Data Scientist

Salary - £39,984 to £51,872 per annum depending on qualifications and experience

Contract Type – Full-time, fixed term (3-year position)

Location – Clinical Effectiveness Unit – National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN), based at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and supported by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). The post is available for remote working at any UK location, to be discussed upon appointment. However, there is an expectation that post holders attend RCS Eng regularly for in person meetings.

About the Data Scientist role

Macmillan Cancer Support funded post offers a unique opportunity to work at the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) within the Clinical Effectiveness Unit (CEU) at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng). NATCAN is a national centre of excellence dedicated to strengthening NHS cancer services and reducing variation in care and is the home of all 10 National Cancer Audits in England and Wales. NATCAN is the largest centre evaluating cancer services in the UK, with 45 staff members employed at the RCSEng or the LSTHM, from a wide range of backgrounds (medicine, statistics, epidemiology, data science, quality improvement, project management).

This post will support a Macmillan funded partnership with NATCAN to improve understanding of how to:

• Reduce health inequities within cancer treatment and care;
• Support those with cancer and other long-term conditions;
• Reduce unwarranted variation in cancer treatment and care.

The successful candidate will complete a PhD focused on one of the following thematic areas:

1. Hub and Spoke model – understanding variation in outcomes between hubs (tertiary centres) and spokes (general hospitals)
2. Treatment Attrition – understanding who drops out of treatment and why
3. Under‑treatment and over/inappropriate treatment - understanding why some people receive less or no treatment, or treatment that differs from clinical guidance

This is a key role in data science and reporting in NATCAN, working closely with senior cancer specialists, clinical fellows, methodologists, data managers, and other multidisciplinary team members. The post holder will develop advanced analysis and research skills. Having large detailed linked datasets provides opportunities to be involved in methodological development and in epidemiological studies assessing the quality of care and answering the most pressing questions about why some cancer patients receive different treatments and outcomes than others. The results of the work will be disseminated as peer‑reviewed academic papers, and conference presentations as well as audit reports and their online dashboards. Work of the post holder will also include some of the following: supporting development to improve the efficiency of data analysis and reporting within the centre; working on the data flow into and within NATCAN; data validation; data science processes; automated reporting; state‑of‑the‑art data visualisation and dashboards.

Responsibilities

• Carry out statistical analyses to explore the thematic area using national datasets on hospital care, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
• Extract, wrangle and curate large scale linked clinical datasets ready for analysis using SQL or statistical software.
• Develop reusable data pipelines and apply algorithms to derive required variables.
• Produce reports, dashboards and data visualisations to support local quality improvement.
• Ensure projects comply with information governance policies.
• Communicate findings in seminars, conference presentations, reports and academic journals.

About you

• Bachelor Level/ Higher degree in medical statistics, data science, epidemiology, operational research or equivalent academic qualification.
• A good understanding of health‑related research methods and study designs.
• Experience of undertaking analyses using large complex datasets in a statistical package.
• Evidence of contributions to written output, preferably peer‑reviewed.
• Experience of applying information governance principles to health care data.

What we can offer you

• 27 days paid holiday + bank holidays and up to 4 college closure days.
• Flexible working.
• Enhanced contributory pension scheme & other leave entitlements.
• Variety of learning and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing programme & Employee Assistance Scheme.

Equal Opportunities

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We are open to all talent, and we actively ensure that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regards to race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age and disability.

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