Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP Associate) London 2024

Buro Happold and the College of Computing and Digital Technology within STEAMhouse at Birmingham City University (BCU) are seeking to appoint a high calibre graduate (graduated within the last five years) as a Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP Associate).

As a Machine Learning and Data Analytics Associate, you will develop Machine Learning (ML) solutions that will innovate and transform key engineering activities in Buro Happold.

You will work closely with Buro Happold's computational team to build reusable AI/ML datasets, develop and optimize ML models, facilitate their deployment within the company, and co-define data-driven solutions that have the potential to revolutionize the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry.

The role

This position forms part of the Knowledge Transfer programme (KTP), co-funded by a grant from InnovateUK and Buro Happold. It is essential you understand the fundamentals of how a KTP works between a business and the University and the vital role you will play if you successfully secure this position.

The Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP Associate) will have access to a wider range of benefits including a personal development budget of £4,000 to upskill during the project. The successful candidate will be employed by Birmingham City University, working full time delivering a 24-month KTP project in partnership with Buro Happold.

Buro Happold is an international, integrated consultancy of engineers, designers and advisers (about 3000 employees worldwide) that designs and delivers a wide range of construction projects (recent award-winning projects include Battersea Power Station in London and the K64 Keflavik Airport Area Masterplan). Buro Happold covers several domains of expertise, including structural engineering, façade design, MEP engineering, and many others.

BH has a long history of developing and applying innovative computational solutions, like the open-source framework Buildings and Habitats object Model (BHoM) and is now investing into AI/ML innovation to increase their design efficiency and transform key workflows, ultimately sustaining BH’s position as one of the key leaders in the AEC sector. 

The successful candidate recruited for this position will be employed as a Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP Associate). This role presents an exciting opportunity to work in collaboration with leading academics at Birmingham City University (BCU) to apply knowledge and technical innovation. delivered on site at the company. The Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP) should have a minimum 2.1 University qualification in a relevant subject area and should be graduated within the last five years.

Location and reporting

• The Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP Associate) will be based at Buro Happold's site
• The successful candidate will have full access to Birmingham City University's resources such as offices, labs, and library to complete the KTP project (a workplan has already been written with KTPs and outcome deliverables)
• The Machine Learning and Data Analytics (KTP Associate) will be supervised and mentored by both a lead academic and academic supervisor, academics from BCU's College of Computing and Digital Technology, as well as a company supervisor located at Buro Happold who's aim is to assist the Machine Learning and Data Analytics to deliver the knowledge into Buro Happold and successfully deliver the 24 month KTP project on behalf of Buro Happold and Birmingham City University

Project aims, objectives and responsibilities

The aim of this KTP project is to improve Buro Happold's engineers’ productivity by reducing the time required to review Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings and finding and reusing previously developed solutions. This will be achieved through a variety of techniques, including Computer Vision (CV), Information Retrieval (IR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

The assistant will be primarily powered by the knowledge extracted from Buro Happold's extensive database of drawings, but other data sources will be considered either during the project or for future developments (e.g. unstructured documents, simulation models, Building Information Modelling (BIM) data). Knowledge representation techniques will be considered (e.g. Knowledge Graphs, schemas and ontologies).

The key objectives include

• Understand the main workflows of Buro Happold and their key areas that can be improved via the proposed AI/ML solution
• Build reusable datasets suitable for the training and/or fine-tuning of ML models, sourcing from Buro Happold’s extensive database of CAD drawings and other documentation
• Develop ML models that can identify and classify engineering details in CAD drawings, e.g. types of façade connections, connection elements, structural elements, type of rooms, etc., in order to facilitate the query and discovery of previously designed solutions
• Develop ML models that can identify particular areas in drawings that need expert review, in order to improve the efficiency of the CAD review process
• Collaborate with other Computational Team’s software engineers to facilitate the deployment of the models within the Buro Happold’s workflows. This will include the development of a chatbot-like assistant that can answer questions and find details about previous engineering solutions, and its integration within the company’s software tools, like the BHoM framework
• Work closely with Buro Happold’s computational team to ensure the successful development and deployment of the models within the company
• Co-author papers and participate in conferences and dissemination activities within and outside Buro Happold

Person specification

You should have a good first degree and post-graduate degree in Computer Science or Data Science, or a related discipline, excellent programming skills, good communication skills and experience of successfully working as part of a team. We expect the post holder to have the following technical knowledge and personal skills.

Essential

• Minimum of 2.1 and ideally a Masters degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field (e.g., artificial intelligence)
• Experience in designing, developing, and implementing ML models and algorithms that can extract meaningful insights from complex data sets
• Understanding of Computer Vision and some of the main IR techniques and NLP models
• Proficiency in programming: ideally Python, but proficiency in other languages with applications in ML will be considered; C# understanding is desirable; understanding of basic data structures, algorithms and OOP concepts (understanding of basic design patterns is desirable)
• Proven familiarity with the development of ML models and/or knowledge of some ML framework (e.g., Scikit-Learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch)
• Ability to manipulate and query data (e.g., Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn)
• Understanding of database concepts (differences between SQL/non-relational/graph)
• Experience in data pre-processing techniques, feature engineering, and model evaluation metrics
• Proven familiarity with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and their services
• Experience with version control tools (e.g. Git)

