Principal Data Scientist

Can you lead multidisciplinary teams to deliver high‑quality data science projects that drive organisational outcomes?

Have you implemented data science or AI solutions to produce robust analysis that informs policy development?

Are you skilled in applying research and technical insight to shape strategic decisions and improve services?

If so, wed love to hear from you!

Active Travel England is dedicated to enabling people across the country to walk, wheel and cycle safely by improving the design and accessibility of streets and places. Our Data Science team supports this mission by delivering high‑quality analytical projects, generating insight that strengthens policy development and enhances national capability. We work collaboratively across disciplines to raise standards, inform decision‑making and ensure active travel becomes a core part of peoples everyday journeys.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the Kings birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at ATE:

Active Travel England roles: Active Travel England - Department for Transport Careers

In this role you will be the lead data scientist for Active Travel England, guiding a multidisciplinary team to design and deliver advanced data science products that combine geospatial analysis, statistics and machine learning. You will gather organisational requirements, shape long‑term data science roadmap and ensure all outputs provide a robust and impactful insights. Working closely with digital, data and analytical colleagues, you will create new datasets, deliver insights and develop models that support ATEs operations and strategic goals.

Your responsibilities will include, but arent limited to:

1. Provide technical leadership, direction, and mentorship for the data science team, cultivating a culture of technical excellence, curiosity, and impactful delivery. This includes formal line management responsibilities of one data scientist.
2. Translate the organisation's strategic goals into a tangible data science work programme, defining project roadmaps, shaping technical requirements, and ensuring delivery aligns with the analytical strategy set by the Head of Analysis.
3. Lead the end-to-end design, development, and deployment of high-impact data science products, using geospatial data, machine learning, and advanced statistical methods to generate new insights into active travel behaviours and outcomes.
4. Design and develop novel statistical models and analytical methodologies that leverage active trave sensors to produce robust estimates of cycling and walking uptake from ATE investments, directly measuring the impact of our interventions.
5. Act as the lead technical expert on innovative methods, proactively researching and implementing cutting-edge techniques in areas like mobile phone data analysis or computer vision to measure the impact of active travel interventions.
6. Champion the use of data science across Active Travel England, effectively communicating complex analytical findings and the value of your team's work to a diverse range of stakeholders, including policy experts, economists, and senior leadership.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Required experience:

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

1. Experience leading multidisciplinary project teams to establish requirements and deliver data science products that meet the needs of the organisation or business priorities e.g. development of technical roadmaps.
2. A track record of owning the delivery of business impact, by proactively identifying analytical opportunities and ensuring data science products are strategically valuable, widely adopted, and provide a robust evidence base for policy.
3. Expert-level knowledge of statistical, analytical, and machine learning techniques in Python and SQL, with demonstrable experience guiding teams to select the most robust and innovative methods to solve complex analytical challenges.
4. Proven experience driving the adoption of modern software development practices, including version control (e.g., GitHub), continuous integration, and designing systems for reproducibility and scalability using Google BigQuery or R for reproducible analytical pipelines.
5. Experience applying data science to transport, with an understanding of how to strategically work around data limitations to generate valuable insights.

The role is part of the Government Digital and Data (or Government Security Profession Career Framework) profession and utilises an enhanced CapabilityBased Pay Framework which provides access to a Digital and Data allowance.

The base pay is 57,515. In addition to this the role includes a Digital and Data allowance of up to 24,915.

The value of allowance awarded will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated through the selection process. Here are more details on the pay framework.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 30 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.