Contribution to project work outside of regular processes to develop the quality and relevance of data.
• Coaching and mentoring less experienced team members to develop data science capability. There will also be the potential to undertake line management responsibility This role will also offer a variety of opportunities and division-wide projects, depending on the skills and interest of the successful applicant.

Role Requirements

Minimum (Essential) Criteria

The job holder will need to have:

• Demonstrable experience in identifying and implementing improvements in data processes through the use of automation with experience of handling and manipulating large volumes of data in an efficient, effective and accurate way.
• Strong demonstrable experience of using programming languages (such as R, Python and SQL) and advanced data manipulation techniques with an ability to understand their practical application in numerical analysis and data quality.
• Ability to communicate effectively, clearly, and confidently both orally and in writing.
• A high level of motivation and autonomy in their day-to-day work and when acquiring new skills and knowledge.

Desirable Criteria

• A good understanding of economics, finance and/or insurance (including the regulatory framework) would be preferable though there is plenty of scope to build up expertise in these areas.
• Experience of leading or mentoring a team.
• Experience of building relationships with stakeholders.
• Knowledge of using collaboration, version control and DevOps tools including but not limited to Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, Git is an added advantage.

Our Approach to Inclusion

The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.

At the Bank of England we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.

We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.

For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.

Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident Scheme. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Salary and Benefits Information

This specific role offers a base salary of circa £48,000 - £60,840 per annum (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis. We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits. (Note that from April 2023 and for the Benefits year 2023/24, this will increase to 8%)
• 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

National Security Vetting Process

Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank's Privacy Notice

The Application Process

Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.

The closing date for applications is 1st January 2024.