Senior / Principal Data Scientist AI & Data Strategy
Compass Group Internal Audit
Level
Senior / Principal Data Scientist
Location
Chertsey head office
Working pattern
Hybrid — typically around 3 days a week on-site, with the flexibility to work from home
Reports to
Group Director of Risk and Internal Audit
Travel
Occasional international travel
Compass Group
Compass Group is a FTSE 20 and Fortune Global 500 business — the world ’ s leading contract catering, hospitality and support services provider. We operate in over 20 countries, across more than 50,000 client locations, serving over 5.5 billion meals a year. Food is our passion. Increasingly, data and AI are how we protect it, sharpen it and stay ahead.
The opportunity
We ’ re reinventing how Internal Audit works — moving from sampling and hindsight to data-led, continuous, forward-looking assurance. This is a rare chance to help build that capability from the ground up, not just run it. You ’ ll sit in a small, high-profile Group team with a direct line of sight to the very top of a FTSE 20, and the autonomy to make a real mark.
What you ’ ll do
Help shape and deliver Internal Audit ’ s AI and data strategy — and bring it to life.
Build machine learning and AI models that turn full data populations into sharper, earlier risk insight.
Hunt out fraud, error and control gaps with anomaly detection — across 100% of the data, not just samples.
Stand up the pipelines, dashboards and tooling that power continuous auditing across the whole audit lifecycle.
Bring auditors on the journey — coaching, training and raising data literacy across the team.
Help us assure how the business itself uses AI — model risk, fairness, transparency and governance.
Be our voice on what ‘ good ’ looks like, benchmarking against the best in the industry.
What you ’ ll bring
A quantitative mind and a track record of shipping analytics, ML or AI solutions in the real world.
Fluency in Python or R and SQL, and BI tools such as Power BI.
Hands-on machine learning, statistical modelling and AI — plus the judgement to use them responsibly.
Comfort with modern cloud and data platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP or Snowflake) and building data pipelines.
The rare knack of explaining the technical simply — and influencing senior stakeholders.
Curiosity about risk, processes and controls (internal audit experience welcome, but not essential).
A data, analytics or audit certification (e.g. CISA, CIA) is a bonus, not a must.
Why join us
Build a capability, don ’ t just maintain one — genuine scope to innovate.
Small, high-profile team with visibility at the most senior levels of a global business.
The backing, data and autonomy to do work that actually changes how we operate.
Hybrid working and the flexibility to balance time in the office and at home.
Career pathways across Internal Audit and the wider global business.
Internal