Data Scientist

Salary: between £55,000 to £61,000 per annum, dependent on experience.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Reports to: Head of Data Services

Location: Harlow, Essex. Easily commutable from London Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service to/from Harlow Town Train Station as well as free parking and EV charging on site.

Extra Information: Based 3 days a week at our office in Harlow, 2 days a week working from home.

About the role:

At the Motability Foundation, we fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to other charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all. 

The Data Services Team helps the Foundation make better use of trusted, governed and accessible data, supporting MI, reporting, insight, governance and delivery of the Foundation’s Data Strategy. 

The Data Scientist will strengthen how the Foundation uses Power BI, data science and AI to support better decisions, creating trusted reports, dashboards, semantic models and reusable datasets that help establish one version of the truth. 

Acting as a Data Services business partner across the Foundation, the postholder will collaborate with teams to understand needs, define requirements, deliver joined-up insight and support adoption of new reports and ways of working. 

This role will also help build data capability by training key stakeholders and mentoring the Data Services Team in Power BI, AI and consistent, governed approaches to reporting and analysis. 

What you will be doing:

• Act as the Data Services business partner across the Foundation, collaborating with teams to understand analytical needs, defining requirements and translating business questions into clear analytical approaches. 

• Design and develop trusted Power BI reports, dashboards, semantic models and reusable datasets, including star schemas, DAX measures, KPIs, calculation logic and documented business rules. 

• Introduce AI in a practical, responsible and well-governed way, identifying opportunities to improve analysis, automate routine tasks and support better decision-making. 

• Help establish one version of the truth by creating consistent definitions, trusted measures, governed models and reliable reporting outputs across Data Services. 

• Use Microsoft Fabric, Power BI and related tools to prepare, model, validate and analyse data, improving data quality, reporting reliability and insight. 

• Apply statistical, predictive and machine learning techniques where appropriate to identify patterns, forecast trends, support segmentation, evaluate impact and generate practical recommendations. 

• Train and mentor other members of the Data Services Team in advanced Power BI and the practical use of AI, helping build team capability, confidence and consistent ways of working. 

• Apply an automation mindset to streamline repeatable reporting, data preparation, validation and analytical processes. 

• Train and support key stakeholders to use reports and dashboards effectively, helping them interpret outputs, apply filters and use insight confidently in day-to-day decision-making. 

• Work collaboratively with IT, Insight and Evaluation, Finance, Governance, Data Protection, Change and Transformation, and other teams to deliver joined-up data products and insight. 

• Define and promote Power BI, data modelling and governance standards, including documentation, validation, accessibility, metadata, lineage, security and appropriate use of sensitive data. 

Your experience:

Must Haves: 

• Experienced in data science, analytics, business intelligence, data modelling or a similar analytical role. 

• Highly proficient in Power BI, with extensive hands-on experience designing, building and publishing reports, dashboards, semantic models, reusable datasets, DAX measures, KPIs and calculation logic. 

• Highly proficient in Power BI data modelling for reporting and analytics, including star schemas, fact and dimension modelling, semantic layer development, performance optimisation and report best practice. 

• Experience using AI tools or techniques to support analysis, insight generation, automation, data science activity or improved ways of working. 

• Strong data storytelling skills, with the ability to turn complex analysis into clear narratives, visuals and practical recommendations for different audiences. 

• Experience analysing complex datasets and applying statistical, predictive or segmentation models to produce practical insight. 

• Experience using relevant analytical or data science software such as Power Query, Excel or similar tools to clean, transform, analyse and model data. 

• Experience working with stakeholders to gather requirements, clarify business questions and translate these into analytical outputs. 

• Good understanding of data quality, validation, documentation, governance, confidentiality and data protection. 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain findings clearly to non-technical audiences. 

 Nice to haves: 

• Experience with Microsoft Fabric components such as Lakehouse, Warehouse, Dataflows Gen2, Pipelines, notebooks or medallion architecture. 

• Experience with Dataverse, Power Platform, Power Automate, Power Apps, Azure-based data services or other modern cloud data platforms. 

• SQL skills and experience working with structured, relational or integrated datasets. 

• Proficiency in Python and/or R for data cleaning, transformation, statistical analysis, automation, modelling and repeatable analytical workflows. 

• Working knowledge of developing semantic layers, Gold layer outputs, reusable data products or enterprise reporting models. 

• Experience applying machine learning or advanced analytical techniques, such as predictive modelling, clustering, classification or natural language processing. 

• Familiarity with responsible AI, model validation and monitoring, data governance, metadata, lineage and ethical use of data in a regulated or mission-led environment. 

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience, we'd still encourage you to apply.

Who are we?

We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose.

We fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.

Why choose us?

We want working for the Motability Foundation to be the best career move you’ve ever made. When you join the Motability Foundation you will join a group of people who are supportive, innovative and motivated to improve the lives of our beneficiaries.

We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. This is embedded into our values, Collaborative, Respectful and Evolving.

We bring our people together through our People Forum, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Social Squad and our Wellbeing Champions and our employee Spotlight Awards help us recognise the excellence and dedication of our staff.

We are proud to be recognised as Disability Confident Leader, have attained Platinum Level Award for Investors in People and are members of the Business Disability Forum.

A career with Motability Foundation can offer you so much more than earning potential, we pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits. Some of these include:

• 26 days annual leave, plus the option to buy/ sell up to five days.
• One wellbeing day for extra flexibility.
• Pension scheme - Up to 20%, including a 10% non-contributory contribution and matched contributions up to 5%.
• Life Assurance of four times your salary.
• Private healthcare through BUPA for you and your family, along with a Medicash Health Plan.
• Employee assistance programme: GP appointments, eye tests, flu vaccinations, sick pay and free gym and yoga sessions.
• Enhanced Parental Leave, including Adoption Pay.
• Free parking, EV charge points and a minibus service to/from the town centre and train station.
• Fresh fruit, breakfast snacks, and a Dress for Your Day dress code.
• Learning and development opportunities to help you grow.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, and we aim to be an employer of choice for candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we have committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform their best when interviewing and when working with us, so if you require any reasonable adjustments that would make you more comfortable, please let us know so that we can do our best to support you.

To help us create an inclusive workplace we are committed to offering to interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances, we may need to limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. 

While we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role, we welcome applications from candidates who already hold a valid right to work in the UK. Candidates with an existing visa may be considered, subject to the type and conditions of their visa.