Cybercrime Senior Data Scientist
1 day ago
Manchester
Location: Leeds, UK; Manchester, UK; Newcastle upon Tyne, UKSalary: 57,946 - 68,205 per yearEmployment: FlexibleCategory: SecurityPosted: 2026-08-13Valid to: 2026-08-26Employer: Department for Work and PensionsJob summaryAbout the team Within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Security Data Science team is part of the Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC), tasked with securing our public facing payment services and protecting one of the largest repositories of personal data in the UK. The Security Data Science team support this mission by building capabilities that typically enable the detection of complex attacks and prevention of security incidents, with some data scientists focussing on the prevention of complex, digitally enable fraud attacks. These capabilities are varied, spanning analytics, automation, infrastructure, insights and understanding of complex data sets for various stakeholders. About the RoleA Cybercrime Detection Senior Data Scientist role involves leading and shaping a range of projects that combine programming skills with data analytics techniques and close stakeholder engagement. Taking direction and working closely with Cybercrime Detection Analysts, they develop and improve monitoring and investigation capabilities.Seniors within the Security Data Science team own significant workstreams within cyber security analytics and counter-fraud projects. They are responsible for developing the sophistication and accuracy of our analytics capabilities in tackling a range of security and fraud risks. Day-to-day their skills combine those of researcher, consultant, analyst and programmer – with the ability to develop repeatable procedures in code combined with deep contextual data analysis. They drive the use of complex techniques to model, map and programmatically analyse the behaviour of complex entities such as users, devices, and attackers. Job descriptionResponsibilitiesOwn relationships with enabling stakeholders within Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC), identifying the right people within the CRC Teams that can enable and support our mission.Identification and monitoring of known security risks to DWP systems and data, and work with stakeholders to design the effective responses.Proactive use of data science techniques, data sources and technology to discover anomalies, assess capability and analyse security data in new ways.Developing strong and effective working relationships with Cybercrime Detection Analysts, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) engineers and other data analysts to ensure emerging threats identified are fully assessed in terms of their potential impact.Modelling, mapping, and programmatically analysing the behaviour of complex entities such as users, devices, and attackers. Extracting, transforming, and mapping high-dimensional variables to construct unique, distinguishing data profiles.Where appropriate, guiding the design and implementation of capabilities. Optimising data pipelines and algorithms to efficiently scale across massive datasets without compromising accuracy.Where appropriate, leveraging AI capability to assist with heavy lifting in the development of complex risk-based capabilities.Lead strands of data science and AI work. This includes identifying the specific business need, data gathering, extracting, cleaning, and integrating large-scale, multi-source datasets; determining the best tools, data and techniques to address the problems; ongoing deliverables and presentations; and influencing the business case for delivery.Support the design and implementation of analytics within specific products.Disseminate key findings to technical and non-technical audiences in a compelling way that is clearly set within a business context and exploits interactive visualisation techniques.Keep abreast of emerging technologies, market and industry trends and encourage adoption and best practise throughout the Data Science, Digital and Analyst community.Influence the wider Data Science landscape, defining methods, standards and other best practices. Make connections with peers across Government and industry in order to help make DWP a leader in Data Science.Ensure work adheres to key privacy, security and data protection principles, and demonstrates ethical considerations such as preventing unintended biases.Design experiments and rigorous validation frameworks to ensure profile uniqueness, model stability, and performance.Person specificationKey Criteria:The successful applicant will need to demonstrate: Experience of using analytical tools including SIEM tools to develop security responses within large amounts of complex data. (Lead Criteria)Experience of using analytics for risk scoring, recommender solutions or other operationalised machine learning applications. (Second Lead Criteria)Experience of creating automated reporting solutions or bespoke data visualisations with embedded analytics including UI design best practices.Experience in delivering apps, APIs or web sites at scale using technologies such as SQL, NoSQL or Graph databases.Working with 'big data' challenges such as high volume, variety or velocity of data, correlation, association and inferenceUnderstanding of potential attacker behaviour.Experience of modelling the complex activity of security-related entities (e.g. users, devices).Good understanding of data handling, security and privacy best practices.Stakeholder management skills and experience working with suppliers and stakeholders across all grades and working with internal/external stakeholders to deliver results.Experience of defining and/or maintaining best practices or reusable capabilities.Awareness of the latest technology trends in the cyber and analytics domain and their relative merits.Essential Security Criteria Please note that the role that you are applying for requires National Security Vetting (NSV) to the level – Developed Vetting (DV). You can find more information at United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). If you are successful in your application, you will need to attain DV clearance before you can take up post. This is mandatory and is in addition to completion of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS).The purpose of the NSV process is to provide a level of assurance about an individual’s trustworthiness, integrity and reliability, and other factors that increase their vulnerability to corruption or risk of committing a security breach. It involves the investigation of an individual’s background and circumstances to achieve this aim.For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Candidates are required to meet the UK residency requirements so that National Security Vetting (NSV) checks can be conducted. For developed vetting, you must have resided continuously in the UK for at least 7 of the last 10 years, 2 of which must have been the immediately preceding years from the point of applying for this job.The application process will ask for personal details about you, your address history, previous relationships, your parents, your employment history, your financial circumstances, and details of any pending, spent or unspent convictions. This list is not exhaustive. Please view the Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information.If you require any further information, please contact the vacancy holder – the details are on the jobs portal through which you made your application.If you are successful in your application, we recommend that you familiarise yourself with the NSV process and advise that you collate as much information as you can prior to starting your Vetting application. BehavioursWe'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:Seeing the Big PictureDelivering at PaceChanging and ImprovingLeadershipCommunicating and InfluencingBenefitsAlongside your salary of 57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.Things you need to knowArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.Selection process detailsThis vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.Ensure that you read the full information about the selection process before starting your applicationStage 1 – Application FormPlease complete the application form with your basic information, which includes your personal details, eligibility to apply and any reasonable adjustments required.Stage 2 - Curriculum Vitae (CV) You will be asked to complete a CV with details of your job history, full qualification details, previous skills and experience. You are not required to upload your personal CV.In the previous skills/experience section you should detail your employment and/or education history relevant to this vacancy (we recommend a maximum of 500 words).The CV will also cover your work history (we recommend you include up to the last 3 roles of employment history, plus any others that you feel are relevant) and your qualifications. