Head of Data Science

Location: Greater London

Head of Data Science, Trainline

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About Us

We are champions of rail, inspired to build a greener, more sustainable future of travel. Trainline enables millions of travellers to find and book the best value tickets across carriers, fares, and journey options through our highly rated mobile app, website, and B2B partner channels.

Now Europe’s number 1 downloaded rail app, with over 125 million monthly visits and £5.9 billion in annual ticket sales, we collaborate with 270+ rail and coach companies in over 40 countries. We want to create a world where travel is as simple, seamless, eco‑friendly and affordable as it should be.

Today, we’re a FTSE 250 company driven by our incredible team of over 1,000 Train liners from 50+ nationalities, based across London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Edinburgh and Madrid. With our focus on growth in the UK and Europe, now is the perfect time to join us on this high‑speed journey.

Introducing Data Science at Trainline

Data Science is central to how we build products, delight our customers and grow our business. Our Data Scientists are embedded in cross‑functional teams across Product and Marketing, empowered with a high degree of autonomy to drive outcomes using all data and techniques at their disposal.

As the Head of Data Science, you will lead a team of high‑performing Data Science Managers and play a pivotal role in shaping a large cross‑functional organisation spanning Product, Engineering, Marketing and Data. You will be a key decision‑maker, helping define and deliver a product experience that provides the right inventory, enables a seamless purchase journey, and drives forward our future ticketing opportunities.

Doing this well requires deeply understanding our users, identifying their Jobs‑to‑Be‑Done, evaluating whether we are successfully meeting their needs, and accelerating the pace of product discovery and iteration. Your team will influence strategic product thinking, strengthen experimentation and measurement practices, and shape how AI and data power our product experience.

In This Role, Your Leadership Spans Two Complementary Dimensions

• Functional leadership: setting the bar for excellence in Data Science & Analytics.
• Strategic business partnership: working closely with Product, Engineering, Commercial and Marketing to define long‑term direction and deliver impactful outcomes.

As a Head of Data Science at Trainline, you will… Lead & Develop a High-Performing Data Science Organisation

• Lead an org of ~3 Data Science Managers and their respective teams.
• Build a culture focused on experimentation, learning, and measurable business impact.
• Ensure Data Science & Analytics talent is embedded effectively into cross‑functional squads and operating at a high bar.

Shape Strategy Through Data

• Act as a co‑leader of a large cross‑functional strategic area of ~150 people, defining long‑term vision and strategy.
• Provide data‑driven frameworks to structure product thinking – user classifications, Jobs‑to‑Be‑Done, north star metrics, success criteria, and evaluation methods.
• Influence prioritisation and roadmap decisions by grounding strategic choices in evidence and insight.

Advance Experimentation, Measurement & Goaling

• Champion and mature experimentation practices across teams.
• Develop clear goaling methodologies enabling rapid iteration and learning.
• Ensure robust evaluation of product changes, including holdouts and causal inference methods.

Elevate Data, AI & Infrastructure Capabilities

• Work with our ML Engineering counterparts to help shape our wider AI/ML strategy.
• Influence Data Engineering, BI and Platform priorities to improve data maturity, quality and tooling.
• Ensure foundational datasets and metrics are trusted, consistent and scalable.

Drive High‑Impact Outcomes & Senior Communication

• Hold the organisation to a high bar for analytical rigour and business impact.
• Communicate insights, strategy, and progress to senior leadership.
• Drive alignment and influence decision‑making across the company.

We’d love to hear from you if you have…

• Experience leading data‑driven teams in the product space within tech organisations.
• Proven…