Researcher (AI and quantitative)

Researcher(AI and quantitative)

Location: Kings Cross London (Hybrid)

Salary:39071 per annum depending on experience plus benefits

Grade:6 (May be able to offer a senior role (Grade 5) depending on experience)

Contract: 12-monthFixed Term Contract with possibility of extension renewal or switch to permanent.

Closing Date: Friday 9 October 2026

About the role

Drawing from multiple disciplines ODI research creates knowledge methods and approaches to build open and trustworthy data ecosystems. Research projects at the ODI range from theoretical to applied involve a range of sectors and stakeholders are mindful of diversity equity and inclusion considerations and deliver tangible impact.

This role has a strong focus on artificial intelligence specifically advancing data-centric AI methodologies benchmark creation and model evaluation and improving the AI readiness of existing and emerging data infrastructures.Research outputs support the communication of insights best practices and recommendations as part of our policy and advisory work and inform new tools courses and services.

Research at the ODI follows established and emerging research methods from computer science data science economics and social and political sciences and is aligned with our research integrity practices. As a member of the team you will contribute to this community of practice.

Typical research outputs the role would lead on and contribute to include depending on the type of project: technical reports landscape reviews blog posts literature reviews academic articles slide decks visualisations datasets code.

• Conduct and manage research activities within projects on a variety of topics in tight timeframes specifically:

• Execution of rigorous experiments to evaluate model performance according to a diverse range of technical metrics.

• Lead and own work packages covering corpus construction ground-truth curation task design evaluation harnesses and statistical analysis and benchmarking reproducibility

• Contribute to stakeholder engagement to ensure benchmarks and evaluations reflect the needs and expectations of stakeholders

• Assess public sector and government datasets and use cases for AI-readiness using established ODI frameworks.

• Author of peer-reviewed technical papers conference submissionstechnical annexes and reproducible code repositories alongside blog posts and policy briefings.

• Design and conduct desk reviews systematic literature reviews stakeholder mapping surveys and interviews on areas related to data AI and technology drawing on wider theoretical frameworks.

• Coordinate with external partners collaborators and clients in scoping and delivering work.

• Support business development and fundraising activities by contributing to research design methodology drafting and proposal development.

• Communicate research findings to a wide range of audiences through high quality written reports blog posts peer-reviewed publications presentations and workshops to ensure they have high impact.

• Work with the wider ODI team to define and shape the ODIs research agenda topics and policy positions.

• Support others in the ODI to strengthen their skills and knowledge in research.

• Reflecting and developing ODIs values and culture in the way you work.

• Taking time for continuous professional development coaching and mentoring both individually and as a team.

As an ODI researcher you are expected to meet the following level of competency:

• Proficiency in research scoping and planning choosing and justification of research methods and research synthesis and communication.

• Proficiency in execution of qualitative quantitative and mixed research.

• An understanding of research impact research integrity and open science/ FAIR principles.

• An understanding and practical experience in applying rigorous research evaluation methods for qualitative and quantitative research.

• Proficient understanding of privacy/ GDPR implications especially for research practice.

• Substantial knowledge of how data is published accessed shared and analysed ideally with experience working on projects about data access open data and how they impact and are impacted by technology.

• Being comfortable communicating research results to clients in areas such as the impact of the collection use and sharing of data on organisations and society.

• Knowledge of how to use research findings to inform decisions in projects policy and/or business environments

• Organised and with attention to detail.

Specifically for this role:

• Practical experience in data-centric AI methodologies including benchmark building and dataset quality assurance.

• Deep applied technical knowledge of Large Language Models (LLM) Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and agentic frameworks.

• Practical experience of evaluation protocols harness design and comparative benchmarking across major open and closed-source model families.

• Proficiency in statistical modeling and machine learning workflows.

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate measure and operationalise dataset AI-readiness.

Desirable experience

• Proven track record of authoring commissioned research technical frameworks or policy briefings for major tech organisations government bodies or philanthropic foundations.

• Experience managing end-to-end research work packages including overseeing dataset pipelines equivalence protocols and multi-partner research deliverables.

• Experience in and knowledge of current debates in the data and/or open culture movements ideally including the collection processing and use of data by AI systems.

• Track record of producing rigorous technical annexes and publications and reproducible code bases alongside accessible public policy reporting.

• Experience of working with multiple projects and teams in an agile environment.

• Ability to multi-task and move quickly between projects through effective prioritisation.

• Developed people skills and a positive attitude to working with non-research specialists and appreciation of the contribution others can make.

About us

The Open Data Institute is an independent non-profit company founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt in 2012. We connect equip and inspire people around the world to innovate with data. We produce products and services for customers that span across many sectors and countries supporting all data activities. More details can be found on our website: ODIs Values

The ODI expects all staff and associates to demonstrate our values of curiosity creativity and collaboration.

Curiosity We ask questions we are interested in our world in the people we work with and in the opportunities and risks we encounter together. We challenge assumptions and the status quo so that we continuously learn improve and grow enabling all of our partners to do the same.

Creativity We strive to be creative in our approach culture and outcomes so that everything we do delivers unique value and is inspiring.

Collaboration We seek to bring together the best people organisations and ideas to contribute positively to everything we do together and to the world we aim for - a world where we bring the best of collective working to provide the skills and insights needed to achieve positive sustainable impact.

Benefits

• Competitive salary

• 5% contributory pension

• 30 days annual holiday plus bank holidays

• Life assurance cover

• Long-term disability cover

• Critical illness cover

• Flexible working

• Coaching and mentoring for skills and personal development

• 1250 annual professional development budget (after probation period)

• Season ticket loan

• Cycle to work scheme

• Eye care vouchers

• Monthly team building and social events

If youve got any queries please email

Please read:Your privacy: ODI recruitment process.

How to apply

Please upload the following byTIME AND DATE:

• 1) a CV;

• 2) a Cover Letter explaining why you are the right candidate for the role;

• 3) work samples including links to your work (eg GitHub Hugging Face) and previous AI projects relevant to this position.

Note to applicants

The ODI welcomes and encourages job applications from a diverse range of backgroundsto promote an inclusive culture and a diverse working environment.

We are now recognised as a Disability Confident Committed employer (Level 2)

This is a government-supported scheme that supports organisations like ours to make the most of the talents that people with disabilities can bring to our workplace. The scheme

helps us recruit and retain great people; draw from the widest possible pool of talent; secure high-quality employees who are skilled loyal and hardworking; and improve employee morale and commitment by demonstrating that we treat all of our people fairly.

Required Experience:

IC