Data Scientist

Lead Data Scientist – Optimisation (Contract | Inside IR35)

Location: London / Midlands (Hybrid + occasional European travel)
Rate: £500 per day (Inside IR35)
A leading consultancy is delivering a major analytics transformation programme for a global transportation organisation. They are looking for a Lead Data Scientist with deep optimisation expertise to drive high-impact decisioning solutions.
This is not a generic ML role. The focus is on advanced optimisation modelling applied to real-world operational problems at scale.

The Role

You will take ownership of complex optimisation initiatives, working closely with business, product, and engineering teams to design and deploy production-grade models.
Key responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of optimisation models across multiple business domains
• Translate complex operational challenges into mathematical frameworks
• Build scalable, production-ready solutions end-to-end
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to influence decision-making
• Communicate trade-offs and model outputs clearly to senior stakeholders
• Provide technical leadership and mentor other data scientists
• Ensure robustness, scalability, and performance of deployed models

What You’ll Bring (Essential)

• Strong, hands-on experience building and deploying optimisation models in industry:
  • Linear Programming (LP)
  • Mixed Integer Programming (MIP)
  • Constraint optimisation
  • Network, scheduling, or resource optimisation
• Proven track record applying optimisation to real business problems
• Advanced Python skills with tools such as Pyomo, PuLP, OR-Tools, Gurobi, or CPLEX
• Strong grounding in mathematics, statistics, and algorithms
• Experience working with large, complex datasets and constraints
• Ability to lead solution design and drive delivery

Important: This role requires deep optimisation expertise. It is not suited to candidates focused primarily on machine learning models or dashboards.

Nice to Have

• Experience with simulation or scenario modelling
• Ideally experience within aviation, airline, or closely related industries
• Background in logistics, supply chain, pricing, or large-scale operations
• Cloud deployment experience (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Experience mentoring or leading teams

Education

• Master’s degree or PhD in a quantitative field such as Operations Research, Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or Engineering

Why Apply

• High-impact work on large-scale, real-world optimisation problems
• Opportunity to shape decision-making in a complex operational environment
• Long-term programme with strong extension potential