Named in honour of Alan Turing, the Institute is a place for inspiring, exciting work and we need passionate, sharp, and innovative people who want to use their skills to contribute to our mission to make great leaps in data science and AI research to change the world for the better.

Please find more information about us here.

The UK is a global leader in science and research innovation, and data is at the heart of it. The importance of unlocking the power of data in the UK has been recognised in many government and public sector strategies, from the UK National Data Strategy, to more recently the Goldacre Review, “Data Saves Lives”, the “Reproducibility & Research Integrity” Report, and the UKRI strategy. However, organisations often fail to maximise the potential of data due to a range of challenges related to access, formats, reliability, completion, and readiness. This is compounded by a lack of data skills across many sectors and a lack of effort to systematically address these challenges.

The People in Data Project at the Turing institute aims to establish a Data Professional Community Hub – “People in Data” - across the UK’s broad data science ecosystem. Our project will bring together a connected network of existing communities but also create a community space for data professionals that do not identify with existing communities. We will map existing skills needs, resources, and engagement opportunities within the community, identifying gaps that can be addressed through the development of new training materials. We will run a Data Champions scheme to further engage data professionals from different organisations and diverse domains. Additionally, we will create a formalised business case for how to sustain this network, which could include plans for a data professionals society or merging into an existing community space. To establish this expansive community, we are bringing together a group of organisations from various domains and sectors, who will form a core working team and advise us on shaping a roadmap for setting up the community. The ultimate goal is to position this community as a national resource for all data professionals to engage with and not only address current skill gaps, but also contribute to the broader development of the data science landscape.

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. One of the Institute’s Core Capabilities, we seek to build trustworthy systems, embed transparent reporting practices, promote inclusive interoperable design, maintain ethical integrity, and encourage respectful co-creation.

The Turing Way is an open source community-driven guide to reproducible, ethical, inclusive and collaborative data science. Our goal is to change the culture of data science and to provide all the information that data scientists in academia, industry, government and the third sector need through the project lifecycle to make sure their outputs are responsibly designed, deployed and reused.

We are recruiting a Senior Research Community Manager who will work to establish and maintain the People in Data community and who will work to mentor, train and embed expertise from the TPS, Turing Way, and broader open source data science communities within the People in Data Project and beyond. Their goal is to ensure that the People in Data community members have the skills, opportunities and support required to deliver FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) outputs that are greater than the sum of their parts, responsibly deployed, and scale to be sustainable beyond the end of their current funding cycle.

ROLE PURPOSE

The People in Data Senior Research Community Manager will create, nurture and protect the conditions required for successful collaboration and technical communication across the People in Data Project and Community. The postholder will need to embody core values of stewardship, compassion, and collaboration, in addition to their commitment to equality and inclusion as described in the Turing's Values.

The data professionals ecosystem is diverse, and practitioners and stakeholders come from a range of backgrounds both in terms of their lived experience and their academic domain expertise. The ideal candidate for the People in Data Senior Research Community Manager will be familiar with different data professionals’ roles and responsibilities, and those of other notable stakeholders, and treat every member of the community with compassion. They will develop and grow their understanding of the Data Professionals landscape in the UK with the People in Data community, and support Turing staff to share and promote opportunities within their respective projects. They will understand and communicate how the three Turing-hosted workstreams complement each other and connect partners with project and community opportunities to drive forward engagement and community growth.

As a steward of their community, the Senior Research Community Manager will see how individual pieces including Turing members’ expertise, partner organisations, Turing University Network, wider UK data professionals community, community strategy, and future plans fit together as a whole. The postholder will surface implicit knowledge and make information explicit so that everyone who wants to can participate. As a member of the Turing’s Research Community Management team, the postholder will work with other research community managers to support community members to share and promote the skills that they already have, understand the experiences of people from a range of diverse backgrounds, and identify what they need to effectively work together.

The People in Data Senior Research Community Manager will collaborate with experts in the Turing community and beyond. They will ensure that everyone understands - to the extent that they need to – best practices such as data and ML model standards, computational reproducibility, open source practices, project management, cross sector leadership and technical translation skills, and responsible research and innovation practices. They will be an active contributor to The Turing Way, acting as a bidirectional conduit to implement best practices for reproducible, ethical, inclusive and collaborative data science. We do not expect the applicants to already have all the skills within the scope of The Turing Way project. Rather that they will develop new expertise and grow in the role.

They will be responsible for connecting the project with the Turing community, Turing partners, Turing University Network and the wider UK data professionals community. The People in Data Senior Research Community Manager will be line-managed by Dr Emma Karoune, Co-lead investigator of People in Data Project. They will report to and closely work with Dr Annie Mallon, PI and Director of the Turing’s Research for Data Team.

DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

• Drive engagement among the key stakeholders of the People in Data Community at the Turing Institute, leveraging external partners, the Turing University Network and the wider UK data professionals community to maximise the impact of the Turing’s work in the UK wide data professionals community.
• Convene, connect and nurture a national community of stakeholders from across the data professionals ecosystem in the UK, Academic, Industry, Civil Society, Government and the Third Sector.
• Lead scoping, design and implementation of the Data champions scheme (Fellowship scheme) to effectively embed champions as advocates for the People in Data Community in organisations where there is an identified need.
• Collaborate with the People in Data Team on skills and training mapping, developing and disseminating new training materials, and the development of a business case for sustainability of the Data Professionals Community.
• Represent the Turing’s People in Data team and their projects where appropriate in the Data Professionals network to establish, grow and maintain the People in Data Community.
• Implement open source and community building practices
• Be an active community member of The Turing Way project.
• 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.
• Publish - as a lead or co-author - research articles, open source training materials, case studies, Turing Way chapters and/or perspective, opinion and commentary articles, as appropriate.
• Contribute to the research aims and goals of the Tools, Practices and Systems programme, and those of the Turing Institute more broadly.

Please see the job description for a full breakdown of the role.

• PhD or equivalent level of industry experience.
• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in a discipline which provides a good basis for understanding statistics, data science, and programming.
• Experience managing, structuring and analysing research data.
• Experience in basic coding skills in any programming language.
• Experience in Git for version control and Github or GitLab for project management.
• An understanding of the importance of good practices for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses (e.g. version control, issue tracking, automated testing, package management, and literate analysis tools such as Jupyter and Rmarkdown).
• Experience working in open research, open source software, participatory and community-led co-creation or team science.
• Experience in contributing to, maintaining and/or leading open source research software projects.

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. If you have questions about the role or would like to apply using a different format, please email us at [email protected].

If you are applying for more than one role at the Turing, please note that only one Cover Letter can be visible on your profile at one time. If you wish to apply for multiple roles and do not want to overwrite your existing Cover Letter, please apply for the role using the button below and forward your additional cover letter directly to [email protected] quoting the job title.

If you are an internal applicant and wish to apply, please send your CV and Cover Letter directly to [email protected] and your application will be considered.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: SUNDAY 19 MAY 2024 AT 23:59 (LONDON, UK BST)

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early or to interview suitable candidates before the closing date if enough applications are received.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This full-time post is offered on a fixed term basis until December 2026. The annual salary is £51,476 plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies, https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/why-work-turing/employee-benefits.

The Alan Turing Institute is based at the British Library, in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter. We expect staff to come to our office at least 4 days per month. Some roles may require more days in the office; the hiring manager will be able to confirm this during the interview.

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.

We are committed to making sure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive. This includes making reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability or long-term condition. Please contact us at [email protected] to find out how we can assist you.

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].