Location
London - Television Centre, with 2 days a week in office

Hours
Permanent, full-time role

Salary
£78,000 - £84,000 per year, plus London Weighting Allowance of £5,441. Salary reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights. Flexible working options available and will be discussed at offer stage.

About the Role
BBC Studios is a globally renowned media company creating and distributing some of the world’s most sought-after TV, audio, and digital content. The Principal Data Scientist will join a successful and growing data science team, working across all BBC Studios’ lines of business to identify where data science can add value. This role is central to driving data education and supporting cultural evolution within the organisation. You will champion the Data Science team, promoting its work and demonstrating the value of data-driven insights to BBC Studios.

Your responsibilities will include leading data science projects such as automated decision-making for commercial News or developing synthetic audiences for TV commissioning. You will enhance Studios’ capabilities through solutions like automated tagging and metadata improvements to boost discoverability and recommendations. The role involves technical leadership in defining problem statements, selecting algorithms and data sources, and owning end-to-end project delivery from ideation to production. Collaboration with stakeholders and clear communication of insights and recommendations are key. Staying current with developments in generative AI and applying them where appropriate is also expected.

Experience
- Strong experience in data science or a closely related role
- Background in media, customer research, or related areas
- Hands-on problem solving from impact understanding to mathematical detail
- Excellent programming skills in Python
- Good working knowledge of SQL and experience querying large datasets
- Experience building and deploying machine learning models into production
- Proven ability to shape projects and translate vague business problems into practical solutions
- Experience interacting with senior stakeholders and leading technical workstreams

About you
You are a proactive and technically skilled data scientist who thrives on solving complex problems and driving business impact. You are comfortable working across multiple business areas and enjoy educating and influencing others to embrace data-driven decision making. You keep up to date with the latest AI developments and are eager to apply innovative solutions.

Qualifications
A degree in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or a related field is required.