Data Scientist
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Job Location:
Birmingham - UK
Monthly Salary:
Not Disclosed
Posted on:
9 hours ago
Vacancies:
1 Vacancy
Job Summary
At Ambition Institute we believe that great teaching can transform lives especially for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our Insights team plays a critical role in making that happen by turning complex data into decisions that improve programmes at scale.
Were looking for a Data Scientist who wants to go beyond analysis to build systems shape strategy and see their work directly influence outcomes across education.
Who are Ambition Institute
Were looking for a Data Scientist who wants to go beyond analysis to build systems shape strategy and see their work directly influence outcomes across education.
Who are Ambition Institute
A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who have had a tough start in life a teacher can be the critical factor in their success.
At Ambition Institute we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time.
Thats how well make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life.
- We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach how you teach it and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive.
- We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives so we connect people to the latest research and best practice.
- We champion every teacher and school leaders potential to develop as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.
What youll be doing
This is not a narrow modelling role. Youll operate across the full data science lifecycle owning problems end-to-end and delivering work that is both technically robust and practically useful.
Build models that shape real-world decisions
- Develop predictive and inferential models to understand what drives programme success and where we can improve
- Apply statistical and machine learning techniques to large complex datasets
- Design and contribute to experimentation and evaluation approaches including causal inference
- Turn complex outputs into clear actionable insights for senior leaders
Design systems that make insight scalable
- Build and maintain data pipelines that support reliable repeatable analysis
- Work with cloud infrastructure (Azure) to process and store data at scale
- Improve how data flows across the organisation making it more accessible consistent and usable
- Embed best practices in reproducibility versioning and automation
Work across teams to embed data-informed thinking
- Partner with programme product and leadership teams to shape decisions
- Translate technical work into narratives that influence strategy
- Support and mentor analysts contributing to a strong and collaborative data culture
Continuously improve how we work
- Identify opportunities to automate simplify or strengthen existing processes
- Contribute to shared standards in coding documentation and modelling
- Help evolve our data systems as the organisation grows
Working in a hybrid way youll be attached to either our Birmingham London or Manchester office and will report to Head of Data and Data line with our current ways of working youll be expected to be in the office at least 1 day a month in addition to team days and this may be reviewed by Ambition.
What makes someone effective in this role
You dont need to tick every box but strong candidates tend to bring a combination of the following:
Technical depth with practical application
- Experience building statistical or machine learning models that answer real-world questions
- Experience building AI-led pipelines
- Strong programming skills in Python or R alongside solid SQL for working with complex datasets
- Understanding of statistical inference (including Bayesian and frequentist approaches)
- Familiarity with cloud-based data environments (e.g. Azure) and working in Linux/UNIX systems
Systems thinking
- Experience working with data pipelines data models or production workflows
- Awareness of data quality validation and reproducibility challenges and how to solve them
Communication and influence
- Ability to explain complex ideas clearly to non-technical audiences
- Confidence working with stakeholders to shape problems not just solve them
Mindset
- Curiosity and a drive to improve how things work
- Comfort working independently and navigating ambiguity
- Care for detail especially when working with sensitive or high-impact data
Why this role is worth your time
- End-to-end ownership: You wont be siloed youll work across modelling engineering and decision-making
- Visible impact: Your work will directly influence programmes that support teachers and pupils across the country
- Technical breadth: A rare opportunity to combine advanced analytics with modern data infrastructure
- Mission-driven work: Contribute to improving outcomes for children particularly those facing disadvantage
Whats in it for you.
- Competitive annual salary
- Professional development for all staff
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and winter shut down at the end of December/beginning of January
- Employer pension contribution of 11%
- Agile hybrid working culture so you can manage when and where you work
- Staff affinity networks that help keep equality diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
- Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
- Enhanced maternity pay after a years service
- Shared parental leave package
- Access to free confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
- Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester Birmingham and London
- Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
- Interest free season ticket / bike loans
We dont expect the person we hire to have all of the following but this should give you a sense of what would enable you to thrive in this role and in our organisation:
You should apply for this role if:
- You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality
- You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do
- You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants
- You always have a great attitude so we can do for all our colleagues partners and participants
- You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better
- You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective
- You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact
Youll love working at Ambition if
- You want a career with a person-centred organisation with a cause at its heart.
- You have a collaborative work ethos bring warmth and good humour to work and constructive outlook to every situation
- You enjoy working in a fast-moving workplace with a great support structure around you
- You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time
- Want flexibility in how you work splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done.
How to apply
Applications will be accepted for all office locations.
All applications must be received by the closing date 11:59pm on 11 May 2026. Interviews are expected to take place from 14 May 2026.
Please note - You will be asked as part of the interview process to present the code of a project of choice for the hiring team to review.
All applications must be received by the closing date 11:59pm on 11 May 2026. Interviews are expected to take place from 14 May 2026.
Please note - You will be asked as part of the interview process to present the code of a project of choice for the hiring team to review.
We recognise that AI function tools (such as ChatGPT or other generative AI tools) are here to stay and can be helpful for applications including to assist in researching for application responses and to shorten your first draft. However we are observing a growing trend in the use of AI and we would caution applicants against relying too heavily on such tools when drafting responses.
The pitfall of such tools is that they produce generic responses that dont showcase individuality specific experiences or real-life examples. This usually results in applications being unsuccessful. We want to evaluate your response and we will be looking for answers that use examples and experiences that are clearly specific to you. You are more likely to successfully demonstrate your soft skills like communication and teamwork when preparing answers to application questions yourself and this helps mitigate the unintended consequences of AI-generated responses.
If we suspect you have used AI inappropriately the panel reviewing your application may adjust how your response is rated. For more details of what we consider to be acceptable use of AI function tools in our application process please review our FAQs on our careers page.
We are committed to the safeguarding of children and the most vulnerable in our society and as such we are unable to employ individuals with relevant convictions including the following: a conviction for an offence involving violence or dishonesty of a sexual nature or against minors or for any other offence that is relevant to the nature of the services provided by our organisation.
For any questions or queries please review our FAQs Ambition Institute Careers () in the first instance. If weve not addressed your question in this section please email us at
As an employer we have a responsibility to prevent illegal working in the UK by ensuring that our employees have the right to work in the UK. Therefore as part of the recruitment process to verify your eligibility you will be required to produce relevant documentation.
Required Experience:
IC
About Company
Ambition Institute designs and delivers professional development for educators at every stage – from new teachers through to CEOs leading multiple schools.
