This large social policy line agency is known for its rich, complex data assets that underpin major national programs and policy decisions. You will be joining the Data Science Section that plays a pivotal role in shaping how the department uses data to improve outcomes for Australians, driving projects that range from automation and procurement analytics through to natural language processing and digital twins. You will be joining a high calibre team of data scientists, analysts and engineers being led by a new EL2 who is intent on broadening the team’s capability, reducing ad hoc requests, and delivering enduring, customer-focused products with measurable impact. They have come in with the intent to push the boundaries of what’s possible including deploying Azure AI Foundry in their first few weeks. The Opportunity This is a chance to join a team already using Gemini, Azure AI Foundry, Vortex AI, Hugging Face, PyTorch, llama-cpp, DSPy, and Unsloth while building enduring products that directly support business areas. The team is shifting from ad hoc data science projects to a product-driven approach, ensuring solutions are reusable, scalable, and customer-focused with a start small, prove, then scale approach Cool projects currently underway or in the pipeline include: Forms automation replacing manual re-entry with NLP-driven document processing and workflow automation Public sentiment analysis using clustering and NLP on social media, PDFs, and forums to deliver daily self-service feeds Procurement analysis applying clustering to procurement PDFs to uncover duplication, overlaps, and opportunities for cost savings Social media NLP pipelines building scalable pipelines, API integrations, and web scraping to cluster common concerns Digital twins (future state) modelling how public cohorts might react to policies, enabling forward-looking scenario testing Generative AI pilots for image and video creation that have already proven that they work The Role This role combines engaging with business area to understand exactly what they need and then building directly and with the team the technical solution I.e. Do they want the data via a dashboard, agentic interface “Compare division spend” or “List top contract by value” or simply a daily email with the 5 key talking points. Key responsibilities include: Lead the end-to-end design, development, and deployment of advanced data science solutions Deliver strategic initiatives spanning data ingestion and curation, exploratory analysis, natural language processing, generative AI (including agent-based applications), predictive and prescriptive modelling, self-service tools, and tailored data science reports Collaborate with teams across the agency to develop standardised, reusable, and transferable methods, frameworks, and code Provide rapid, bespoke analytics on diverse and complex datasets to meet emerging policy and operational needs Apply customer-centred design to prototype innovative tools, methods, and technologies within secure government environments The Ideal Person This role will suit a data scientist with a broad skillset who combines technical strength with communication and influence. You’ll bring: Strong background in data science, analytics, or engineering with breadth across ETL, modelling, automation, and stakeholder-facing delivery Ability to translate business problems into technical solutions and communicate value clearly to non-technical audiences Hands-on experience with Python, NLP, clustering, and data pipelines; exposure to cloud platforms (Azure or GCP) Experience applying data science in a government context Experience with generative AI (desirable), including prompt engineering and evaluation of outputs Two pathways are possible for this role: A super-technical specialist who can communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders to understand what they need A technically capable professional with strong communication and influencing skills who can sell the value of the team’s work and unlock further funding Due to the nature of the work Australian Citizenship with an existing AGSVA clearance is mandatory. Salary / Rate This role is an EL1 equivalent full time labour hire contract to 30/6/26 with possible extension $120 - $135p/h Super | $135 - $150 p/h (inc. Super ) or GST How to Apply To apply online, please click on the appropriate link. Alternatively, for a confidential discussion, please contact Lucas Walker on 0483 911 561 quoting ref no. 20876 HorizonOne is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and we encourage applications from people of all cultures, capabilities and backgrounds.