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.Stage 3 – Personal Statement and SiftAs part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a personal statement in no more than 1,250 words detailing the relevant skills and experience you can bring to the role, based on the key criteria listed.Please read and understand the key criteria thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against. Pay particular attention to the lead criteria and second lead criteria as if you do not demonstrate these on your application, you will not progress to the interview stage.Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criterion separately; however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several key criteria. You may not be able to meet all the key criteria, but please ensure you evidence the key personal requirements, what have you done that’s relatable to the requirements. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criteria or lead and second lead criteria. If so, we will sift on: Experience of using analytical tools including SIEM tools to develop security responses within large amounts of complex data (Lead Criteria)Experience of using analytics for risk scoring, recommender solutions or other operationalised machine learning applications. (Second Lead Criteria)Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to an interview. Stage 4 - Interview If you pass the written application sift, with the required score you will be invited to a blended interview and will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs account. If high application volumes are received, the benchmark / score for candidates to proceed to the interview stage may be raised.The interviews will be conducted face to face. Where possible the interviews will take place at the locations listed in the Candidate Pack (slide 2), however candidates may be expected to travel to an alternative location as required.If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend a face-to-face interview, please ensure you state those on your application form when asked to do so.Interviews are scheduled to take place from 05/10/2026 to 09/10/2026 please note that these dates are only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change. Interviews will be scheduled Monday to Friday, between 09:00 to 17:00.Communications will be electronic and/or by SMS/telephone therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder. Telephone calls may show as a withheld number, it is important that you answer so that your interview can be confirmed. If you wish to opt out of SMS messages, please email this address, including the vacancy reference and your candidate ID CFCD.RECRUITMENTINBOX@DWP.GOV.UK. As part of our commitment to improving the candidate experience, you may be contacted during the recruitment process to provide feedback.Preparing for the InterviewThe interview will take approximately 60 minutes and will consist of a presentation plus behaviour-based questions. You will be provided with a pack prior to your interview detailing the requirements of the presentation. A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation offering a more inclusive approach. The questions explore what you, the candidate, can and have done, but also your potential. BehavioursYou will be assessed against the Civil Service Behaviours listed at Grade 7 – Level 4.It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain: WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? orSTAR - What was the ituation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?If you withdraw your application at any stage, it will not progress further.Stage 5 – Offer Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.Based on your location preferences and the geographical requirements of the business. Dependent on your position on the merit list, if none of your location preferences remain at the point, we make a job offer, we may offer you a role at an alternative advertised location. If we are unable to offer you a role in any of your preferred locations, and you are unable to accept a role at an alternative advertised location, we will add you to the reserve list if one is being held.The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful pre-employment and security checks, which can take up to 6 months. Therefore, we would anticipate a start date of March 2027.Further Information At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.Reserve List A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual part time working pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in the case of serious ill health). If we make an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list. Visa Sponsorship Please note that for these vacancies we recommend that applicants seek specialist advice on their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship (if applicable) when considering whether to apply for any role. We can never guarantee sponsorship; requests will be considered in line with the relevant DWP guidance and Home Office policy in place at the time.Candidate pack It is important that you take time to read the candidate pack which can be found at the bottom of this job advert. This provides further information about the role and working in DWP. You should only apply for suitable posts where you can travel to and from your home office location daily within a reasonable time. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed. Make sure the locations work for you before applying! Hybrid working This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert. Hybrid working will not commence until any training, and consolidation period has been successfully completed. Working pattern Part-time, part-year, term-time compressed hours and job-sharing working patterns within working hours will be considered but must meet business needs. We will do our best to let people with existing part time contracts retain their contracted hours provided they are in line with current business needs.Please note that successful candidates with agreed alternative working patterns may be required to work full time for specific periods to complete all training and consolidation.Hours of work The full-time working week in DWP is 37 hours. You may be required to work at any time between the hours of: 7:45am and 8:00pm on any day between Monday to Friday, and 8:45am to 5:00pm on Saturday. Managers will agree working patterns with successful candidates within these business hours and review these as appropriate. You will be given advance notice of your personal schedule. Disability Confident Scheme If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.Reasonable Adjustments We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for candidates’ section.Integrity, Plagiarism and Civil Service Principles The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.Examples of plagiarism can include:Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own.Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own.Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check will be carried out. Candidates 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 candidate’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. Salary New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP’s Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.Any move to DWP 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 at the Childcare Choices Website.For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.FeedbackFeedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.SecuritySuccessful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.Nationality requirementsThis job is broadly open to the following groups:UK nationalsnationals of the Republic of Irelandnationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UKnationals 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 2020Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil ServiceFurther information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)Working for the Civil ServiceThe 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.Diversity and InclusionThe Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).Apply and further informationThis vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a co
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