PoliceAI: Senior Data Scientist
Description
- Job grade: Grade 6
- Contract type: Fixed term, Secondment
- Length of employment: 20‑month appointment with the possibility of extension
- Type of role: Other
- Working pattern: Homeworking
- Number of jobs available: 3
Location
About the job
Job summary
This post is open to applicants who can meet the College’s nationality, UK residency and vetting requirements.
About us:
PoliceAI is a nationally significant technology and transformation programme in UK policing. Backed by central government investment and positioned at the heart of the police reform agenda, PoliceAI is the new National Centre for AI in Policing, helping to shape how policing uses data, technology and artificial intelligence to tackle crime, protect the public and modernise frontline operations.
We bring together operational policing, technical expertise, product delivery, assurance and the responsible use of AI to develop and scale capabilities that improve public safety outcomes. Our work helps forces respond more effectively to demand, strengthen investigations, identify risk and harm earlier, and free up frontline time for the activities that matter most to communities.
This is an opportunity to contribute to a programme with national reach and meaningful public service impact, helping to define how AI is developed, governed and adopted across one of the UK’s most important public services. The work is varied and complex, moves at pace, and has the potential to deliver better tools for policing, better outcomes for the public, and stronger foundations for the responsible use of AI.
PoliceAI is hosted within the College of Policing.
About the College of Policing:
Our mission is: Leadership, Standards, Performance. This guides our work with individuals, forces, and policing partners towards our vision. We exist to support police officers, police staff and volunteers to deliver the best service to the public. Only through high quality leadership, consistent standards and continual performance improvement can everyone in policing reach their full potential. Our mission guides our work with individual, forces and partners towards our vision.
We offer a supportive and inclusive environment for people to thrive through our extensive flexible-working policy, employee wellbeing support, family friendly policies, and status as a disability confident leader.
For further information visit our ‘Work for us’ page.
Location
Remote working (anywhere in the UK). Please note, some travel may be required.
Job description
We are looking for people who are motivated by public service, interested in responsible innovation, and comfortable working collaboratively across organisational, operational and technical boundaries. Joining PoliceAI means contributing to a supportive, multidisciplinary team that is helping to shape the future of policing and ensure AI is used in ways that are effective, responsible, operationally useful and worthy of public trust.
The National Centre for AI in Policing is at the forefront of helping policing harness the benefits of artificial intelligence in a responsible, evidence-led way. As a Senior Data Scientist, you will lead the development and evaluation of AI solutions that have the potential to improve operational effectiveness, decision-making and public services across policing. Working on complex and often novel challenges, you will shape how AI products are tested, validated and assessed, ensuring decisions are supported by robust evidence and clear understanding of performance, limitations and operational impact.
We're looking for an experienced data scientist who combines strong technical expertise with excellent analytical judgement and communication skills. You'll be comfortable working with ambiguity, designing rigorous evaluations, and translating complex findings into practical recommendations for a wide range of stakeholders. Success in this role will come from your ability to lead analytical work, collaborate across specialist disciplines, provide constructive challenge, and coach others while maintaining high standards of quality, rigour and reproducibility.
Additional Information:
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.
Due to our status as Public Servants, we are not eligible to participate in the Civil Service transfer process. Therefore, while successful candidates can transfer into the organisation on their existing terms and conditions, any move back to the Civil Service may mean that continuity of service is not automatically recognised by the receiving department, and new starter or modernised terms and conditions may apply, subject to the receiving department's policies and arrangements. However, employees who move directly to a Civil Service department without a break in service may retain continuity of service for redundancy and pension purposes.
Any previous service with local government or other external Modification Order bodies will not be carried forward or count when calculating redundancy entitlement.
The College embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we comply with the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and apply the minimum selection criteria at sift stage of the recruitment process. Where necessary, we may increase the minimum selection criteria to support the effective management of the recruitment process, while ensuring our approach remains fair, transparent and consistent with our Disability Confident commitments.
Person specification
Some of your responsibilities will include:
- Leading data science and AI evaluation workstreams, translating operational needs into robust analytical approaches, experiments and measurable outcomes.
Designing and delivering testing, evaluation, verification and validation (TEVV) activities to assess the performance, robustness, fairness and operational suitability of AI products.
Providing technical leadership through analytical review, code review and coaching to support high-quality, reproducible data science practices.
Evaluating internally developed, third-party and open-source AI products, using evidence to inform adoption, deployment and improvement decisions.
Communicating findings, risks, limitations and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders through reports, visualisations and presentations.
To be successful in this role you’ll need
Significant experience developing and evaluating AI solutions, taking complex problems from scoping through to measurable outcomes.
Strong expertise in statistics, machine learning and experimental design, with the ability to assess model performance, uncertainty and operational impact.
Experience designing and leading robust evaluation approaches, including selecting appropriate metrics, baselines, datasets and testing methodologies.
Strong technical capability in Python or R, alongside experience delivering reproducible analytical workflows and working with engineers to operationalise solutions.
The ability to lead analytical work, mentor others and communicate complex findings and risks clearly to a range of stakeholders.
Please see the attached job description which contains full details of the role. Please read the key criteria section in the job description (linked with the advert) carefully before applying. Applications will only be considered from candidates who can clearly demonstrate that they meet the essential requirements outlined for the role.
