Associate Data Scientist

About the role

ICF supports governments and organisations on challenges in energy, the environment, aviation, health and public policy. Its data science team works with subject matter experts to turn evidence and data into practical solutions for clients in the UK and EU. You will join an established team in Madrid, working alongside more experienced colleagues to prepare data, test analytical approaches, help develop prototypes and communicate results. You will also gain exposure to the consulting process.

Key responsibilities

• Work with data scientists and subject matter experts to understand project questions, available data and appropriate outputs.
• Clean, combine and explore datasets, write clear Python and document assumptions and checks.
• Build and compare straightforward statistical or machine learning models, use suitable baselines and help evaluate accuracy, limitations and potential bias.
• Contribute to prototypes, including language models where appropriate, and test outputs carefully before sharing them.
• Prepare charts, concise written findings and presentation material, and explain your work to colleagues and, with support, to clients and subject matter experts.
• Use feedback and code review to improve your work, and contribute to reproducible project files and team knowledge sharing.

Required profile

• Hands-on experience applying data science through a project, research, internship or commercial work.
• A relevant degree or equivalent practical experience in a quantitative or social science field.
• Curiosity about real client problems, willingness to ask questions and ability to explain your thinking clearly in written and spoken English.

Required skills

• Python experience gained through employment, an internship, research or substantial personal or academic projects.
• Grounding in statistics and common machine learning methods such as regression or classification, with experience of training, testing and model evaluation.
• Care for data quality, documentation and reproducible code, and willingness to learn version control and collaborative development practices.
• Useful additions: exposure to public policy, government, research or evaluation; hands-on exploration of large language models; Git, cloud services, data visualisation, collaborative projects or presenting technical work to a non-technical audience.

Candidates must hold the right to work in the country where the role is based or be eligible for visa sponsorship, and be physically present there on the first day of employment. Relocation support is not automatically provided. Applications must be submitted directly by the applicant.