Data Scientist

Data Scientist Essex County Council
• Chelmsford, GB

Permanent

Full Time, 37 hours per week

£40,749 to £47,939 per annum

Working Style:

Closing Date: 2nd August 2026

ECC’s Data, Analytics and Performance team transforms complex data into clear, actionable insights — providing robust analysis and performance intelligence to inform evidence-led decisions, improve services, and deliver better outcomes for residents. The team is a centre of excellence for Data Engineers, Analysts and Data Scientists who work together to instil best practice data principles across the county, recognising that data and people are our two strongest assets.

The Data Scientist role supports Essex County Council’s ambition to harness data science and artificial intelligence to improve public services and enable evidence-led decision-making. Working under the guidance of Senior Data Scientists, you will contribute to the development of responsible analytical solutions that enhance operational efficiency, policy insight, and service delivery.

This hands-on role involves supporting data exploration, assisting in model development, and helping to build reproducible analytical workflows. You’ll contribute to preparing datasets, visualising insights, and supporting the creation of predictive models that inform strategic and operational priorities. Collaborating with colleagues across the organisation, you’ll help embed data science into everyday practice, ensuring ethical use of data while developing your technical and professional capabilities.

This role focuses on supporting the delivery of responsible data science and AI solutions for council functional areas

• Support the development of data science solutions by proactively finding new opportunities, scoping projects and applying appropriate techniques to business problems under guidance.
• Conducts exploratory data analysis, including data auditing, identifying patterns, handling missing data, and visualising insights to inform evidence-led recommendations.
• Prepare datasets and assist in building reproducible analytical workflows and data products to co-designed specifications, accessing data from source.
• Contribute to the development and evaluation of predictive models and post hoc evaluation tests, ensuring outputs are robust, explainable and transparent.
• Collaborate with services to understand data needs and support improvements in data collection, processing, and analysis.
• Ensure ethical and responsible use of data in all aspects of delivery, following organisational standards and guidance.
• Maintain documentation of data processes and contribute to the development of internal resources, guides and knowledge-sharing tools.
• Supports the organisations AI ambitions, piloting internally trained models and pre-trained models (including LLMs) for different use cases
• Advocates for data science and modern ways of working with data, and helps customers and peers understand the value of data science by reviewing and logging impact of work and supporting data literacy
• Share data products and insights in accessible formats to promote transparency and collaboration. Document and publish work clearly to support reuse, learning, and responsible data use.
• Stay current with emerging tools, techniques, and best practices and represent the organisation professionally by contributing to communities of practice and sharing knowledge
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

• Educated to degree level in a quantitative field (. Data Science, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or Engineering) or equivalent by experience.
• Membership with the Government Data Science Community, Royal Statistical Society (RSS), or British Computer Society (BCS) is advantageous.
• 1-2 years experience in data science, analytics, or a related technical field using applied techniques for organisational impact
• Knowledge of analytical approaches, data science methodology and creating robust replicable analytical outputs
• Knowledge of modern ways of working with data including data…