Department of Government

KTP

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are government-funded collaborations between universities and businesses. In KTPs, academics and company representatives jointly supervise a KTP Associate who is based in the company, with the goal of improving their competitiveness and productivity. KTPs serve to make better use of the knowledge, technology and skills generated by universities, colleges and research organisations. 

Further information is available at: http://ktp.innovateuk.org/

THE PROJECT

The University of Essex in partnership with Preqin Ltd offers an exciting opportunity to a PhD or MSc graduate to apply network analysis, data science, and graph databases to the substantive question of how alternative asset investors make strategic decisions.

The collaborative project utilises Preqin’s unique financial industry data and seeks to understand the relational structure and individual and corporate decision making on sponsor-backed deals and private equity over time. The KTP Associate will develop analytical routines and results that feed into Preqin’s business model and result in academic outputs for submission to peer-reviewed journals. The project merges statistical and descriptive network science, automated graph-based reasoning and ontologies, and other data science and analytics approaches in order to generate recommendations for clients and governance.

This post is fixed term for 33 months and is based at Preqin’s Head Office in London.

DUTIES OF THE POST

The duties of the post will include:

• Lead the development of innovative solutions based on network analysis and graph data bases, leveraging Preqin’s newly developed knowledge graph.
• Own end-to-end process from definition of use case and solution with product and sales to team to implementation with engineering (with support from data science, strategy and research leaders).
• Surface new insights about the relationships and influencing strategies in the alternative assets ecosystem (e.g., private equity, venture capital).
• Use graph databases and related technologies (RDF, GraphQL and SPARQL) and develop of ontologies and data models for querying and analysing Preqin’s data on the alternative asset industry.
• Contribute enhancements of Preqin’s customer value proposition by leveraging cutting-edge technology (e.g., network analysis, statistical approaches) in close alignment with key stakeholders.
• Evaluate and refine the algorithm and framework based on customer feedback and industry data observations.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

The post holder must have:

• MSc in Network Science, Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Quantitative Social Sciences, or a related discipline, or equivalent industry experience.
• Experience of working with large and complex datasets.
• Experience (industrial or academic) of working with data managed in a graph or network kind of format.
• Experience with RDF (Resource Description Framework) and Semantic Web Standards.
• Ability to use graph database query languages (GraphQL, SPARQL or Cypher).
• Experience or the ability to publish research papers.
• Evidence of an appreciation of the wider data science agenda and background.
• Programming skills in Python or R.
• Excellent IT skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

LOCATION

Preqin Ltd

Vintners’ Place

68 Upper Thames Street

London

EC4V 3BJ

At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.

To support this commitment we have our Global Forum, a staff-led network that promotes and celebrates the rich cultural diversity among Essex staff, and our Colchester campus based Faith Centre, which hosts regular services, meetings and events organised by our chaplains and faith representatives. For more information see: https://www.essex.ac.uk/life/student-facilities/religion-and-faith

Please see the attached job pack, which contains a full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role plus more information relating to the post. We recommend you read this information carefully before making an application.  Applications should be made on-line, but if you would like advice or help in making an application, or need information in a different format, please telephone the Resourcing Team (01206 876559).

*More information: Working at the University