Benefits
The College is a great place to work. We're passionate about our people and offer a wide range of benefits. The benefits we can offer include:
- Defined benefit pension scheme with an employer contribution of 28.97%
- Up to 31.5days holiday (this is in addition to 8 public holidays and 1 privilege days)
- Role-specific learning and development, with continued professional development to help you progress your career
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave*
- Flexi-time (for certain grades)
- MyLifestyle platform which offers a wide range of shopping discounts with major retailers and includes access to discounted gym memberships, National Dental Plan, AXA Healthcare and the Cycle to Work scheme*
- Interest free season ticket loans*
- Rewards and recognition scheme
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
* Please note benefits marked with an asterisk are available to College employees only. If you join us on a secondment, you will retain the terms and conditions of your substantive employer and will be eligible for all other benefits listed.
We also have a number of thriving staff networks that provide the opportunity for advice, support and to drive change. A place to get your voice heard, share experiences and challenge our working practices to ensure equality of opportunity for all.
For more information about our benefits and staff networks, visit What we offer as an employer , College of Policing
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
This post is open to applicants who can meet the College’s nationality, UK residency and vetting requirements.
Please note that in order to work for the College of Policing you must have the Right to Work in the UK with indefinite leave to remain. Any other type of visa cannot be accepted. In addition, you will also be required to provide an address history in the UK for the preceding 5 years. Applications that do not meet these requirements will be rejected at sift stage and will not be progressed to interview.
College vacancy reference: 7360 - please quote in correspondence.
This role is available for 20‑months with the possibility of extension, as a fixed term appointment for external candidates or as a secondment opportunity to:
- colleagues employed directly by the College or the Civil Service. Please note you will be required to obtain the written support of your line manager prior to submitting your application.
- serving police officers substantive in the rank of Superintendent. All applicants must have the support of their Chief Officer which must be of NPCC rank, i.e., CC, ACC or DCC and this must accompany an application.
- serving police staff at the equivalent rank of Superintendent who have their chief officer's approval. Chief Officer’s approval must be of NPCC rank, i.e., CC, ACC or DCC. Approval for a secondment must accompany an application.
Police Staff and Officers may qualify for a non-pensionable Central Service Allowance (CSA).
Please ensure you return the attached secondment approval form via email to [email protected] quoting the internal reference number 7360. Please note, without this your application will not progress beyond sift, even if your application is successful.
For further information on applying for a secondment please visit the “Secondments into the College” page.
For fixed Term contracts:
This fixed term contract is offered for a set period. However, it could be extended or made permanent should the circumstances allow.
Internal College applicants who are at risk of redundancy or in need of redeployment and pass the recruitment process, will be given priority over other applicants.
How to apply:
As part of the application process, you will be required to complete the following:
1) Curriculum Vitae (CV), not exceeding two sides of A4 - include key achievements.
2) Personal Statement (500 words maximum) - Your personal statement should provide a clear, concise, and compelling account of why you are applying for the role, the skills and experience you would bring, and how you meet the essential criteria. Use relevant, well-chosen examples to demonstrate your achievements and impact, drawing on STAR principles where appropriate. While evidence and examples are important, the statement should read as a coherent and engaging narrative rather than a series of separate responses to individual criteria.
To ensure you are assessed on merit alone, we ask you to anonymise your application. This means removing personal identifiers such as your name, age, and place of education. You do not need to remove your employment history, job titles, or any information about your work.
Initial CV Sift
An initial sift based on the CV may be conducted if a large number of applications are received. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or directly to assessment/interview. Please note that the CV and Personal Statement will be assessed and scored separately. Information included in one will not automatically be considered when assessing the other, so candidates should ensure that both are fully completed and clearly demonstrate the required skills, experience and suitability for the role.
In cases where exceptionally high volumes of applications are received, additional assessment stages may be introduced as part of the selection process. This may include a presentation, technical assessment, or other job-related exercise before candidates are invited to a full interview. Where such stages are used, only the highest-scoring candidates will normally progress to the next stage of the recruitment process.
Interview
Anticipated interview dates: w/c 30th November 2026 – subject to change due to operational priorities of the panel.
Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. As part of the assessment process, candidates may be required to deliver a presentation and complete an exercise. During any exercise, you will be expected to share your screen with the interview panel. Details of any presentation topic and exercise will be provided when you are invited to interview.
Interviews will include questions based on the listed behaviours and experience.
Our vetting
If you are successful at interview, you will be required to undergo pre-employment security checks. A security questionnaire will be issued to you and must be accessed within 24 hours of receipt.
The applicable vetting requirements for this role are NPPV Level 3 (NPPV3) and National Security Vetting Security Check (SC). Depending on the business area and access requirements of the role, you may also be required to apply for Developed Vetting (DV) to support work within additional areas of responsibility.
Please note, these checks can take up to 10 weeks. You will only be offered a start date after the checks have been completed. If the outcome of these checks is not satisfactory, your recommendation for employment will be withdrawn.
Contact details and further information
If you would like to discuss the role in more detail please contact Harry Schone, [email protected], Deputy Director, PoliceAI Lab
The College is committed to support the Greening Government Commitment and reducing our Environmental impact. We have a dynamic Environmental Management Plan in place which encompasses various objectives, including our pledge to reduce business travel. To support our green agenda we have, in phase one, installed Electric Vehicle Charging Points at our sites in Ryton (12 points) and Harperley Hall (4 points). We encourage employees to become an Environment Champion to help with promoting and delivering our Environmental Management Plan. Our One Step Greener approach encourages all College staff to make small changes to create a better future for everyone.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Harry Schone - Deputy Director PoliceAI Lab
- Email : [email protected]
Recruitment team
- Email : [email protected]
Attachments
| Senior_Data_Scientist_JD Opens in new window (docx, 248kB) |
| Secondment approval form Opens in new window (docx, 81kB) |
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