The University of Edinburgh is looking to recruit a highly motivated Data Scientist to join a pioneering new team within the School of Informatics, focused on AI-driven solutions using advanced biological data modalities. This is a unique opportunity to grow your technical skills in a world-leading research environment, working on projects at the cutting edge of data science and artificial intelligence.
Applicants should hold a degree in a relevant field such as mathematics, data science, artificial intelligence, statistics, or biomedical/biological sciences. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience applying a variety of computational techniques to drive meaningful results and insights from complex datasets.
This role offers a chance to be part of an ambitious, interdisciplinary team, applying data analysis to real-world biological challenges with the potential to impact science, health, and innovation.
Visa sponsorship is available, making this a fantastic opportunity for international candidates looking to advance their career in data science within a top-tier academic institution.
Position: Data Scientist
Salary: £40,497 to £48,149 per annum
Job Type: Full Time
Location: Edinburgh
About the Role
Grade UE07: £40,497 to £48,149 per annum
CSE/School of Informatics
Full time: 35 hours per week
Fixed term: 24 months
2 vacancies
The School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh invites applications for two Biomedical Data Scientists to support our newly established Biomedical Data Intelligence Hub.
The Opportunity:
The Biomedical Data Intelligence Hub will support our breadth of research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for quantitative biology and biomedicine. The Hub will operate as a research and training support unit in partnership with the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Biomedical AI, which currently funds over 40 doctoral students working in medical informatics, biotechnology, drug discovery, medical imaging, and signal processing. The Hub is designed to augment and catalyse the Centre’s ongoing projects with advanced data science skills and compute capabilities.
In this role you will develop data solutions as part of team of Data Scientists and a Software Engineer using a combination of AI, Machine Learning, and other data science techniques, with dedicated access to our new GPU server with state-of-the-art compute. Projects will typically involve implementation of statistical models, data analysis pipelines, or deep learning architectures for various tasks, including computer vision, time-series analysis, high-dimensional clustering or large language models.
Requirements
We are particularly interested in candidates who:
- Have hands-on experience using a range of computational techniques to achieve meaningful outcomes.
- Wish to apply and grow their technical skills in a brand-new team focused on AI solutions with cutting-edge biological data modalities.
- Enjoys transforming high-level scientific goals into precise, AI-driven research questions and methodologies.
- Can offer technical mentorship to Centre students, fostering a collaborative, inclusive and supportive environment.
- Cares deeply about well-designed models, algorithms, and data pipelines.
The Hub will work on a range of goal-orientated projects with diverse data sources and requirements specified by project owners, and with close interactions with the School of Informatics, the School of Biological Sciences, the Institute for Genetics and Cancer, the Usher Institute for public health, and the NHS. Projects can involve various data modalities, including cellular and genomic data, medical imaging data, neural data, healthcare and patient record data and molecular/structural data.
The Data Intelligence Hub will be located at the School of Informatics, widely recognized as one of the birthplaces of AI and home to some of the latest developments in the field. The role offers multiple opportunities for networking and skills development, for example through co-creation of research projects, or engaging with multi-stakeholder initiatives across the university and beyond. Edinburgh is an exciting European capital, with excellent quality of life and a thriving science, arts, and cultural scene, as well as access to beautiful natural landscapes.
Funding for this role ends on 30 September 2027.
For informal inquiries please email the Centre Director (Diego Oyarzún, d.oyarzun@ed.ac.uk) including a brief statement of interests and CV
Your skills and attributes for success:
- Degree in a relevant field (e.g. mathematics, data science, artificial intelligence, statistics, biomedical/biological sciences).
- Experience in a role involving data science, including managing, structuring, visualizing, analysing data, and building statistical or machine learning tools.
- Fluency in one or more data science programming languages (R, Python with NumPy/pandas etc, Julia) with experience in writing documentation.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills including the ability to present technical information and to write structured technical reports.
- Ability to assimilate new ideas and turn them into practical, applied techniques, and willingness to continue to learn new techniques.
- Proven time management skills across competing tasks requiring rapid context switching.
Please include the following documents in your application:
CV
Cover letter
Benefits:
As a valued member of our team you can expect:
- A competitive salary
- An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
- To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
- Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab).
The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant.
Key dates to note:
The closing date for applications is 6 May 2025.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About the Team
Informatics is the study of how natural and artificial systems store, process and communicate information. Research in Informatics promises to take information technology to a new level, and to place information at the heart of 21st century science, technology and society. The School enjoys collaborations across many disciplines in the University, spanning all three College, and also participates as a strategic partner in the Alan Turing Institute and, with Heriot-Watt University, in the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.
The School provides a fertile environment for a wide range of studies focused on understanding computation in both artificial and natural systems. It attracts students around the world to study in our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and currently has approximately 1000 undergraduate students, 320 MSc students and 350 PhD students. Informatics is one of seven schools in the College of Science and Engineering, at the University of Edinburgh. It is recognised for the employability of its graduates (demand exceeds supply), its contributions to entrepreneurship, and the excellence of its research. Since the first Research Assessment Exercise in 1986, Informatics at Edinburgh has consistently been assessed to have more internationally excellent and world-class research than any other submission in Computer Science and Informatics. The latest REF 2014 results have again confirmed that ours is the largest concentration of internationally excellent research in the UK. This contributes to our ranking in the top 15 CS departments world-wide according to the latest Times Higher Education ranking.
We aim to ensure that our culture and systems support flexible and family-friendly working and recognise and value diversity across all our staff and students. The School has an active programme offering support and professional development for all staff; providing mentoring, training, and networking opportunities.
Required Documents
- CV/Resume
- Cover Letter
Application Process
APPLY TODAY and help shape the future of AI and data science at the University of Edinburgh.
Application Deadline
May 6, 2025