Lead Data Scientist

About us

We are a leading consultancy with a purpose to make an enduring impact on health and healthcare. We work with leaders and frontline teams to improve health, transform healthcare, drive adoption of innovation and create value through investment.

Our consultancy serves the entire healthcare sector, from payors and providers of care, to life science companies, health tech and sector suppliers and health investors. We provide end-to-end services, from strategy through implementation, accelerated by data, digital and AI.

We shape opinion through evidence-based thought leadership on key issues affecting health. With unmatched ability to access and use health data, our consultants are a driving force for delivering positive and meaningful change.

Our Strategic Intent

We are focused on building the leading consulting company dedicated to health. We serve the entire healthcare sector, including healthcare systems (providers, payors and regulators), life sciences (pharmaceuticals, biotech, devices and diagnostics), health technology, health investors, and the wider supplier landscape.

We provide end-to-end services, from strategy through implementation, supporting organisations to improve population health and healthcare outcomes. Our work spans strategy and transformation, finance and performance improvement, and delivery accelerated by data, digital and AI. We help clients understand their ambitions, identify opportunities to create value, apply innovation in practice, and deliver sustainable, measurable change.

Our consulting is accelerated by data. With an unmatched ability to access and use health data, we are recognised for our expertise in its safe and responsible application, improving health and healthcare delivery, supporting adoption of innovation, generating evidence, and informing decision-making. Our engineering and data science capabilities underpin our consulting and are also deployed directly with clients, often as part of multidisciplinary teams.

We are building a community of expert consultants who want to operate at the leading edge of the profession and who share a passion for health. Through structured career development from Analyst to Partner, underpinned by apprenticeship, mentorship and formal training, we are cultivating the leaders of the future and supporting individuals to develop distinctive expertise that creates value for our clients.

Our Mission

Our mission is to be invaluable to our clients, supporting them to innovate and make lasting improvements and to build an exceptional company that attracts, develops, and retains a trusted and uniquely talented team.

About the role

The Lead Data Scientist

Working across client delivery, consulting teams, and CF’s own operations, you will collaborate with clients, technical and non-technical colleagues, and partner organisations to develop high-impact solutions that are practical, scalable, and outcome-focused.

You will lead the technical elements of blended consulting and data projects, providing hands-on oversight, mentoring, and quality assurance for the Data Innovation team. You will proactively solve complex delivery challenges, support business development, and contribute to proposals, technical bids, and resource planning to drive growth.

This is a fast-moving, entrepreneurial role for someone comfortable with ambiguity, changing priorities, and spotting new opportunities. You will be accountable for commercial performance and financial management within Data Innovation, supporting revenue growth, managing budgets, and mitigating financial risk in line with CF’s business plan.

As a core member of CF’s senior leadership team, you will role model clear communication, strong leadership, and CF’s values, bringing professionalism, diplomacy, and kindness to every interaction with colleagues, clients, and partners.

Responsibilities

As Lead Data Scientist you will be accountable for the following:

Strategy

• Own and shape CF’s data science strategy, aligned to the wider corporate strategy.
• Translate strategy into a clear, deliverable plan for Data Innovation.
• Introduce new data science methods and track emerging trends to build future-ready healthcare solutions.
• Identify and govern high-value data assets, staying at the forefront of AI and machine learning.
• Drive data-led insights that improve healthcare outcomes and system performance.

Business Development

• Support proposals, client engagement, and pitching for new work.
• Build strong relationships across the healthcare data science community.
• Promote CF’s capability through thought leadership and public engagement.
• Contribute to technical bid writing and scoping delivery.

Client Delivery

• Partner with senior clients to deliver high-impact data science solutions.
• Oversee technical delivery, ensuring quality, pace, and impact.
• Develop predictive models, visualisations, and prototypes that inform decision-making.
• Enable effective collaboration between consulting and technical teams.

Data Operations & Infrastructure

• Guide the evolution of data operations and technical architecture.
• Ensure data access, security, and maintenance support client and business needs.

Team Leadership & Development

• Mentor and develop data scientists and analysts.
• Support recruitment, career development, and a culture of continuous learning.
• Build a high-performing, collaborative, and innovative team.

Cyber Security & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with data privacy and information security standards.
• Support ISO 27001 certification and data protection processes.

Requirements

Mandatory:

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics).
• Extensive experience delivering technical data science projects across healthcare or related industries.
• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL and proficiency in data science frameworks.
• Experience deploying models in cloud environments and containerisation.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Experience working with relational database systems and cloud platforms.
• Deep understanding of statistical methods and machine learning techniques.
• Demonstrated experience leading and mentoring data science teams.

Preferred:

• Experience working in healthcare or life sciences consulting
• Experience with population health management and RWE
• Familiarity with healthcare data sources, standards, and regulatory requirements
• Knowledge of natural language processing and AI techniques
• Experience with big data technologies and frameworks

Flexible working

Our default is to work in person with our clients, but we also support remote working. Team members can work from home one day per week as standard, and we offer an additional 44 remote working days per year. This allows you to work from home up to two days per week-subject to client needs- or use your allowance in blocks, depending on what works best for you. Office hours are flexible within our core hours of 10am–4pm.

Benefits

• We offer a competitive and flexible reward package designed to support you at work and beyond it. You will benefit from a generous holiday allowance that grows with your career (minimum of 25 days), a strong employer pension contribution, and the freedom to tailor benefits to suit your lifestyle, from wellbeing and fitness to financial protection.
• We are committed to supporting life’s important moments, with enhanced family leave, income and life protection, and access to practical benefits that make everyday life easier, such as interest-free loans and travel support.
• Your wellbeing matters to us. You will have access to a comprehensive wellbeing and employee assistance programme, preventative health benefits, and initiatives that support an active, balanced way of working.