The Alan Turing Institute is the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. The Institute is named in honour of the scientist Alan Turing and its mission is to make great leaps in data science and artificial intelligence research in order to change the world for the better.

AI for Science and Government (ASG) at the Alan Turing Institute is a major integrated research programme with a goal to deploy AI and data science in priority areas to support the UK economy.

ASG researchers are currently focussing on three recently initiated cross-theme projects which broadly fall under:

• Engineering and urban analytics through the development of ecosystems of digital twins.
• Government and health through data-linking and integrating with economics to study future shocks and system resilience (due to pandemics or similar).
• Environment and sustainability, for instance through modelling impact of climate change on arctic sea loss or on food security.

Additionally, ASG also includes ongoing projects in different domain areas including applications within the Criminal Justice System, Health, Data Science for Science, Engineering and Urban Analytics.

The Tools, Practices and Systems (TPS) programme at the Turing represents a cross-cutting set of initiatives which seek to build open source infrastructure that is accessible to all, and to empower a global, decentralised network of people who connect data with domain experts.

The Turing Way is an open source community-driven guide to reproducible, ethical, inclusive and collaborative data science. The project goal is to provide all the information that data scientists in academia, industry, government and the third sector need at the start of their projects to ensure that they are easy to reproduce and reuse at the end.

We are recruiting two Research Application Managers who will work to embed the expertise in the TPS, Turing Way, and broader open source and modelling communities across ASG projects to ensure that this £38 million investment delivers FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) outputs that are greater than the sum of their parts.

Role Purpose

A Research Application Manager (RAM) at the Turing builds and nurtures the connections with users of research outputs and brings back the user perspective to researchers and research engineers. We anticipate that the postholder will need to embody core values of legacy, adaptability, and collaboration, in addition to their commitment to equity and inclusion principles as described in the Turing’s Values (see below).

RAMs work in a dedicated team focused on ensuring that research outputs such as open source tools, protocols, and modelling frameworks are used successfully and sustainably by external stakeholders. As part of this broad mandate, the postholder will work on strengthening existing stakeholder relationships and initiating new research coalitions or partnerships, to maximise the impact of ASG and ensure it leaves a lasting legacy on the ecosystem.

This is a new team at the Institute and the postholder will need to be someone who takes the initiative and thrives when given a large degree of autonomy and flexibility. The role has considerable similarity to that of a product manager in a tech firm, but with significant adjustments to update it for the research context. The skills required are likely a combination of technical acumen and service delivery experience. RAMs will work on multiple projects concurrently, and each project will be different in different ways. The postholder will need to understand how their adaptability is a strength that will inspire team members, without undermining a determined perseverance on delivering useful outputs.

There is significant scope for the postholder to develop new skills and grow in the role. We do not expect applicants to necessarily be highly experienced and already have all the skills that are vital for success. We do however expect the postholder to be prepared to learn at pace. We are also enthusiastic about people who have a background as open source community managers as they are experts in distributed, decentralised collaboration. As contributing members of The Turing Way project, all RAMs will have the opportunity to learn or develop technical software engineering and data management skills, and will be expected to share their expertise in project design and effective communication to diverse stakeholders.

The postholder will work closely with Dr Aida Mehonic, Research Application Manager already in post, Dr Kirstie Whitaker, Programme Lead for Tools, Practices and Systems, and Dr Allaine Cerwonka, Associate Director for the ASG Programme. Dr Kirstie Whitaker will be their line manager.

