Marks & Spencer

Senior Data Scientist

Marks & Spencer · London, England, United Kingdom

Retail · 10,001+ employees

2 d ago
Senior (5-10 yrs) Full-time United Kingdom
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About the role

You will design, develop, and deploy end-to-end machine learning and generative AI systems to deliver personalized product recommendations and conversational experiences. You will also collaborate cross-functionally to ensure solutions are scalable, robust, and aligned with commercial goals.

What they look for

Machine learning Recommender systems LLM Conversational AI GenAI Retrieval Ranking Software engineering Spark Distributed data processing Real-time inference Vector representations Approximate nearest-neighbour search Data science Communication Cross-functional collaboration

Requirements

The role requires a proven track record of owning AI/ML problems from modeling through to production deployment and monitoring. Candidates must possess strong software engineering principles and experience with large-scale datasets and modern recommendation architectures.

Benefits

20% Colleague discount Competitive holiday entitlement Discretionary bonus schemes Defined contribution pension scheme Life assurance Tailored induction Training programmes M&S Choices portal Parental, adoption and neonatal policies 24/7 Virtual GP PAM Assist Charity volunteer day

Full description

What You’ll do

Your key accountabilities will include

  • Use machine learning, recommender systems, and LLM-powered conversational AI to deliver deeply personalised product and outfit recommendations.
  • Design, develop, and productionise end-to-end ML and GenAI systems, including retrieval, ranking, and LLM-based components powering conversational experiences
  • Design and develop frameworks for evaluating LLM outputs (e.g. relevance, grounding, safety, and user satisfaction) and integrate them into continuous experimentation pipelines.
  • Partner cross-functionally to deliver production-ready solutions aligned to product and commercial goals.
  • Contribute to best practices in model development, deployment, and monitoring across the team.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include

  • Proven track record of owning ML/AI problems end-to-end — from framing and modelling through to production deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement — delivering measurable business impact.
  • Applies strong software engineering principles to build robust, scalable ML systems, taking responsibility for performance and reliability in production rather than handing off.
  • Experience working with large-scale datasets and distributed data processing (e.g. Spark), and with modern recommendation or personalisation systems (e.g. large‑scale retrieval and ranking architectures, real-time inference, vector representations, approximate nearest‑neighbour search) at scale.
  • Strong collaborator and communicator, comfortable working across Product, Engineering, and business teams.

What's in it for you

Being a part of M&S is exactly that – playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special…

  • After completing your probationary period, you’ll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third-party brands for you and a member of your household.
  • Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
  • Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
  • A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
  • A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
  • Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing.
  • Industry-leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family.
  • Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your family.
  • A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you're passionate about through a dedicated day away from work.

Everyone's welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

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