Job Description

Purpose of the role

To use innovative data analytics and machine learning techniques to extract valuable insights from the bank's data reserves, leveraging these insights to inform strategic decision-making, improve operational efficiency, and drive innovation across the organisation. 

Accountabilities

• Identification, collection, extraction of data from various sources, including internal and external sources.
• Performing data cleaning, wrangling, and transformation to ensure its quality and suitability for analysis.
• Development and maintenance of efficient data pipelines for automated data acquisition and processing.
• Design and conduct of statistical and machine learning models to analyse patterns, trends, and relationships in the data.
• Development and implementation of predictive models to forecast future outcomes and identify potential risks and opportunities.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to seek out opportunities to add value from data through Data Science.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

Join Barclays as a Data Science Lead, where you will play a pivotal role in shaping our AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Data Science strategy while leading and developing a high-performing team of data scientists. This is a hybrid technical and people leadership role, responsible for delivering impactful AI solutions, setting technical direction, and fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous learning. You will lead the design and deployment of scalable AI and machine learning solutions, establish best practices across the data science lifecycle, and guide teams through technical and organisational transformation. Alongside technical leadership, you will mentor and develop colleagues, helping them grow their skills and careers while supporting the delivery of strategic business outcomes.

To be successful as a Data Science Lead, you must have the following essential skills:

• Advanced Python Development – Expert knowledge of Python and modern data science libraries including NumPy, Pandas, scikit-learn and PyTorch.
• Machine Learning & AI – Demonstrated experience designing, developing, deploying and monitoring production-grade machine learning solutions.
• Software Engineering Best Practices – Experience building modular, maintainable solutions using testing frameworks, Continuous Integration/ Continuous Deployment pipelines, version control and deployment automation.
• Technical Leadership – A proven ability of leading complex data science projects, defining technical standards and driving innovation across teams.
• People Leadership & Coaching – Experience leading, mentoring and developing technical professionals, creating an environment where individuals and teams can thrive.

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• Enterprise AI Systems – Experience designing and implementing scalable, governed AI solutions within a large organisation.
• Strategic Leadership – Ability to define long-term technical roadmaps, influence senior stakeholders and lead transformational change.
• Generative AI & Large Language Models – Proven experience with Large Language Models, agentic AI solutions and modern AI architectures.
• Advanced Data Science Techniques – Experience applying specialised methods such as causal inference, time series forecasting, optimisation, graph analytics or deep learning.
• Stakeholder Management – Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business recommendations and influence decision-making at senior levels.

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role will be based in London, Glasgow or Northampton.