Data Scientist WCC618636

As a Data Scientist, you can make your own powerful contribution to our Digital and Innovation portfolio. This greenfield opportunity is your ticket to inspiration. Joining a diverse community of friendly and supportive professionals with a wealth of talent, you'll enjoy scope to think creatively and bring new perspectives to our work. Delivering rapidly and iteratively, you'll build great relationships with progressively minded colleagues and partners. What's more, you'll have the chance to forge links with national and international data communities, to share experiences and learning.

In our empowering culture, you'll be encouraged to take accountability for creating great value for Westminster's citizens, businesses and visitors. Here, you'll be able to implement cutting-edge practices to deliver innovative solutions across a host of social, economic and environmental challenges. Along the way, you'll collaborate with stakeholders across our organisation - from highways to housing, from social care to strategy and finance. The actionable insights you derive from our data will help to transform the Council.

You'll work in a range of ways - from iterating a product to continuously improve and meet the needs of our users, through to using Agile/Waterfall methodologies as part of a project team, or joining a service team to deliver against a set of requirements. Crucially, you will help us build a data science and AI capability so we can tailor our services, and work more efficiently. Through both service-specific and organisation-wide innovation projects, you will help us to improve the quality and timeliness of decisions, and support us in better understanding and meeting residents' needs.

We expect you to bring in-depth applied knowledge of modern data science tools, tech and practices, as well as a flair for communicating about highly technical topics. You'll demonstrate a deep understanding of machine learning techniques and algorithms, including how to scale them. Your expertise in data visualisation includes tools such as PowerBI, D3 and Tableau. You'll also need excellent programming and coding skills across a range of languages including SQL, Python and R. Expertise in applied mathematical and statistical skills is essential. Equally important in this role is the ability to use NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, and to handle unstructured data.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF 809 CONNECTED BUSINESSES

Digital and Innovation in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where creative and enterprising people put local residents and businesses first.

Today, Westminster is the most connected borough in London. But, when David joined us in the mid-2010s, small businesses were still struggling to get connected to fibre. Without gigabit-capable broadband, some companies even resorted to biking memory sticks around the city, simply to share files with clients.

Although still in a junior role, David took the initiative and successfully made the business case for £2.8 million of European funding to support connectivity for small businesses across Westminster. Feedback from businesses has been overwhelmingly positive as the project has enhanced their communications with clients. The new connectivity allows them to make video calls and work remotely. As the pandemic hit and many more people needed to work from home, it became clear just how vital this investment had been.

Fast-forward a few years. Westminster is leading the way for connectivity, as a result of the project businesses are thriving, and David is heading up a service of his own responsible for delivery of the Smart City strategy., Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council's strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city's future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.