Lead Data Scientist - Healthcare

Kainos
City of London
1 month ago
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Join to apply for the Lead Data Scientist - Healthcare role at Kainos.


Join Kainos and shape the future. At Kainos, we’re problem solvers, innovators and collaborators – driven by a shared mission to create real impact. Whether we’re transforming digital services for millions, delivering cutting‑edge Workday solutions or pushing the boundaries of technology, we do it together.


Main Purpose of the Role & Responsibilities

As a Lead Data Scientist, you will architect, design and deliver advanced AI solutions using state‑of‑the‑art machine learning, generative and agentic AI technologies. You’ll champion modern AI frameworks, AIOps best practices and scalable cloud‑native architectures. The role involves hands‑on technical leadership and collaboration with customers to translate business challenges into trustworthy AI solutions, ensuring responsible AI practices throughout. You will mentor a small team, manage performance, and provide strategic direction while solving complex problems.


Minimum (essential) Requirements

  • A minimum of a 2.1 degree in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Statistics or a similar quantitative field.
  • Deep understanding and experience developing AI/ML models, including time‑series, supervised/unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning and LLMs.
  • Experience with the latest AI engineering approaches such as prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) and agentic AI.
  • Strong Python skills with a grounding in software engineering best practices (CI/CD, testing, code reviews, etc.).
  • Expertise in data engineering for AI: handling large‑scale, unstructured and multimodal data.
  • Understanding of responsible AI principles, model interpretability and ethical considerations.
  • Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to lead client projects and translate requirements into non‑technical language.
  • Experience managing, coaching and developing junior team members and the wider community.

Desirable

  • Demonstrable experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, TensorFlow), fine‑tuning or distillation of LLMs (e.g. GPT, Llama, Claude, Gemini), and ML libraries (e.g. scikit‑learn, XGBoost).
  • Experience with AI data storage, vector databases, semantic search and knowledge graphs.
  • Contributions to open‑source AI projects or research publications.
  • Familiarity with AI security, privacy and compliance standards e.g. ISO42001.

Embracing our differences

At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected and given an equal chance to thrive. If you require accommodations or adjustments, please reach out – we are happy to support you.


We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.


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