Duties And Areas Of Responsibility

• Drive the Institute's efforts to maximise the impact of academic research across the wider ecosystem. Ensure that the outputs of the research process are translated into real-world implementations and that they are used by stakeholders external to Turing. You will achieve this by engaging with appropriate stakeholders, in close collaboration with senior academics (ASG Theme Leads) and the Partnerships team.
• The means of real-world translation are likely to be highly varied across ASG, as the research outputs are by design heterogeneous. You will conduct some or all among the following:
• Identify appropriate potential users of research outputs (in collaboration with, and as approved by, the Theme Leads).
• Work closely with teams within user organisations to understand their needs at the appropriate level of technical and infrastructure detail to ascertain whether particular research outputs could be useful in their workflow.
• Facilitate project scoping discussions between researchers and stakeholder organisations.
• Work closely with ASG researchers to represent user needs and constraints in what should become an effective feedback loop.
• Identify challenges that potential users have in deploying tools built within ASG and co-create solutions as an active member of the research teams.
• Promote the sustainable use of research outputs by facilitating high-quality analysis, modelling and reporting documentation, and training materials, in collaboration with researchers, developers and domain experts.
• Reach out to and sustainably communicate with open source communities to raise awareness of and get feedback on tools being built in ASG.
• Catalyse connections and collaboration between researchers working on different Themes. This could come in the form of synchronous regular meetings or it could occur asynchronously, for example, through active engagement on distributed communication channels such as Slack and the maintenance of public and private GitHub repositories to documented ongoing work within the projects and Themes.
• Be an active community member of The Turing Way project. This may include writing new content, reviewing existing chapters, or giving presentations about the project to new audiences. We expect all RAMs to attend regular co-working sessions and participate in discussions on research best practices across a project lifecycle.
• Build connections between ASG researchers and the Institute's Research Engineering Group.
• Work with the ASG Associate Director and Turing Communications team to promote achievements and capabilities in a way which is meaningful for stakeholders and potential end-users across relevant sectors.
• Contribute to identifying significant cross-programme synergies and formulating recommendations to the Associate and Programme Director that aim to grow and support them.
• Communicate technical topics to colleagues and external partners by preparing and presenting reports, blog posts, organising and delivering presentations, and taking an active role in meetings and discussions. Communications may be synchronous or asynchronous, remote or in person, and must be prepared at the appropriate granularity of detail for the audience.
• Publish - as a lead or co-author - peer-reviewed research articles, open source training curricula, and/or perspective, opinion and commentary articles, as appropriate. This responsibility will be defined to be aligned with the successful candidate's personal career goals, through collaborative discussion when they are in post.
• Contribute to the research aims and challenges of the Tools, Practices and Systems programme, and those of the Turing Institute more broadly. Share the responsibility of embedding our ethical values in research processes and outputs, and promoting equitable and inclusive co-creation of data intensive projects.

Essential

• Hold a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s Degree in a discipline which provides a good basis for understanding statistics, data science and programming.
• Experience in stakeholder engagement, for instance, experience working with consortium partners, research collaborators, delivery partners, or clients.
• Experience with basic coding skills in any programming language.
• Knowledge of, or interest in learning about, reproducible research.
• Outstanding communication skills, both oral and written
• Routinely explains complicated matters simply, tailors delivery methods/media to suit the audience’s needs and ensure understanding. Uses appropriate styles and arguments to influence and negotiate satisfactory outcomes. Presents complex information in formats appropriate to audiences without compromising meaning.
• Leads, oversees and monitors progress of key deliverables and timescales through probation/appraisal and takes appropriate action to deal with any issues or problems.
• Collaborates with others to meet deadlines and joint objectives by ensuring dissemination of information in the right format to the right people at the right time. Builds relationships and contacts to facilitate future exchange of information.
• Leads and develops internal networks, such as working groups or committees in order to deliver collaborative and cross functional projects or initiatives.
• Works with others to make collaborative decisions that may be operational or strategic and impact immediate team or work area only.
• Recommends and advises on available options for decisions that affect operational processes, taking into account any risks.
• Manages time and resources effectively; routinely monitoring and reviewing progress to ensure effective working of self and others.
• Track record of excellent problem solving skills, ideally in settings which require multiple domain specialist cooperation.
• Designs and uses data gathering and analytical methods appropriate for each investigation.
• Produces reports that identify key issues and findings. Recognises and accurately interprets patterns and trends.
• Commitment to meeting deadlines
• Commitment to EDI principles and to the Organisation values

Desirable

• PhD or equivalent level of industry experience.
• Experience in:
• Product management through a developmental lifecycle,
• Research and/or development in data science,
• Data engineering for reproducible analysis and/or deployment,
• Community management (for instance, in open source),
• Git for version control and Github or GitLab for project management.
• Track record of delivering value for your organisation or stakeholder by making use of data science, data visualisation or software engineering.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

If you are interested in this opportunity, please click the apply button below. You will need to register on the applicant portal and complete the application form including your CV and covering letter. Please also include a 500 word writing sample about a data science tool or dataset that you recommend for others. If you have questions about the role or would like to apply using a different format, please contact them on 020 3862 3575 or 0203 862 3340, or email [email protected].

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 20th June 2021

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This role is offered on a full time two-year, fixed term contract.

Location: the Alan Turing Institute, the British Library, 96 Euston Road, London

Salary: £46,690, plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies, https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/why-work-turing/employee-benefits

This job description is written at a specific time and is subject to change as the demands of the Institute and the role develop. The role requires flexibility and adaptability and the post holder needs to be aware that they may be asked to perform tasks and be given responsibilities not detailed in this job description.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued and everyone is treated fairly. In accordance with the Equality Act, we welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Reasonable adjustments to the interview process will be made for any candidates with a disability.

Please note all offers of employment are subject to obtaining and retaining the right to work in the UK and satisfactory pre-employment security screening which includes a DBS Check.

Full details on the pre-employment screening process can be requested from [email protected].