Senior Data Scientist

The Senior Data Scientist will play a major role in developing and implementing predictive models and conducting detailed data exploration to maximise business value and growth through advanced data science and AI techniques. A key upcoming focus area will be the development of agentic AI systems leveraging large language models (LLMs) to automate customer call‑centre interactions for basic queries, improving customer experience and reducing operational load.

The models and AI agents you create will feed critical business infrastructure, offering a fantastic platform to hone your machine learning and applied generative AI skills with direct, high‑visibility impact on business outcomes. You will work as part of a high‑performing data science & insight team with ownership across the modelling lifecycle and the wider predictive modelling eco‑system.

The ideal candidate will be experienced in managing and developing a team, while remaining hands‑on and passionate about building state‑of‑the‑art machine learning and LLM‑powered solutions. Strong commercial acumen is essential to ensure every model, agent, and automation initiative maps directly to business goals. You will bring advanced data manipulation skills to unlock the value of our extensive data assets and ensure optimal deployment of production models and agent workflows.

We are delivering the biggest investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure for over a decade, with a £3bn programme to extend our ultrafast broadband network and Virgin TV to millions of homes and businesses. We’re challenging our competitors with the fastest speeds and best services.

Role Purpose:

You will join our Data Science function, whose purpose is to create data products that give Virgin Media competitive advantage. We apply statistics, machine learning, and modern generative AI to uncover insights and build products that support decision-making and decision automation across the business.

As part of this group, the Data Science Team ensures our eco‑system of predictive models and segmentation assets — which feed critical business infrastructure — are well maintained and continually optimised.

A major upcoming initiative will be the design and implementation of an agentic AI platform for call‑centre automation, using LLMs to:

• understand and resolve common customer queries
• autonomously route or escalate more complex issues
• reduce call waiting times
• unlock new operational efficiencies

You will play a leading role in shaping and deploying this intelligent automation capability.

We’re a flexible-first organisation, because we know people do their best work when they have choice and clarity. To support meaningful collaboration, we ask everyone to spend at least eight days each month connecting in person.

That doesn’t just mean time in the office, it could be team meetings, offsites, volunteering days, cross-functional projects, or away days - anywhere meaningful collaboration happens. What matters is making those moments purposeful, so when we come together, it really counts.

Accessible, inclusive and equitable for all

Virgin Media O2 is an equal opportunities employer and we're working hard to remove bias and barriers for our people and candidates. So, we build equity and inclusion into everything we do, from the policies we craft to the relationships we shape. We support and encourage you to be your authentic self throughout your application journey with us.

In order to be considered, you must have the following experience;

• Hands‑on leadership experience, including managing and developing data science teams
• Strong mathematics or statistics foundation (MSc/PhD or 5+ years applied experience)
• Advanced SQL and Python skills, with strong knowledge of core data science libraries
• Ability to design and manage data science development processes, including model factories, ML ops workflows, and scalable production pipelines
• Proven ability to apply machine learning, NLP, and generative AI/LLM techniques to real‑world problems
• Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex approaches to non‑technical partners and drive business impact

• Experience translating consumer and operational problems into analytics, AI agent, or automation use cases
• Familiarity with conversational AI, LLM fine‑tuning, prompt engineering, and agentic design patterns (call‑centre automation a strong plus)
• Experienced with A/B testing methodologies and experimentation frameworks
• Advanced data wrangling, transformation, visualisation, and data storytelling skills
• Strong commercial awareness, with a proactive, creative, solutions‑oriented mindset
• Comfortable working in a shipping‑product, continuous‑improvement environment, and committed to staying current with evolving ML and generative AI fields

Join and you’ll be part of the Virgin Media family. We’re a great place to work – and we offer impressive benefits too! You will get a generous holiday allowance, contributory pension, performance related bonus and, of course, discounts across Virgin Media products and Virgin brands!

If we feel like a place where you can belong, we'd love to learn more about you as a person and your experience to date. Once you've submitted an application the next steps of the process, if successful, are likely to include a two stage interview process including competency and technical stages.

When you apply, you'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed, and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert, therefore we may bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as possible. If you’re offered a job with us, it will be conditional, based on the passing of background checks. All roles require a criminal record check and some roles need a financial probity check. Your recruiter can provide you with more information if needed.

Thanks for your patience and for showing an interest in joining the Virgin Media O2 family.