Job Description
This job is with BBC, an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.
Package Description
Job Reference: 22234
Band: D
Salary: £69,000-£79,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
Contract type: Permanent
Location: London, Glasgow, Salford, Newcastle or Cardiff. This is a hybrid role, and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working.
We're happy to discuss flexible working. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.
• Excellent career progression - the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities - our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
• Benefits - We offer a negotiable salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym. You can find out more about working at the BBC by selecting this link to our candidate pack.
If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process, please contact the reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk. For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk.
Job Introduction
The BBC is making the shift from being a broadcaster that speaks to our audiences to being a service that is shaped by them and designed around their wants and needs whilst stimulating and delighting audiences around the world. To achieve this mission of being a Digital First BBC, we are building a data organisation which will lead cultural and organisational change. This includes lots of exciting work on AI.
We're actively exploring the opportunities and challenges of generative AI through a series of pilots, building on a long history of AI research and development at the BBC. And we're firmly committed to doing this in a responsible way. BBC Director General Tim Davie has talked about the need for us to deploy AI on our terms, serving our values, for the public good. It's about benefitting all audiences and helping us deliver our public service mission in new and exciting ways.
In the Responsible AI (RAI) team it's our job to help make that happen by building a culture where everyone at the BBC is empowered to use AI responsibly. We're part of the BBC's wider Data Governance team and we work across the organisation, from News and Content to HR, Finance and Operations, to make sure everyone is equipped to use AI in a way which maximises the benefits while minimising the potential harms. It's all about ensuring that our use of AI is aligned with our public service values and compliant with our legal and regulatory obligations.
At this exciting time, we're looking for a Principal Data Scientist to lead our work on AI risk and safety evaluation, and provide data science expertise across the Responsible AI team's activities.
Freelancers
Freelancers are eligible to apply for an internal role if they are on a Worker Contract and they have worked continuously for 6 months. If they have worked for less than 6 months continuously or have a break of 3 weeks or more between engagements, they must seek Divisional HR approval to apply for an internal role prior to submitting an application.
If they are unsure which contract they are on, they can speak to their booker or the HR BP, however if it helps - both a PAYE freelance or Modus Gross contract is considered a Worker contract and covered by the Worker terms found here.
Interview Process
2 stage interview process:
- A screening call (with the hiring manager and/or RAI team lead) covering motivations for applying
- One 90-minute interview, comprising a technical presentation and some behavioural questions covering relevant competencies for the role (with the hiring manager plus a small panel)
Main Responsibilities
A key focus of this role will be to provide data science leadership for the next stage of our groundbreaking research evaluating the representation of news content in AI assistants. Following the success of the recently published work focusing on BBC News content, we will be working with partners to expand the methodology to other media organisations, with a view to publishing a more comprehensive research report later in 2025.
Ultimately, we hope to turn this research into an independent benchmark of AI assistant performance. In this role you will:
• guide the overall methodology and approach of the evaluation
• lead the evaluation of the data gathered and writing of the research report, advising and supporting partners
• provide expert advice to inform BBC and shared positions related to the research
In addition to this, you will play a key role in driving the development of AI/ML evaluation more broadly at the BBC, particularly applied risk and safety evaluation:
• identifying and developing approaches which allow us to assess risk and safety of AI/ML tools and models in use or development at the BBC, and their impact on our values
• running evaluations, and communicating results clearly to non-technical stakeholders
• working with and providing thought-leadership to data scientists and others at the BBC to develop evaluation capabilities and drive more data-informed decision-making
More broadly, you will provide data science expertise to the Responsible AI team and wider BBC:
• providing expert technical advice on risks and mitigations for AI use and development
• providing a data science perspective in the design of responsible AI governance, guidance and tools to help ensure they are user friendly and fit for purpose
• acting as a bridge between RAI team and BBC data science community
• championing a responsible approach to AI/ML across the BBC
Are you the right candidate
We are interested in hearing from individuals with some combination of the following:
• Passion for responsible AI, understanding of the issues involved and how they apply to the BBC
• Strong understanding of data science and machine learning techniques, including recent advances
• Good understanding of how to evaluate ML models throughout their life cycle, and how to apply this to third-party tools
• Strong coding skills, preferably in Python
• Ability to build relationships and communicate clearly and engagingly, particularly to non-technical audiences
• Proven track record of delivering value
• A curious, investigative mindset and ability to dig deeply to uncover potential issues and come up with novel solutions and approaches
• Confidence to take an expert view on issues or the value of a particular piece of work, and to convince people or justify that view if challenged
• Ability to work independently and resiliently, managing a diverse portfolio of work, prioritising work in a structured manner, ensuring delivery in a timely fashion
• Ability to contribute effectively in a cross-functional team
You are encouraged to apply even if you don't meet every one of the criteria above!
About the BBC
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.
We don't focus simply on what we do - we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you've read about our values and behaviours here.
Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.
We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC - whether that's to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.
We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.
To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here.
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