Desirable

• PhD qualification in Computer Science, Data Science, or similar postgraduate qualification
• Interest in AEC or previous experience or research with the AEC industry
• Understanding of Knowledge Graphs and Knowledge representation techniques
• Experience with CV models for data extraction from CAD drawings
• Experience with SQL and relational databases for data retrieval and manipulation
• Experience with Azure or other cloud services
• Experience with Linux, SSH
• Experience in deploying machine learning models to production environments, working with other software engineers and DevOps teams
• Understanding of C# or Java

Personal skills

Essential

• Communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to work with and convey technical concepts to academics and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to understand challenges outside their own domain of expertise that can benefit from AI/ML applications, by listening to other experts and stakeholders
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment, as well as independently on projects
• Excellent problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities
• Able to undertake independent research and to communicate this research comprehensively and accurately through journal papers, conferences, workshops/seminars

Desirable

• Work independently and report development in regular meetings with project supervisor and academic team
• Able to evidence good business acumen and able to plan, implement, evaluate and present sound business solutions

Our vision

Birmingham City University is growing in quality and standing, with an academic STEAM agenda at the heart of our ambitions. We are transforming the lives of students and their communities, and want outstanding people to join us in taking us on the next stage of our exciting journey.

Our students learn through doing. They are empowered throughout their educational journey, achieving significant educational gain and personal transformation. There has never been a better time to join us. Come and be part of the next exciting stage of our journey.

About birmingham city university

At the heart of our 2025 Strategy is our mission is to enable our students to transform their lives and to achieve their potential. Through our education and research, and the roles our graduates go on to play in the world, we not only support individuals to transform their lives, but we also play a part in transforming society.

Located in the centre of the UK’s second city, we are a university with a long heritage of innovation and of making, dating back to our origins in 1843 when we were founded as the Birmingham Government School of Design.

Our heritage of making through innovation and its application through knowledge exchange, and of creative research and practice, today finds it expression in our STEAM agenda, in our research and enterprise, and in our commitment to challenge-based learning. Working across disciplines, and delivering impactful research and enterprise, interdisciplinarity is at the heart of the continuing transformation of our academic portfolio.

Our staff community

Birmingham is home to a rich and diverse range of communities. Our students reflect this rich cultural mix, and we are continuing to work to make sure that this is also reflected in our broader university community.

Birmingham City University values the quality and diversity of our staff. Our staff and student community is defined by our core values, which outline who we are as a University and how we work with each other. Our core values are we create opportunity, we think differently, and we build community.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, continuously reviewing and improving our policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that we are promoting these in all aspects of our operations. We believe that by working together, combining our many different backgrounds and life experiences, we will empower each other to reach our full potential. We hold an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of our commitment to improving employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.

Our University is located in one of the most culturally rich and diverse Cities in the UK, and it is our ambition to be the University for Birmingham and the surrounding region. The events of 2020 have highlighted the stark inequalities that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities face and we are committed to removing the institutional barriers that our staff and students face and improve the representation, progression and success of staff and students from all backgrounds within higher education. To demonstrate this, we have signed up to the Race Equality Charter to show our commitment.

Birmingham City University has been recognised for its progress on LGBT+ equality with a Gold award in the Stonewall Index and have entered the Top 100 Employers 2023 for LGBT+ inclusion. Meanwhile, we are Disability Confident (Committed) and are on an exciting journey to advance our University to progress through the Disability Confident scheme.

We are also a Mindful Employer, which means we are committed to supporting the mental health and well-being of our staff, and we have also signed up to the Mental Health Charter led by student mental health charity Student Minds. Furthermore, we are signed up to The Technician Commitment - a university and research institution initiative supported by the Science Council and Gatsby Foundation – aiming to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research.

Working and living in birmingham

The youngest city in Europe with under-25s accounting for nearly 40% of the population, Birmingham is a city full of energy and enthusiasm and is a great place to live and work.

Based in the heart of England, the city is easily accessible by road, rail and air. Birmingham New Street station has recently undergone major redevelopment, while the city is at the heart of the high-speed rail network, HS2. HS2 will provide new rapid rail travel connecting Birmingham City Centre to London and the rest of the network from the new Curzon Street Station – adjacent to Birmingham City University’s City Centre Campus – and will be one of the most environmentally friendly stations in the world.

The city’s appetite for progression is boundless, and it has been championing innovation since the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution, reflected in Birmingham City University’s new STEAMhouse building which opened in October 2022 and is home to an inter-disciplinary community of entrepreneurs, businesses, academic researchers, and students offering a wealth of support to companies of all sizes to boost growth through innovation to address commercial and societal challenges.

Birmingham is brimming with great theatres, museums, the world-famous Birmingham City University Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as beautiful historical buildings and the iconic Library of Birmingham. It also has amazing concert and sporting venues including Edgbaston Cricket ground, which Birmingham City University has a long-standing partnership with.

It is also home to the Alexander Stadium, which is the stunning new home for Birmingham City University’s sport courses. The Stadium was one of the main event spaces for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022, which saw the eyes of the world on the city, and Birmingham City University staff and students played pivotal roles - including designing the official medals for winning athletes.

Birmingham’s vibrant dining scene offers something for all tastes, including Michelin star restaurants, Spiceal Street at the Bullring, the Chinese Quarter, and the famous Balti Triangle.

The city also provides a great place to shop, being home the Bullring and Grand Central, the luxurious Mailbox Birmingham and the world-famous home of British bling - the Jewellery Quarter, which is home to Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery.

From Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and the beautiful arcades and independents, to the city’s historic markets in Digbeth, the shops in Birmingham offer a plethora of choice. BCU Values underpin how we work in achieving the ambitions set out in our Strategy and Priorities, and are the principles that unite the way we work together and for our students.