Summary

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

Are you keen to solve meaningful problems and make a positive difference to society?

Do you want to stay true to your analytical roots and develop in the area of statistical and machine learning?

Would you like to be part of a large and dynamic community of data scientists?

These Data Scientist roles help us better detect tax risk and identify opportunities for greater efficiencies. They do so by developing statistical and machine learning models, and by sharing associated insights and predictions with internal customers.

Job description

You will be expected to use your mathematical skills to continually expand your understanding of data science methods. You will apply these methods to some of the richest and most varied data in the public sector, helping us better target its activities for the public good.

You will also need effective customer engagement and project management skills in order to specify, develop, and deploy your projects.

We use Agile and Git, along with programming standards, to ensure we produce transparent and useful outputs.

Recent and current work includes:

• Predictive models that help to steer tax compliance activity worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
• Topic models to extract insight from unstructured data.
• R packages to facilitate predictive modelling and the production of National Statistics.
• Programming standards for R as a resource for the internal analytical community.

Responsibilities

Please make sure you provide objective evidence for each of the following in your Personal Statement.

1. An ability to scope and manage projects, and command the ongoing confidence of stakeholders.
2. An ability to identify opportunities to innovate effectively using data science techniques.
3. Hands-on experience of linear algebra and multivariable calculus (see Qualifications).
4. An ability to rigorously explain techniques used to other analysts, as well as - more accessibly - to non-analysts.
5. Experience of a programming language.
6. Experience of working with challenging datasets.
7. Experience of successful data science delivery.

Qualifications

To ensure a solid foundation for researching, discussing and applying data science methods, candidates should have good command of linear algebra and multivariable calculus at the undergraduate level. This could have been obtained through either:

A) An undergraduate or higher degree with significant mathematical content (e.g. Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics) or

B) Personal study of linear algebra and multivariable calculus.

The interview panel may explore your studies with you in more detail.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Applied maths, statistics and scientific practices.
• Programming and build

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension

Team members that are moving offices as a result of the Locations Programme will be entitled to a Moves Adjustment Payment for three years where they incur additional costs. This is calculated based on the difference between the costs of travelling to and from the new and old office, over a weekly period. You will get more detail on this as part of targeted locations move communications.

Apply before 11:55 pm on Friday 27th May 2022.