About the job

Job summary

We are currently looking for a Data Scientist to join our Scientific Data & Insight function within the Safety and Surveillance group.

This is a full-time opportunity, on a permanent basis. The role will be based in 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf London, E14 4PU. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.  

We are currently operate a flexible, hybrid way of working, with a minimum of 8 days per month working on site to enable the collaboration and contact with partners and stakeholders needed to deliver MHRA business. Attendance on site is driven by business needs so depending on the nature of the role, this can flex up to 12 days a month, with the remainder of time worked either remotely or in the office. Some roles will need to be on site more regularly.

 

Who are we? 

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency enhance and improve the health of millions of people every day through the effective regulation of medicines and medical devices, underpinned by science and research.  

To deliver effectively on our central mission of protecting public health, we need robust vigilance processes that are able to quickly detect, monitor and evaluate safety signals across the product lifecycle, the ability to critically evaluate the benefit/risk balance of signals of concern and design effective risk mitigations, to communicate effectively to patients and the public and a healthcare system able to implement them.  The Safety and Surveillance Group brings together into a single integrated structure expertise on the safety of all medical products with enforcement capabilities. These functions are supported by the Agency’s data and evidence generating capabilities complementing our signal generating abilities delivered via the common vigilance platform SafetyConnect.

 

Job description

Medicines and devices have traditionally been regulated separately largely driven by different regulatory processes and ways of working and the consequence has been a failure to capture on synergies and expertise and a duplication of effort in signal detection infrastructure, data capture and communications. As science and technology drives increasing understanding of disease, it is also opening new opportunities for treatments with both medicines and devices.  As a result, product profiles are changing, becoming ever more complex and the boundaries between medicines and devices are blurring with increasing interdependencies. These changes provide the opportunity to bring medicines and devices capabilities together to better address the regulatory challenges of the future.

Against this background and the drive to improve treatment availability for patients, safety remains at the heart of all our decision making across the product life cycle. The central mission of the Safety & Surveillance portfolio is to protect the public by appropriately identifying, assessing and managing the risks associated with medical products. In every aspect of this work, we harness the best science, technology, information and professional practice to protect patients in new and impactful ways.

In support of this mission, the Scientific Data & Insight function will be responsible for developing expertise in house to deliver evidence to underpin these new approaches. Quality and speed of regulatory decision making is dependent on having access to high-quality, representative data in a timely fashion but also being able to access and analyse in house data and information in the most effective way. In the future this will include the application of new analytical methodologies including AI and machine learning methods such as natural language processing, large language models and computer modelling and simulation approaches. Hence developing and strengthening capacity and capability in data science within MHRA is a key strategic objective to ensure we are best placed to address the future evidence generation needs for both medicines and devices.

The post holder is responsible for using data science techniques to design and develop innovative and novel analytical approaches to interrogate datasets that are relevant for regulatory decision making.

 

The post holder will work closely with other members of the Scientific Data and Insights team, regularly interact with colleagues across the Safety and Surveillance Group, and with Clinical Practice Research Datalink to improve accessing real world data in a timely fashion for regulatory needs; and identifying and developing methods and techniques to make business activities more effective, and with colleagues across the wider Agency.

 

The role holder will develop strategic links with key external stakeholders to leverage additional sources of safety information and will develop and maintain relationships with other global regulators  to ensure  a systematic approach to medical product safety.

Key responsibilities: 

• Apply data science and machine learning approaches to large and complex datasets using programming languages such as Python, R, Stata and SQL to generate actionable insights and robust evidence.
• Communicate approaches and results clearly and effectively to a wide range of stakeholders, including using data visualisation methods.
• Ensure that data science solutions robust, reproducible, and scalable by applying technical best practices.
• Work cross-functionally to enable the delivery of innovative evidence-generation throughout the product life cycle and collaborate with external partners to enable data-driven discovery in medical product safety.
• Apply analytical and graphical methods to patient data collated through vigilance systems to support assessment of the safety of medicines and medical devices and advise on the refinement of AI tools for data processing.
• Work with vigilance scientists, developers, and epidemiologists to design and optimise vigilance reporting systems, including the application machine learning where appropriate.
• Evaluate and optimize data quality, ensure that data science solutions are fit-for-purpose and appropriately maintained, and provide quality assurance where appropriate.
• Engage with a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate their use of vigilance tools.
• Support the Head of Data Analytics and Machine Learning in the development of grant proposals and the delivery of a sustainable operating model.

 

Person specification

• Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Bioinformatics or a similar quantitative discipline or demonstrable equivalent professional experience
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, R, Stata and SQL.
• Understanding of data science best practices such as version control, virtual environments, technical documentation
• Proficiency in scalable data analysis for example using high performance computing.
• Demonstrable technical knowledge and skills in at least one of the following domains: mathematical modelling and simulations, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, time series modelling, or bioinformatics.
• Strong experience of using data science to analyse and model large datasets.
• Experience in developing clear, effective, and reproducible code through data science best practices.
• Experience of data visualisation and presentation of complex information.
• Experience of working collaboratively within multidisciplinary data science teams and delivering results in a timely way.
• Experience of communicating complex data science concepts and results.

 

If you would like to find out more about this fantastic opportunity, please read our Job Description and Person Specification! please read our Job Description and Person Specification! 

Please note: The job description may not open in some internet browsers. Please use Chrome or Microsoft Edge. If you have any issue viewing the job description, please contact careers@mhra.gov.uk 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,869, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency contributes £12,419 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

We use the Civil Service Success Profiles to assess our candidates, find out more here. 

• Online application form, including questions based on the Behaviour, Experience and Technical Success Profiles. Please ensure all application questions are completed in full; your application may not be considered if any responses are left blank. Our applications are CV blind, and our Hiring Managers will not be able to access your CV when reviewing your application.
• Interview, which can include questions based on the Behaviour, Experience, Technical and Strengths Success Profiles.

 

Applicants are assessed on whether they meet any mandatory requirements as well as the necessary skills and experience for the role. Applications are scored based on the competency-based answers provided- ensure you have read these thoroughly and allow sufficient time. You can view the competencies for this role in the job description.

Use of AI in Job Applications:

Applicants must ensure that anything submitted must be factually accurate and truthful. Plagiarism ‘can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

If you require any disability related adjustments at any point during the process, please contact careers@mhra.gov.uk as soon as possible. 

 

Closing date: 26th July 2024

Shortlisting date: week commencing 29th July 2024

Interview date: week commencing 9th August 2024

Candidates will be contacted within a week of the sift and the interviews completed to inform them of the outcome.

 

If you need assistance applying for this role or have any other questions, please contact careers@mhra.gov.uk 

 

Candidates will be subject to UK immigration requirements as well as Civil Service nationality rules. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here. 

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check as well as animal rights and pro-life activism checks. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Any move to the MHRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility here.

 

Successful candidates may be subject to annual Occupational Health reviews dependent on role requirements. If you have any queries, please contact careers@mhra.gov.uk.

 

In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment on the basis of merit by a fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should firstly contact Mira Mepa, Head of Recruitment and Operations, Mira.Mepa@mhra.gov.uk.  

 

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk 

 

info@csc.gov.uk 

Civil Service Commission 

Room G/8 

1 Horse Guards Road 

London 

SW1A 2HQ 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window). 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.