Senior Technologist

Closing Date:

13/03/2025

Group:

Corporate Group

Management Level:

Senior Associate

Job Type:

Fixed Term (Fixed Term)

Job Description:

Please note that this is a Fixed Term Contract until September 2025 and the advert will close at 00:01 on Friday 21 March and therefore we advise getting your application in by no later than midnight on Thursday 20 March.


About Ofcom

As the UK’s communications regulator, we’re delivering vital work that helps keep the UK connected and shapes the future of how we’ll stay connected with each other.

Our work covers everything from phones and broadband, through to TV, radio, the postal service, and wireless devices. We’re also taking on the challenge of making the online world a safer place. And we need people of all backgrounds, skill sets, and experiences to help us achieve our goal of making communications work for everyone.

About the Team
 

The Data and Information team was established to lead Ofcom's transformation into a data- and insight-driven organization. The team provide expertise to policy and corporate colleagues in data science, machine learning and data engineering. They also lead work to ensure Ofcom manages its data, information and records appropriately and support the wider community of colleagues in the Data Profession.

Purpose of the Role
 

We are looking for data talent to join the Data Science and Machine Learning team to act as the product owner of some of or data products and prototyping work. DIT is a central team that supports all areas of Ofcom’s regulatory work, assisting and working alongside colleagues across the organization to ensure that data and evidence underpin the wide variety of work that we do. You will get the opportunity to apply a broad range of methods to many different, real-world problems. For example, by undertaking proof of concepts to explore the application of deep learning for using natural language processing to understand issues affecting consumers in support of policy development, or developing new ways to visualize and enable users to interact with data. One of the major applications being using large language models to process text in various documentations across the organization or from sources available online.

The team also leads on developing and sharing insights on methods, tools and processes in support of the data and research community across Ofcom. Collaborating with our stakeholders and external organizations continually develop our understanding of the areas in which we work and the methods and technologies we can apply.

Your key responsibilities
 

• Work with stakeholders and product managers in policy areas and act as the technical expert and product owner to map out implementation plans

• Engage with stakeholders to capture needs and map them out into features and roadmaps

• Develop the implementation roadmap along with epics and task tickets for data products

• Implement Power BI, Microsoft Azure, LLM and Machine Learning solutions in a hands on way and guide other junior developers through the same process

• Promote data science, machine learning and NLP skills and inspire best practice in other teams, building an understanding the variety of methods and seeking opportunities to innovate in what we do

• Lead the development of credible data solutions from a range of data sources and use best practices to generate accurate, reproducible work in an agile way

• Explore and visualize data to present a story in a meaningful way and communicate insights to a range of technical and non-technical audiences with impact

• Maintain your skills and knowledge on the latest tools and techniques used in natural language processing and foundation models and related concepts

• Provide methodological and technical advice and guidance to early career data scientists

• Contribute to the continuous development of our data science workflow and processes so that we work effectively an innovatively

• Ensuring compliance with relevant data and information security principles

• Apply project management skills to translate business requirements into actionable projects, then independently manage time, resources and stakeholders throughout the project life cycle

• Support colleagues in engagement with external stakeholders on data an analytical related topics
   

The skills, knowledge and experience you will need for success
 

You will need to demonstrate knowledge or experience of:
 

• A range of appropriate data and analytic tools (such as Python, R, Power BI, Azure ML, Azure Databricks, or equivalent), and cloud computing environments

• Knowledge of working with LLMs including building LLM prompting systems, RAG and multi agent systems and libraries like pytorch, transformers and langchain

• Broad experience of a number of different data science and machine learning methods, their appropriate application, strengths and limitations. (For example, but not limited to: data exploration, statistical modelling, automation, NLP, clustering/segmentation, anomaly detection, visualization etc)

• Applying scientific methods through experimental design, exploratory data analysis and hypothesis testing to reach robust conclusions, including reviewing the work of others

• Agile and scrum practices like epics, tickets, experience of working with product manager and product owners

• Building Solutions: Translating complex business problems into analytical projects, then delivering impactful data or analysis with tangible outcomes

• Empowering Development: Developing the data community, including through support and development of junior staff and others’ projects

• Articulating Ideas: Strong interpersonal skills and evidence of ability to interact effectively with a range of stakeholders, both internally and externally, to communicate technical concepts and analytical results across organizational and technical boundaries

• Harmonising Work: Working as part of a team, and independently, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability, and supporting a culture of collaboration and trust

Qualifications

• Degree in a numerate discipline, computer science or equivalent which demonstrates core statistical skills, such as Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics (this is not a definitive list).

• Experience in data science or equivalent role

Ofcom has a clear mission: to make communications work for everyone.  To be able to deliver on this, we want our organisation to reflect the diversity of background, experience, upbringing and thought that exists across the UK.  We aim to recruit from the widest pool of candidates possible – no matter your social background, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or disability. 

Where positions are listed as full-time, we remain open to reduced hours, part-time arrangements, job shares, and other flexible working options. From day one, we champion flexible work arrangements to accommodate individual needs.

We also warmly welcome applicants who are returning to the workforce after a break – for whatever reason. If you have taken time away and are ready to rejoin, we look forward to reviewing your application.

Our recruitment processes prioritise accessibility and inclusivity. If you need information in an alternative format or have specific preferences, please contact our recruitment team at resourcing@ofcom.org.uk or call 0330 912 1378.

As a Disability Confident employer, we offer interviews to disabled applicants who meet essential criteria for advertised roles. Learn more about this scheme here.  https://careers.ofcom.org.uk/careers/how-we-hire/