Lead Data Scientist (Cybersecurity)

TL;DR

Lead Data Scientist (Cybersecurity/AI): Transforming cyber threat detection and prevention using advanced AI and machine learning within a data-rich banking environment with an accent on anomaly detection, LLM automation, and production ML pipelines. Focus on designing scalable GCP-based pipelines, implementing RAG and fine-tuning LLMs, and ensuring ethical AI governance.

Location: Hybrid (UK: Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, or Bristol). Must spend at least two days per week (40% of time) at one of the office sites.

Salary: £92,701 - £109,060

Company

A major UK banking group evolving its digital transformation to secure assets and services for 26 million customers.

What you will do

• Own the delivery of security outcomes and evolve anomaly detection approaches balancing performance and operational risk.
• Lead and mentor a team of Data Scientists.
• Drive innovation in LLM-based security automation, including prompt engineering and RAG pipelines.
• Collaborate with Data Engineers to build scalable, secure, and production-ready ML pipelines on GCP.
• Partner with cyber defence, risk, and compliance teams to ensure models are ethical and aligned with regulatory standards.
• Translate sophisticated data insights into actionable intelligence for Group COO and CSO functions.

Requirements

• Confirmed experience leading data science projects in cybersecurity, fraud, or behavioural analytics.
• Deep expertise in Python, ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch), and cloud platforms (preferably GCP).
• Strong grasp of anomaly detection, time-series modelling, and deep learning architectures.
• Excellent communication and customer engagement skills.

Nice to have

• Experience with LLMs and generative AI in production environments.
• Strong understanding of emerging threats within Cyber Security.

Culture & Benefits

• Generous pension contribution of up to 15%.
• Annual bonus award subject to Group performance.
• Share schemes including free shares.
• 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays.
• Comprehensive wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies.
• Inclusive environment with dedicated support for under-represented groups and disability confidence.