47553 - Senior Data Scientists (3 posts available), Data Science Hub
We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.
Overview
We have three permanent roles in the Data & Analytical Services Directorate at Grade Bb, subject to qualifying conditions being met.
One of the roles is a cross directorate team across MoJ Digital and Technology and Data & Analytical Services Directorate. The successful candidate will have the option to be based in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Nottingham and South Tyneside with flexible working arrangements available. For the other two roles successful candidates will be based in London or Leeds with flexible working arrangements available.
The salary will be negotiable within the Grade Bb pay range depending on your skills and expertise as assessed in the selection process.
The Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice is a major government department, at the heart of the justice system. We work to protect and advance the principles of justice. Our vision is to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone in society. A key priority is to become strongly data and evidence driven by ensuring it is used to improve our business performance and the justice system for our citizens.
The Data Science Hub
These roles will be based in the Data Science Hub. The Data Science Hub is a multi-disciplinary team of 40+ people from a range of professions and backgrounds. We have delivered high impact data products that have been productionised and widely used across the business and provided insights that directly influences corporate, operational and policy decisions. These span the data science spectrum including automation, advanced visualisation, machine learning, natural language processing and optimisation. We are now collaborating with MoJ Digital with the aim of getting live data pipelines as new services are being built, with the plan to deliver data science products through these services.
The majority of projects will use either Python, R, and/or Spark in our AWS Analytical Platform, using Github for version control and effective collaboration.
See the appendix examples of our work and ways of working
Data Scientist - Digital Performance Analyst
MoJ Digital & Technology
You will work closely with MoJ Digital and Technology. MoJ Digital and Technology have a clear vision - to develop a digitally-enabled justice system that works more simply for users - and we’re looking for talented people to help us achieve it. We’re making things better by building adaptable, effective services and making systems that are simple to use for staff and citizens. It can be challenging but it’s also important and rewarding.
What you’ll do
As our Senior Performance Analyst, you will work closely with the Portfolio and Controls team in Digital and Technology, working with colleagues across the department to develop and manage a new performance framework. You will be responsible for ensuring that we capture robust management information to aid decision making, improve capability and develop clear processes to support provision of clear performance information.
You will work closely with delivery teams to help them develop clear and meaningful metrics to track progress and value, and be able to bring together the thread of metrics into a clear picture of the performance of D&T for our senior management team and stakeholders across the Department.
A key part of this project is designing a reporting suite of tools to ensure accurate data collection, reproducible analysis, and timeliness delivery of product to influence key decision making within the Digital & Technology Portfolio.
Data Scientist – Probation Data Science
What you’ll do
You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary product team delivering trusted data science through the new MOJ Digital & Technology Probation products and services. Your work will aim to improve critical decisions made in and service user outcomes achieved by the UK Probation system.
Data Scientists in our small, agile teams deliver robust insights and innovative solutions that are directly deployed to end-users (operational, policy, corporate). Our agile teams are empowered to decide on how to validate MVPs, build proof-of-concept solutions and set their own milestones and timelines given key stakeholder needs.
You will be responsible for developing and applying a wide-ranging toolkit (data visualisation, predictive and explanatory modelling, machine learning, NLP) to solve business problems, including delivering working apps/products to our policy and operational customers. In addition to applying familiar tools, you will have the opportunity and support to learn a range of cutting-edge tools and deployment frameworks.
Data Scientist - Data Science Products
What you’ll do
As our senior Data Scientist in the Data Science Products team, you will work closely with analysts across the Data & Analytical Services Directorate. You will provide expertise and support on the development of Data Science Projects across the Data & Analytical Services Directorate. You will work closely with Analysts, Policy, operational and wider professionals to identify, deliver and frequently productionise high quality Data Science Products.
You will be a technical expert on a range of techniques by ensuring you are up to date with latest developments in data science across government and beyond including developing strong relationships with key external stakeholders. You will look for opportunities to bring latest research to bear on MoJ problems whether through strategic partnerships or developing those skills in-house. You will ensure that the business feels fully supported to utilise cutting edge techniques and continue to establish best practice and ethical ways of working around these cutting-edge techniques.
Who you are
We’re interested in people who have:
- experience in writing clear and concise code, and working with scripting/programming and database programming languages, specifically Python, R and SQL, to automate and present data frameworks;
- a track record of using quality assurance and automated testing in analytical work, including producing robust and reproducible analysis using modern version control software;
- strategic thinking and problem solving aligned with organisational goals, with ability to identify preventative measures and opportunities for data innovation and promoting adoption and learning of new tools and techniques;
- experience of working with diverse stakeholder groups to deliver data science products and explaining data concepts and practices to technical and non-technical stakeholders;
- Building best practices such as version control, unit testing, code review, and well documented applications.
The candidates are not expected to have experience with the full range of technologies of the Analytical Platform, but we are looking for candidates who are excited about the opportunity to quickly learn new things with the support of our technical experts.
Specific responsibilities will be tailored to reflect your strengths and development needs.
How to apply
You’ll need to submit an anonymised CV and Statement of Suitability as part of your application. You will not be considered if you do not provide both.
Your CV should be no more than 2 pages long and should show us your work history and previous experience. It should be well structured, succinct and written in clear language. Try to avoid just listing technology keywords; we are interested in how you have used different tools to solve problems.
Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 750 words and should give us examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Consider giving an example for each bullet point, in the skills requirements ‘Who you are’ section and use work you have completed to demonstrate how you meet each one.
