About RAND Europe
RAND Europe is an independent, not-for-profit research organisation dedicated to improving policy and decision-making through rigorous and independent research and analysis. We contribute to the public interest by widely disseminating over 200 projects annually, with our most impactful work influencing policy, practice, and processes for the public good. We have approximately 200 staff across offices in Cambridge, Brussels, and The Hague, representing diverse nationalities, languages, and academic disciplines. Our multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches generate unique perspectives for our wide-ranging government, foundation, and NGO clients.
The Data Science Lab serves as RAND Europe's centre of excellence for driving the use of data science, encompassing novel tools and techniques. Its remit includes AI adoption, applied statistics and data science, applications and dashboards, modelling, economics, training, and best practices. We are seeking individuals with a passion for data science, innovation, and problem-solving to join the team and support RAND Europe's research, as well as its adoption of new techniques and approaches.
About the Role
As a Research Data Scientist, you will have the opportunity to work across several research themes, from gathering data and building pipelines, through analysis and modelling, to visualising and presenting findings to a range of audiences. You will deliver research and build tools and workflows, including AI-enabled solutions and numerical models, to tackle both research and organisational challenges. You will operate as part of a wider cross-disciplinary team, combining your skills to deliver against challenging technical problems.
Responsibilities
Delivery of quantitative research and data science
The Data Science Lab delivers and supports wider organisational use of quantitative research and data science. The primary role of research data scientists is to support the delivery of data science and quantitative analysis work in support of both research and wider organisational functions such as finance and HR. You will operate as part of a team to deliver data science outputs ranging from statistical analysis, machine learning, data visualisation and data collection activities. In your role you will be expected to perform the core functions of a data scientist:
- Collect, process and clean data for analysis
- Conduct data analysis
- Visualise data to communicate the findings of your research
- Use a range of tools including programming languages (R or Python) to conduct your work
As well as core data science responsibilities, you will have the opportunity to develop your skills on more advanced projects featuring supervised and unsupervised machine learning, regression modelling, natural language processing, stock-and-flow modelling, and survey data analysis, depending on project requirements. You will also have a supporting role in ensuring data science, quantitative research and artificial intelligence are integrated into research proposals, identifying opportunities to enhance RAND Europe's research.
Supporting the organisation and your colleagues
The Data Science Lab acts as a centre of excellence for quantitative research, data science and AI use. As a research data scientist, you will support colleagues in wider research groups or within the operational aspects of the business in applying quantitative research techniques and guide them in the use of such methods in their research. Through your work, you will ensure RAND Europe's research is underpinned by robust analysis and data. You will also be required to support colleagues operating as part of a larger data science team to meet the demands of larger projects.
Support innovation
As a research data scientist, you will be responsible for using data science techniques—including AI, model building, data visualisation, applied statistics and data collection—to overcome a range of challenges faced by the organisation. You will participate in a range of innovative development projects to:
- Create solutions to research problems
- Create new data and AI products
- Improve business processes and driving efficiency
- Improve accessibility of research and policy design
- Embed data science into wider policy research
Driving standards
The Data Science Lab fulfils the function of setting best practices and standards across the organisation. As a Research Data Scientist you will follow the best practices and standards in the organisation including:
- Data handling processes
- Writing reproducible, well-documented code.
- Working within version-controlled repositories
- Producing outputs suitable for peer review or client delivery
- Work with researchers across the organisation to help them identify areas where they can improve their own research using statistics, AI and wider data science techniques
Requirements
Essential Skills
- Experience conducting quantitative research, from designing an approach to a problem through to delivering analysis
- An enthusiasm to learn and solve complex problems
- Proficiency with writing clean, reproducible code for data processing and analysis (Python or R)
- Experience handling data, including cleaning, manipulation, and linking
- Ability to visually represent data
- Ability to communicate findings and approaches to research, both written and verbal and able to account for different audiences
- Ability to work as part of a team
- An analytical mindset and attention to detail
- Proficiency in Microsoft tools such as Outlook, Teams, Excel, Word and PowerPoint
Desirable (not essential) Skills
- Experience using Git.
- Proficiency in other languages and tools such as SQL, Stata, C++, Power BI and others is advantageous
- Experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, or AI evaluation frameworks
- Familiarity with cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerisation tools such as Docker or Podman
- Experience in Linux/Unix environments
- Working understanding of the end-to-end ML development process
- Published works in data science, statistics or other numerical disciplines
Qualifications
- Postgraduate degree in a quantitative field or equivalent practical experience