The Data and Statistics Division (DSD), part of the Bank’s Data and Analytics Transformation Directorate (DAT). The directorate more broadly is responsible for aspects of data management and data culture that reach into the working lives of almost all Bank staff.
The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.


Department Overview
The Data and Statistics Division (DSD) , part of the Bank’s Data and Analytics Transformation Directorate (DAT), is the Bank’s centre of expertise for compilation, dissemination and publication of regulatory and statistical data, promoting innovation and quality to support analysis, policy and decision making by the Bank’s Committees, UK government departments and international organisations. The directorate more broadly is responsible for aspects of data management and data culture that reach into the working lives of almost all Bank staff.
This is a time of significant change as the way we collect and handle data, and compile statistics, evolves in the light of the use of new technology with DSD at the forefront. The change draws on a wide range of skills, including: data management; data science; data systems; data engineering; data modelling; operational work; and subject matter expertise in aspects of economics, statistics, banking and insurance supervision, and the UK housing and mortgage markets.
The advertised role sits in the division’s Regulatory Data Group (RDG). The Regulatory Data Group’s primary focus is to contribute to the Bank of England’s core purposes and external commitments by collecting, quality assuring and disseminating banking and insurance sector regulatory data. Currently, there are four main operational teams within RDG: Change, Banking, Insurance, and Household & Rates.
The Research Assistant role sits in the Banking team, who work alongside the other operational teams to support the delivery and continued maintenance of regulatory data change activities, and management of the plausibility checking processes of firm-level data. The team also work closely with Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) Supervision, as well as policy and various external stakeholders, to maintain firm regulatory schedules and respond to queries relating to regulatory data.
Lastly, the Research Assistants quality assure Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) submissions, to promote confidence in this published benchmark rate for sterling markets. The production of the SONIA rate is a critical function for the Bank and is used to value around £30 trillion of assets each year, whilst also being referenced in over £90 trillion of new transactions each year. As such, the SONIA rate is considered a critical indicator in the UK’s financial landscape, impacting a wide range of economic activities.
Job Description:
RDG is looking for a motivated Research Assistant to work with the team to quality assure large quantities of data. The position will involve collaborating with other Research Assistants to facilitate essential operational tasks.
As part of the role, the position holder will take part in our quarterly data plausibility checking rounds. This will combine a knowledge of intricacies of banking business models and financial data, as well as analytical skills to check a large volume of data. They will also assist with the checking and compilation of published quarterly statistics.
The team is responsible for the monitoring of many regulatory queries, which require triaging and responding to in a timely manner, therefore, the position holder will have to combine strong organisational and stakeholder management skills to effectively resolve issues relating to regulatory data.
The specific responsibilities undertaken by the position holder will depend on their skills. As part of this, they will:

• Conduct checks on banks regulatory returns, to understand or identify any large or implausible movements.
• Work within a team of other Research Assistants and Analysts by providing support for a number of operational tasks.
• Explain the technicalities of, and movements in the data, in response to queries from internal and external users.
• Work on process improvements through:
  • Maintaining and developing scripts (in R and Python) for processing data
  • Crafting and implementing processes for cleaning data.

As part of the SONIA remit, the successful candidate will work flexible hours, whilst participating in the occasional shift from 6am-9am, on a rota basis. The high-profile nature of this work will require the successful candidate to work under pressure and to tight deadlines, to quality assure SONIA-eligible activity ahead of 9am publication. Participating in SONIA provides the opportunity to work with different areas of the Bank, contributing directly to the Bank’s mission of maintaining financial stability.
The position holder will also be encouraged to actively challenge the way we work and suggest ways in which we can use technology to work more optimally and inclusively as a team.
Essential Criteria

• Strong organisational skills, and the ability to work across multiple workstreams within the same period.
• Ability to work well within a team.
• Experience of building relationships with stakeholders and
• Experience using Microsoft office tools
• Strong attention to detail when looking at large sets of data.
• Ability to work autonomously.

Desirable Criteria

• Knowledge of using collaboration, version control and Dev Ops tools including but not limited to Jira, Confluence, Azure Dev Ops, Git.
• A basic level understanding of the UK Banking market which can be built upon during the role.
• An interest in programming languages, such as R, SQL or Python.