Graduate Data Scientist / Modeller

Dstl; Greater London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job description

Dstl Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JQ

At Dstl, our vision is to have a modern way of working efficiently, accommodating and enabling our people to create, collaborate and deliver. To do this successfully in this job will require 60% attendance, this role will be office based at our Porton Down site.

Your role is primarily based in the offices and laboratories at Dstl Porton Down. There will be the need to work on other Dstl sites, MoD locations and with external partners, for example when attending meetings or conferences.

Where business needs allow, and with the agreement of your line manager, there may be the option for a combination of workplace and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement.

Job Summary

Are you a graduate looking for a new role as a mathematical modeller/data scientist? Do you want to work for the defence and security industry? If so, Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is hiring.

An opportunity for a mathematical modeller has arisen within Dstl’s Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) teams where you will experience a two-year rotational scheme benefiting from experiencing a range of projects. The scheme will see you apply logical thinking and problem solving to complex problems and present these to technical leaders.

You Will Have

• A degree in mathematics, computer science or another related discipline (due to complete 2025 or already held).
• An understanding of the following (gained from university, placements or workplace): dispersion modelling, data analysis, modelling theory and scripting and data visualisation.
• The ability to present data clearly and make evidenced based decisions out of the information.

In this role you will:

• Work with others to deliver to projects within the team by using logical thinking and problem solving skills, to solve difficult technical problems and present these to technical leaders in the most appropriate format (discussions, spreadsheets, databases, reports, email).
• Exercise good judgement to reach evidence based conclusions and decisions supported by analysis.
• Provide a scientific contribution to customer deliverables in the form of reports and presentations.
• Support the objectives of the team by contributing to team meetings and wider activities across Dstl.
• Provide senior technical leaders with support in maintaining, developing and using the group’s models.
• Build up expert knowledge in a number of technical areas and network both within your capability area and across capability boundaries.
• Communicate complex mathematical modelling ideas to various audiences.

Technical Skills
Essential

• Knowledge of dispersion modelling
• Experimental Design
• Data Analysis, Statistics and Reporting
• Collaboration and Team Working
• Modelling theory
• Modelling scripting
• Report writing
• Presentation Skills
• Data visualisation

Desirable

• Experience scripting: Matlab, R, Python or similar
• Computational fluid dynamics software
• QUIC/La Grangian particle dispersion
• Geospatial Analysis - ArcGIS
• Handling Meteorological Data

Experience
Essential

• Experience of Mathematical modelling or Data Science.
• Experience of working as part of a team and independently, as you will be required to undertake analysis independently and still work effectively in a scientific team.
• Experience in using Microsoft Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook) for data analysis, technical reports and presentations.

Desirable

• Having some knowledge of the UK armed forces, defence and security
• Experience of using computational fluid dynamics software
• Experience of multizone indoor air or building energy modelling
• Experience of building and other enclosed space ventilation.
• Experience of applying statistical techniques to real-world problems, with experience in one of Bayesian inference, mixed effects modelling, pattern recognition, experimental design, chemometrics or bioinformatics.
• Experience of scripting using python (or similar Java, shell scripting).
• Knowledge of statistical, computational biology / bioinformatics tools.
• Understanding of Defence and Security or relevant technical knowledge.

Important Information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats. For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years. For some roles Developed Vetting will also be required, in this case you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years.

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.

Qualifications

A degree or higher degree level qualification in a relevant field (quantitative science, technology, computer science, data science, engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics).

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

We want you to have your best chance of success in our recruitment process, so If at any stage of the application process you would like help or assistance please contact the Dstl Recruitment Team at [e-mail] and we will do all we can to support you.

Sifting will take place week commencing the 22nd April 2025 with interviews to be arranged from the 12th May 2025.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only. This job is not open to candidates who hold a dual nationality.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Contact point for applicants

• Name : Dstl Recruitment Team
• Email : [e-mail]