Lead Data Scientist - Public Sector (security cleared)

Join Kainos and Shape the Future

At Kainos, we're problem solvers, innovators, and collaborators - driven by a shared mission to create real impact. Whether we're transforming digital services for millions, delivering cutting edge Workday solutions, or pushing the boundaries of technology, we do it together.

We believe in a people first culture, where your ideas are valued, your growth is supported, and your contributions truly make a difference. Here, you'll be part of a diverse, ambitious team that celebrates creativity and collaboration.

Ready to make your mark? Join us and be part of something bigger.

As a Lead Data Scientist at Kainos, you will architect, design, and deliver advanced AI solutions leveraging state of the art machine learning, generative and agentic AI technologies. You will drive the adoption of modern AI frameworks, AIOps best practices and scalable cloud native architectures. Your role will involve hands on technical leadership, collaborating with customers to translate business challenges into trustworthy AI solutions and ensuring responsible AI practices throughout. As a technical mentor, you will foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and engineering excellence.

It is a fast paced environment, so it is important for you to make sound, reasoned decisions. You will do this whilst learning about new technologies and approaches, with talented colleagues that will help you to develop and grow. You will manage, coach, and develop a small number of staff, with a focus on managing employee performance and assisting in their career development. You will also provide direction and leadership for your team as you solve challenging problems together.

• A minimum of a 2.1 degree in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Statistics or a similar quantitative field.
• Deep understanding and development of AI/ML models, including time series, supervised/unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning and LLMs.
• Experience with the latest AI engineering approaches such as prompt engineering, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), and agentic AI.
• Strong Python skills with a grounding in software engineering best practices (CI/CD, testing, code reviews, etc).
• Expertise in data engineering for AI: handling large scale, unstructured, and multimodal data.
• Understanding of responsible AI principles, model interpretability, and ethical considerations.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to lead client projects and establish requirements in non technical language.
• Experience managing, coaching, and developing junior members of a team and wider community.
• Must have active UK Government Security Clearance.

• Demonstrable experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, TensorFlow), fine tuning or distillation of LLMs (e.g. GPT, Llama, Claude, Gemini), machine learning libraries (e.g. scikit learn, XGBoost).
• Experience with data storage for AI, vector databases, semantic search, and knowledge graphs.
• Contributions to open source AI projects or research publications.
• Familiarity with AI security, privacy, and compliance standards e.g. ISO42001.

At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive. We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are. We also believe every candidate deserves a level playing field.

Our friendly talent acquisition team is here to support you every step of the way, so if you require any accommodations or adjustments, we encourage you to reach out. We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.