The role

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based educational charity with the mission to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. Our products achieve this mission by providing high-quality learning experiences, online and for free, that engage and inspire young people to explore computing and digital making outside of school.

We're looking for a Lead Data Scientist to join our team and play a crucial role in driving data-informed decision-making across the Foundation. You'll work closely with a cross-functional team including Product Managers, Software Engineers, Impact Managers and Learning Managers to uncover insights that enhance our understanding of learner engagement, product efficacy, and the overall impact of our educational initiatives.

In the next 12 months, you will help us establish a data science practice within the Raspberry Pi Foundation, creating our technical framework and infrastructure for data science as well as communicating about capabilities and possibilities with senior stakeholders across our products. You’ll help steer our engineers on how to create great data science products and have a real impact on how we do our work and make decisions.

You'll need a blend of strong technical skills in data analysis and statistics, as well as the ability to communicate complex findings clearly to diverse audiences. Your passion for education and commitment to empowering young people will help you make a real difference in their lives.

We strive to make the Foundation a place where talented people who care about our mission can do the best work of their careers. We have a flexible and collaborative approach to all aspects of our work. If you’re the right person for the job, we’ll make it work for you, and you can be confident that you’ll be working with an exceptional team.

Responsibilities

• Analyse data from various sources to uncover trends, patterns, and insights related to user behaviour, product usage, and learning outcomes.
• Educate senior stakeholders on Data Science capabilities and collaborate with them to understand the technical requirements for their use case.
• Answer key questions from senior stakeholders across the Foundation – used to inform strategically important initiatives.
• Collaborate with Software Engineers including the Head of Software Architecture to build model deployments and data pipelines.
• Grow the Data Science capability within the organisation through coaching and mentoring
• Promote data-driven decision making by presenting findings and recommendations to diverse audiences, both technical and non-technical, using clear and compelling visualisations and narratives.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities for data-driven improvements and to inform product strategies.

Experience and personal attributes

We recognise that everyone has the potential for growth, and we welcome applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they have some, but not all, of the experience and personal attributes listed here. We also welcome applicants from non-traditional backgrounds, such as those returning to work, leaving military service, or having recently changed careers.

You should have:

• Proficiency with data analysis and statistical modelling technologies such as Python, SQL, and R
• Experience establishing and maintaining data platforms, data workbenches and data warehouses
• Experience instrumenting web applications for data collection. (Ruby on Rails and React ideal)
• Experience in creating clear and impactful visualisations to communicate insights
• A proactive approach to identifying opportunities and solving complex problems using data
• Experience with popular machine learning frameworks – for example scikit-learn, TensorFlow, and PyTorch
• Experience handling and analysing large and diverse datasets
• Empathy, a pragmatic attitude, and the ability to see the bigger picture
• A genuine interest in using data to improve learning outcomes and empower young people.

About us

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based educational charity with the mission to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. You can read more about us on our careers page.

Established in 2008 and first known for our product — the wildly successful Raspberry Pi computer — the Foundation has developed education programmes, learning experiences, and products that are helping millions of young people learn vital new knowledge and skills

Through Code Club, we support the world’s largest network of free informal computing clubs for young people. Tens of thousands of educators have taken our online courses, and millions of people use our free online learning resources. To deepen our understanding of how young people learn about computing and how to create with digital technologies, we conduct academic research, and we use that knowledge to increase the impact of our work and advance the field of computing education.

Across all of our work, we work hard to engage young people who come from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in the field of computing or who experience educational disadvantage. We work all over the world, with teams based in the UK, Ireland, North America, and India, and partnerships with mission-aligned organisations in over 40 countries.

We are at the forefront of the global movement to help young people learn about computing and digital making. You can read more about our mission, values, and goals in our Annual Review 2023 and our Strategy 2022–2025.

Benefits

In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a range of benefits for all of our colleagues, including:

• 25 days’ annual leave initially, growing to 30 days after five years service
• Company-wide close down for 3 days at the end of the year
• Generous company pension scheme with 8% employer and 4% employee contributions
• Private healthcare
• Life assurance and long-term illness insurance policy
• Investment in professional development and learning
• Flexible work hours as needed, to fit around childcare or other commitments
• Generous family leave policy
• Cycle-to-work scheme and season ticket loan

Timetable for applications
Closing date: 09:00 GMT, 6 May 2025 
Phone screen: From application to week commencing 5 May 2025
First-round interview: Week commencing 5 May 2025
Second-round interview: Week commencing 12 May 2025

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. If successful in the selection process, you will be required to undergo a background check to confirm that you are a suitable person to work with children. Further background checks will be made at regular intervals thereafter.