Senior Research Data Scientist

Salary: £48,000 - 88,000 per year

Requirements:

• Expertise in transformer architectures, such as BERT, GPT, T5, or time-series transformers.
• Strong hands-on experience with modern deep learning frameworks, with PyTorch preferred.
• Solid grounding in machine learning fundamentals and statistical modelling.
• Familiarity with distributed training and GPU acceleration.
• A track record of delivering impactful models in production or research settings.
• Ability to take ambiguous research ideas and shape them into structured investigations or prototypes.
• Curiosity and a learning mindset, with an interest in tracking state-of-the-art advancements and evaluating their relevance.
• Strong data manipulation and engineering skills, such as PySpark, SQL, and cloud-based data tooling.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborative approach to working with ML engineers, product managers, academic partners, and leadership stakeholders.
• Passion for turning cutting-edge modelling ideas into practical business impact.
• A mindset that blends scientific curiosity with real-world pragmatism.
• Enthusiasm for shaping the next generation of AI capabilities at dunnhumby through both hands-on modelling and strategic influence.
• Experience in retail, CPG, recommendations, or customer behaviour modelling is nice to have.
• Engagement with academic research, such as publications, workshops, or industry collaborations, is nice to have.
• Familiarity with vector databases, embeddings, and retrieval techniques is nice to have.
• Experience working on large datasets, including efficient loading, batching, and streaming, with PySpark preferred, is nice to have.

Responsibilities:

• Drive the design, experimentation, and evaluation of transformer-based models on retail-based challenges.
• Explore innovative architectures, such as sequence-to-sequence models, causal transformers, and hybrid retrieval plus transformer approaches, to improve personalisation, recommendations, and forecasting.
• Develop research-grade prototypes and collaborate with engineers to translate them into scalable, production-ready solutions.
• Conduct forward-looking research on generative AI, multimodal learning, and representation learning.
• Identify emerging AI and ML techniques with high potential for retail and consumer analytics, shaping conceptual prototypes and feasibility assessments.
• Drive internal thought leadership by defining standards, sharing knowledge, and advising product, engineering, and data science teams on ML adoption and best practices.
• Work with leading academic groups and private-sector research partners to co-develop new modelling approaches, run joint experiments, or explore cutting-edge AI applications.
• Mentor other data scientists and contribute to growing organisational capability in deep learning and advanced ML.
• Partner closely with internal teams to ensure research pathways are aligned with available tooling and future platform strategy.
• Document best practices and contribute to reusable assets, libraries, and internal frameworks.

Technologies:

• AI
• Cloud
• Machine Learning
• PyTorch
• PySpark
• SQL
• Support
• Network

More:

We are dunnhumby, the global leader in Customer Data Science, partnering with ambitious retailers and brands to put the customer at the heart of every decision. We combine deep insight, advanced technology, and close collaboration to help our clients grow, innovate, and deliver measurable value for their customers. We employ nearly 2,500 experts across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, working with iconic brands such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Unilever, and Metro. This role sits within our AI Strategy, Research & Enablement team, where you will help shape the future of AI across our organisation at the intersection of cutting-edge research and real-world commercial application. We offer a comprehensive rewards package, flexible working hours, your birthday off, investment in cutting-edge technology, and a nimble, small-business feel that gives you the freedom to play, experiment, and learn. We are committed to diversity, inclusion, and flexible working, with thriving networks and an inclusive culture that supports balance between career and life outside work.

last updated 36 week of 2026