Statistician

Statistician job description: Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills | Useful links | Find jobs and courses

Typical responsibilities of the job include:

• designing data acquisition trials
• assessing results
• analysing trends
• applying statistical methodology to complex data
• acting in a consultancy capacity
• designing and implementing data gathering/management computer systems and software
• supervising junior statistical staff
• using statistics to make forecasts and to provide projected figures
• presenting information in a variety of formats
• conveying complex information to people who may not be specialists
• liaising with colleagues
• attending meetings.

Typical employers of statisticians

• market research companies
• governmental statistical agencies
• Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• hospitals
• the Department of Health
• regional health authorities
• medical registries
• industrial, pharmaceutical and commercial companies
• publicly funded research councils
• educational bodies
• Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

Jobs are advertised by careers services and specialist recruitment agencies, online, in newspapers and journals including The Financial Times, New Scientist, Health Service Journal and in professional publications such as Royal Statistical Society News. Directories such as Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry and Postgraduate Statistics - University Courses and Research in Probability and Statistics may be useful for speculative applications.

Qualifications and training required

A degree in a numerate discipline such as statistics, economics or mathematics is normally required, although qualifications in operational research, medical/life sciences and business studies are also acceptable.

A relevant postgraduate qualification is essential for graduates without appropriate first degrees, and for research and medical statistics posts. Prior relevant work experience, whilst beneficial, is not usually required.

Key skills for statisticians

• good IT skills
• numerical skills
• analytical skills
• written and verbal communication skills
• self-confidence
• good interpersonal skills.