Principal Data Scientist - Discoverability, Recommendations
* Job Reference: 43528
* Band: D
* Salary: £73,000 - £83,000
* Contract type: Permanent - Full Time
* Location: Salford, Glasgow, Newcastle, London (Hybrid role)
Purpose of the Role
The BBC serves audiences online for decades through flagship products such as BBC iPlayer, Sounds, News, and Sport. We are accelerating towards more personal, relevant, and responsive experiences. The Recommendations team designs and builds large‑scale ML/AI systems that help audiences discover the right content at the right moment. This role will further develop these systems for BBC audiences.
Why Join the Team
As a Principal Data Scientist you will shape the technical direction of recommender systems used by millions of people each day. You will prototype, experiment, and guide complex ML solutions at BBC‑scale, partnering with engineers, product managers, and data scientists to deliver high‑impact systems. Beyond your immediate team, you will contribute to the wider BBC Data Science community, sharing work and influencing best practices.
Your Key Responsibilities And Impact
* Use your technical skills to deliver value to BBC audiences, blending breadth and depth of data science expertise.
* Impact within the team and across the wider BBC, developing scalable ML products.
* Work effectively in a cross‑functional environment, collaborating to overcome real‑world deployment challenges.
* Apply machine‑learning algorithms to solve complex user and business problems in a robust and scalable way.
* Join the BBC Data Science community, engaging internally and externally to share knowledge and mentor colleagues.
Essential Skills and Experience
* Extensive hands‑on experience in data science and machine learning, with a proven track record of contributions to technical projects.
* Experience developing and deploying recommender systems.
* Strong coding skills in Python.
* Ability to communicate clearly to technical and non‑technical audiences.
* Ability to work effectively in a cross‑functional team.
Desirable Skills and Experience
* Experience with model lifecycle management and MLOps (deployment, versioning, monitoring).
* Knowledge of cloud services, ideally AWS.
* Understanding of best practices such as testing, code management, and deployment.
* Mentorship and/or supervision experience with team members.
You are encouraged to apply even if you don’t meet every criterion above. We value diversity and are committed to being truly inclusive and a place where everyone belongs.
Interview Process
We have a 2‑stage process.
* Hiring manager introductory call covering role background and candidate motivations for applying (external applicants only).
* 1.5 hour panel interview including a technical presentation from the candidate and role‑relevant competency‑based questions.
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