Head of Data Science

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

British Council | Pay Band 9

Location: Noida, India
Department: Business Operations
Contract: Indefinite (Permanent)

Apply by: Sunday, 10th May  (23:59 local time)
Interview Window: Week of 18th May

This role is open to applicants with the legal right to work in India. Relocation and visa sponsorship are not available. The British Council supports flexible working, including hybrid arrangements, subject to business needs.

Role Context

The Head of Data Science at the British Council leads the organisation’s data science strategy, overseeing predictive analytics, applied AI, and MLOps while building and guiding a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team. The role is accountable for the end-to-end lifecycle of data products—from design to deployment and optimisation ensuring scalable, high-impact solutions aligned with business priorities, underpinned by strong governance, ethical standards, and regulatory compliance.

Operating within the Data Evidence and Performance (DEP) function, the role sits at the centre of the global data strategy, partnering with analytics, engineering, product, and commercial teams to deliver integrated, insight-driven decision-making. It advises senior leadership on data science approaches, particularly for English & Exams (E&E), while driving organisational capability and representing the British Council in external and cross-sector forums.

Main responsibilities

The Head of Data Science is responsible for setting the strategic direction for data science initiatives, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities while leading the end-to-end design, development, deployment, and maintenance of predictive and machine-learning models. The role drives a forward-looking data science roadmap that emphasises experimentation, automation, and seamless integration with business processes, supported by robust MLOps practices for continuous delivery, monitoring, and governance. It also involves effective management of resources and budgets while championing ethical, transparent, and compliant practices. Working closely with engineering and BI leadership, the role ensures that data pipelines and architectures enable advanced analytics, and provides expert guidance to senior stakeholders on leveraging AI to enhance performance, efficiency, and user experience. Additionally, the role focuses on building organisational capability through structured learning, mentoring, and knowledge sharing, while representing the British Council in external forums and partnerships to contribute to broader data science leadership.

Role specific skills

• Advanced Data Science & Modelling (Expert): Lead development and validation of statistical and ML models, ensuring robust methodologies that directly inform policy, strategy, and operational delivery.
• Data Platforms & Engineering Collaboration (Practitioner): Partner with data engineering teams to design scalable pipelines and data products that enable advanced analytics and machine learning.
• Ethical AI & Governance (Expert): Embed strong data ethics, privacy, and compliance frameworks, fostering a culture of responsible and transparent AI use.
• Innovation & Business Impact (Expert): Drive experimentation, emerging AI use cases, and adoption of data science solutions that deliver measurable, scalable business value.
• Capability Building & Technical Excellence (Expert): Define development standards across programming, testing, and deployment, while mentoring teams and aligning capability growth with organisational priorities.
• Product & Delivery Integration (Practitioner): Apply Agile principles to define MVPs and integrate data science solutions into business processes and operational workflows.

Role specific knowledge and experience

Essential

• Significant experience leading data science teams in complex organisations.
• Proven record of designing, deploying and maintaining predictive or ML models in production environments.
• Experience managing budgets, technology investments and vendor relationships for AI and analytics.
• Deep understanding of MLOps, model governance and ethical AI principles.
• Experience translating technical results into strategic insights for senior leaders.
• Strong knowledge of cloud-based analytics stacks (e.g. Azure ML, Databricks, Python ecosystem).
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams (data scientists, ML engineers, AI specialists).
• Proven ability to align analytics innovation with business outcomes.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills at executive level.
• Commitment to building inclusive, ethical, and responsible AI practices

Desirable

• Experience within education, assessment, or public sector data science domains.
• Thought-leadership or contribution to cross-government AI or data science communities.
• Familiarity with causal inference, NLP, or generative AI techniques.
• Advanced knowledge of Agile delivery for data products.
• Experience shaping enterprise data-science or AI strategies

Language Requirements

The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

Education

• Degree in data science, computer science, mathematics, statistics or AI; postgraduate qualification (MSc or PhD) preferred.
• Equivalent professional experience accepted where degree not held.

Professional Qualification and Certification

• Professional certifications in AI / ML / data science (e.g. Azure AI Engineer, AWS Machine Learning Specialty) desirable.
• Evidence of continuous professional development in data science leadership.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email askhr@britishcouncil.org