594 - Data Scientist: Data Science & AI Hub

Work with other data scientists on shared codebases, and coach junior data scientists, to deliver data science products and analysis across MoJ and the criminal justice system (e.g. within prisons, for the Probation Service)

Implement best practice approaches in project delivery, such as version control, code review and unit testing

Effectively communicate with and influence a variety of stakeholders

Help the team keep up to date with the wider data science landscape and emerging technologies

Contribute to making the Data Science and AI Hub an inclusive and vibrant place to work

We're recruiting for a Data Scientist: Data Science & AI Hub here at the Ministry of Justice, to be part of our warm and collaborative Data Directorate.

This role aligns against Data Scientist from the Government Digital and Data Framework.

We are a multi-disciplinary team of around 80 staff that sits at the heart of the Ministry of Justice providing data science support across a diverse and exciting agenda. We work in a dynamic and fast-paced context and our skills are in heavy demand across the Ministry of Justice. We have a track record of delivering digital services to front line staff using wide ranging data science techniques, including the award-winning safety diagnostic tool, which helps our staff tackle violence in prisons and the public-facing Criminal justice system (CJS) delivery data dashboard. We regularly deliver insights that directly influence corporate, operational and policy decisions. Our projects span the data science spectrum including machine learning, natural language processing, large language models and optimisation.

You will work as part of multi-disciplinary teams to deliver data science products and analysis such as:

Criminal Justice System Data Science: Cross-CJS data
The cross-CJS data asset is an initiative led by the Criminal Justice System (CJS) Data Improvement programme and aims to bring together datasets from the Ministry of Justice, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Police for the first time. The postholder will be involved in, and in some cases leading, the innovative exploratory analysis of the cross-CJS data and the subsequent development of new data science projects. Past and current projects include developing machine learning models to predict time taken for Crown Court cases to get through the system and, separately, classification models to predict victim attrition. We also recently developed a Streamlit-based MVP dashboard to disseminate analysis and metrics on victim attrition.

BOLD Reducing Reoffending Pilot

Using data science and artificial intelligence to understand the scale of parental imprisonment. Having a parent in prison is a recognised Adverse Childhood Experience and impacts children's long-term outcomes. In this role you will use data science and natural language processing techniques to bring together information from a variety of sources to help us gain a better understanding of the number of children affected and where to direct effort to reduce negative impact.

Risk Assessment Data Science

Actuarial risk assessment is vital to provide accurate, fair and consistent insights on the risks presented by convicted offenders. In this role, you will use data science techniques to test new modelling approaches, investigate algorithmic fairness, and work with our Digital colleagues to implement a new generation of tools that are more effective and practitioner-friendly.

In all posts, you will be encouraged to develop your data science skills and experience through both formal and informal training. The majority of projects will be conducted using Python, R and SQL on our AWS cloud infrastructure (known as the Analytical Platform) to work with data from across the justice system.