Senior Statistician

Vacancy: Senior Statistician

Close date: 9 am, Monday, 06 January 2024. Shortlisting and interviews will happen on a rolling basis so early application is encouraged. We may close this vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found.

Who we are, who we are looking for and what we offer

Symmetron has over 15 years of business activity in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), providing solutions for major pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers worldwide. We promote a culture of creativity, independent thinking, teamwork and scientific excellence.

We are looking for a Senior Statistician with exceptional attention to detail and a passion for data analysis using advanced or innovative methods to join our multidisciplinary team. This job is an opportunity for a driven, enthusiastic individual with a keen interest in Health Technology Assessment (HTA). Through independent work or the coordination and supervision of other researchers, the successful candidate will provide statistical and analytical expertise, devise statistical analysis plans, perform data analysis, and interpret and write up results.

The successful candidate will deliver high-quality statistical work across different projects in a wide range of therapeutic areas. Typical projects could involve performing regression analyses using individual patient-level data from clinical trials or registries, survival analysis to extrapolate long-term results and Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) to indirectly compare different interventions. The senior statistician should keep up to date on the latest developments in the field and feel comfortable suggesting and exploring novel methods when relevant.

We are committed to the personal development of our employees and offer excellent training and career development opportunities. Symmetron was awarded the Investors In People accreditation in 2021, with 100% of our team agreeing Symmetron was a great place to work. Our company offers excellent benefits, including but not limited to:

• A very competitive base salary, pension scheme and annual performance-related discretionary bonus.
• Professional development opportunities, within a friendly and supportive team, with access to our tailored internal training programme and external training as needed.
• A hybrid and flexible mix of home and in-office working.
• Life and private health insurance.
• Access to free confidential well-being advice via our employee assistance programme.
• A cycle to work scheme.
• Eye care contribution.
• A wealth of policies that cover enhanced parental leave, compassionate bereavement leave, and temporary remote working for an extended time.

Key responsibilities

• Independently conduct and oversee statistical analyses as stand-alone projects or to feed into economic models or HTA submissions (e.g. NICE or SMC submissions).
• Work with colleagues to scope new projects, lead development of statistical analysis plans and research new methods relevant to our work.
• Liaise with health economics and health outcomes colleagues to ensure statistical analyses are aligned with expectations across different teams, and when required, train and mentor colleagues on statistical processes and software.
• Liaise with external statisticians, programmers and methodologists to communicate work plans and to validate methodological approaches.
• Be responsible for the development of slide decks, study reports, manuscripts, posters and other publications related to health economics and outcomes research.
• Confidently interact with clients on a regular basis, being able to provide written clarification to technical queries, present methods and results at client meetings.
• Be responsible for the day-to-day management of projects and for quality assurance activities (i.e. so that deliverables are provided at an excellent standard).
• Provide support or leadership on components of business development activities, including development of proposals for new projects.
• Proactively undertake continuous professional development and learning activities, including assisting, mentoring or line managing other team members.

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by the organisation's overall business objectives.

Essential requirements and qualifications

•  Postgraduate degree in statistics, mathematics or a scientific field with a focus on data analysis.
•  Proven experience as a statistician or data analyst in a commercial or academic setting.
• Confidence in using WinBUGS (or a similar NMA software) and R.
•  A willingness to trial, explore or recommend new software that may suit specific projects with limited guidance.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to explain complex statistical methodology and results to a non-expert audience.
•  A genuine interest in HTA, systematic review, evidence synthesis, critical appraisal, health economics and statistics.
• Excellent writing skills (development of presentations, reports, dossiers, manuscripts).
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail, along with the ability to maintain high quality deliverables given competing demands and changing deadlines.
• An organised and methodological approach to planning and delivering work of high quality, taking responsibility for management of small projects or subcomponents of larger projects.
• Strong quantitative, critical thinking and analytical skills; able to review and assimilate large amounts of scientific information under a deadline.
• Ability to in a team-oriented environment and independently, taking responsibility for assigned project work, with effective delegation and/or supervision of tasks undertaken by other team members.
• High self-motivation, can-do attitude, optimistic outlook and leadership ability.
• Initiative to learn new skills, and develop the skill set of others with less experience.
• Excellent computer literacy, and proficiency using Microsoft Office and reference management software.

Desirable skills and experience

These are nice-to-have skills. Candidates that do not fulfil these requirements but have an interest in this role are encouraged to apply.

• Experience in conducting Bayesian network meta-analyses and survival analyses from inception to reporting phase.
• Experience with handling patient level data and large databases, medical claims databases, registries etc.
• Experience using SAS and/or Stata.
• Experience in and/or knowledge of HTA processes.
• Project management experience.
• Experience in and/or knowledge of clinical processes or trials.
• Interest in publication and conference attendance, with some publication history.
• Mentorship or line management experience.
• Business development experience.

Application process 

• After the upload of your CV, we ask you to fill in a brief questionnaire.

• Candidates successful in this first round will be contacted to undertake an non-timed exercise (remotely) to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required for the role.

• Shortlisted applicants may also be invited for an initial phone call before the final interview stage.

Please Note:

• This job is a full-time position based in our offices in Central London. Working from home is supported and organised around staff roles and responsibilities.
• No agencies, please.