All these requirements are important for the job, however we do not expect candidates to be expert in all of them. Just give as much evidence as you can for each and make sure you cover ‘how’ you demonstrated the requirements and the impact of your work, as well as ‘what’ you did. Again, if you are interested in applying but are not sure you have all the skills listed, please do apply and give us the opportunity to consider you as a candidate.
Selection process
There will be an initial sift of applicants through comparing submitted evidence against the ‘Who you are’ bullets. This usually takes two weeks, depending on the number of applications.
Those who make it through the initial sift will be invited to a Civil Service Success Profile interview. In the Civil Service we use Success Profiles to help us find the right person for the job. We will be using a mixture of methods to assess your abilities, strengths, experience, technical skills and behaviours. We highly recommend learning about Success Profiles and using the Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection (STARR) framework when structuring your answers.
The highest scoring candidates that pass the interview will be offered the roles. The whole process can take a month. Other candidates that pass the interview will be kept on a merit list for 12 months.
Interviews are likely to take place in October 2021.
Presentation
At the interview we will be asked to give a five-minute presentation on a data science project you have delivered. Details of this will be sent to candidates before the interview.
Behaviours
The following behaviours will be tested:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Changing and Improving
In your examples you should include evidence on ‘how’ you demonstrated the requirements and the impact of your work, as well as ‘what’ you did.
Technical – skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- performance analyst expertise and technical leadership
- working practices
- programming and coding skills
Technical – Analytical Competency
We'll assess you against the analytical competencies depending on these two options:
- Existing analysts from all professions (GORS/GSG/GSR/GES) will be asked for evidence of how you meet the requirements of the relevant professional competency framework, with particular focus on communicating analysis and achieving impact.
- Non-analysts who would like to join GORS or GSG will be assessed on achieving impact with analysis (GORS Achieving impact with analysis / GSG Presenting and disseminating data effectively). GSG candidates will additionally need to go through a badging board at a later stage.
Please refer to the analytical profession frameworks in the appendix section for more information.
For Further Information
If you have any queries about the role or application process, or wish to discuss, please contact Sapna Sanghvi (sapna.sanghvi@justice.gov.uk) or Rachel Forty (rachel.forty@justice.gov.uk).
Appendix
Examples of our work and ways of working:
- https://mojdigital.blog.gov.uk/2018/04/05/pushing-the-boundaries-of-data-science-with-the-moj-analytical-platform/
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2058802X.2020.1726654
- https://towardsdatascience.com/fuzzy-matching-and-deduplicating-hundreds-of-millions-of-records-using-apache-spark-93d0f095001f
- https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/2019/11/06/fostering-a-data-science-innovation-culture/
- https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/2019/10/30/engineering-the-data-of-the-future/
- https://github.com/moj-analytical-services
Civil Service Success Profiles used for selection process:
Analytical profession frameworks used for assessing the technical analytical competency at interview:
- Government Operational Research Service (GORS): https://tinyurl.com/y9q3akcg
- Government Statistician Group (GSG): https://tinyurl.com/y52hcsh7
- Government Social Research Service (GSR): https://tinyurl.com/y9gwny96
- Government Economic Service (GES): https://tinyurl.com/ybh95rm5
Working Arrangements & Further Information
Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.
Flexible working hours
The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices.
Benefits
The MoJ offers a range of benefits:
The pay structure is being consulted upon and therefore the pay advertised/offered may change depending on the outcome of the consultation. If you have any concerns, please check what the situation is before accepting any offer.
Annual Leave
Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service.
There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Pension
The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.
Training
The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.
Support
- A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
- Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits,retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
- For any moves across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers
- Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
- Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.
Networks
The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order
1- To Shared Service Connected Ltd (0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com);
2- To Ministry of Justice Resourcing (resourcing-services@justice.gov.uk);
3- To the Civil Service Commission (details available here)
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity.
There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
Grading Structure Review
The Ministry of Justice is currently undergoing a review of posts which are currently graded at Band A to realign our grading structure with the majority of the wider Civil Service.
Posts advertised at Band A may be graded at either Grade 6 or Grade 7 once the review has taken place.
21/09/2021, 23:55 hours.
If you have any queries about the role or application process, or wish to discuss, please contact Sapna Sanghvi (sapna.sanghvi@justice.gov.uk) or Rachel Forty (rachel.forty@justice.gov.uk).
If you require any assistance please call 0845 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com Please quote the job reference 47553
To apply for roles in MOJ you will need to confirm your employment history for at least 3 years prior to the date of application so that pre-employment checks (BPSS) can be undertaken. If you have spent significant time abroad (a total of 6 months in the past 3 years) you would be required to give a reasonable account of the reasons why.
For some roles you will be required to successfully complete National Security Vetting at Counter Terrorism (CTC), Security Clearance (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) level as a condition of appointment. To meet CTC/SC/DV requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3/5/10 years prior to the date of application (The level of checks that are required are stated in the advert).
If you do not meet the above requirements, you may still be considered if, for example:
- You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
- You were studying abroad
- You were living overseas with parents
In such cases you will need to be able to provide referee cover for the period(s) of residence overseas. The duration of overseas residence and the country of abode will also be taken into account.
Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.
We have provided detail of the assessment stages and areas being assessed to help you prepare for completing your application form, and to advise of what will be assessed following this, if you successfully pass the application stage.
Application form stage assessments
Interview stage assessments
A Great Place to Work for Veterans
The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans
Redeployment Interview Scheme
Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.
MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate's will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.
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) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
· 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
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules
This Vacancy is closed to applications.