Environmental Data Specialist

Post Title: Environmental Data Specialist
Team: Digital and Data Solutions
RefNo: 202411
Grade: H (HEO)

This post will have a base in either Peterborough or Aberdeen.

JNCC has adopted a hybrid working approach, allowing colleagues to benefit from time in the office, with the flexibility also to work from home. Employees are expected to work from our office base for 1 – 2 days a month as a minimum, this will vary by team and the exact balance will depend on the nature of your role. We can provide more details at the interview and offer stages.

Who are JNCC?

Established in 1991, we’re the UK’s statutory advisor on issues affecting the natural environment across the UK and internationally. Our primary role is advising all four Governments of the UK. We also work with private sector organisations to support decision making on the sustainable use of marine waters and natural resources around the UK. JNCC is led by the Joint Committee, which brings together members from the nature conservation bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and independent members appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under an independent Chair. Support is provided to the Committee by approx. 300 people who bring together scientific and technical expertise, extensive knowledge of policy at global, European and national levels, and skills in working with other organisations. Staff are based in two main offices in Peterborough and Aberdeen.

Why JNCC?

We’re small enough (c.300 staff) that your voice is heard by everyone including the CEO, but big enough that we have all the skills, resources and people you’ll need to get the job done. All our staff are passionate about conservation and making a difference to the world we live in. We have a very flexible, inclusive and welcoming organisational culture. Our Executive Management provides employees with the freedom and tools you will need, and our friendly team will assist you in your role.

JNCC is committed to maintaining employee health and wellbeing, whether it is physically, emotionally, financially or socially, and offers a range of benefits to support employees in this. Such benefits include the option to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme, professional and personal development opportunities as well as an exciting job in a unique environment.

Hours of work: Full Time

Normal minimum hours of attendance for the post are 36 hours per week over a 5-day period, Monday to Friday.

Flexi time is available. This post may also be suitable for job share.

Annual Leave:

The annual leave allowance is 25 days per year, rising to 30 days per year after 5 years’ service. There are also 12 days public and privilege leave. Part-time staff will receive this on a pro rata basis.

Post background

Are you an experienced data engineer looking for an opportunity to stretch your technical skills and have a positive impact for nature? The Digital and Data Solutions Team at JNCC is looking for a data engineer to contribute their skills and expertise to a range of technical projects and reporting responsibilities.

As the statutory adviser to Government on UK and international nature conservation, one of JNCC’s key roles is the provision of biodiversity related evidence. Access to good evidence to underpin biodiversity and nature conservation advice has become increasingly important as the demands and pressures on the environment rise. Evidence activities relating to biodiversity and nature conservation, such as data collection, dissemination, analysis, and reporting, are all critical elements of JNCC’s core functions.

The Environmental Data Specialist will work in the Digital and Data Solutions team. The Digital and Data Solutions Team at JNCC works across the organisation to deliver creative and innovative solutions which support biodiversity and nature conservation in the digital and data space, as well as offering cross-organisational project management, data protection, and information management expertise. The post holder will join the data engineering section of the team working across an interesting and varied range of projects. Examples of the projects our team are involved in include leading the data engineering function for a new air pollution assessment service, processing earth observation data for targeted projects; using Python and R to extract and analyse marine data; developing databases, validation routines and tools to collate seabird data; and managing the UK protected areas databases.

Within the teamlet there are lots of opportunities to work on projects of interest and collaborate with like-minded data engineers and developers. An interest in nature conservation and ecological knowledge would be helpful to you but are not a requirement.

Post Duties

The main duties of the Environmental Data Specialist post are to:

• Lead the development and construction of data products and services that feed into the Air Pollution Assessment Service project.
• Lead or support data ingestion, manipulation, analysis, reporting and publishing tasks for various JNCC projects using scripting and ETL software (such as FME). Projects include the UK protected areas databases and UK Biodiversity Indicators reporting.
• Contribute to the portfolio of automation work being undertaken by the team to improve the way in which we generate indicators and other data products.
• Work with other teams requiring technical solutions for structured, unstructured and spatial data across JNCC to define requirements and plan and deliver innovative solutions.
• Provide advice or practical design or production assistance in technical implementation, scripting, data management or processing and automation to support programmes across JNCC.
• Lead role in quality assurance and advice on management of ‘production’-level analytical scripts and promoting good practice in script creation, versioning, and documentation.
• Share best practice across the organisation and mentor or skill share with colleagues.

Technical

To be a successful candidate you will be/have:

• Solid experience with R, Python, or a similar scripting language, which you use to manipulate and analyse data and automate processes. This includes the robust testing of outputs and quality control checks on code produced in the team and elsewhere in JNCC.
• Ability to write SQL queries to manipulate and extract data from large and complex datasets (preferably with experience using PostgreSQL). Experience of designing relational databases would be an advantage.

While not a requirement, if you have an understanding of GIS systems and spatial data and/or data pipelines and ETL processes and tools (such as FME), we would love to hear about it in your application.

Experience (Responsibilities)

To be a successful candidate you will have:

• Relevant experience in management, manipulation, and analysis of large or complex data for environmental applications including the creation of metadata, audit trails, version control and establishing processes/rules for changing and archiving them.
• Experience of, or aptitude for, working with others to identify data challenges, and design and implement solutions.
• Experience of preparing and publishing data online.
• Experience of, or aptitude to use source-control, package management, multiple computers operating systems or working on remote cloud computing platforms.
• Experience of automating data processing in order to generate efficiencies (including automation of functions and establishing links to databases and webservices).

While not a requirement, an interest in or experience of nature conservation and ecological knowledge would be helpful to you.

Behaviours

• Working Together
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

In the event that we receive a large volume of applications we reserve the right to conduct the sift based on the Lead Behaviour of Working Together

Please see the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade.

Nationality requirements 

This job is broadly open to the following groups: 

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

JNCC do not provide sponsorship.

Closing date and interview date

The closing date for this post is 23:55 on Sunday, 31 March 2024

The anticipated interview date is week commencing Monday, 08 April 2024

Please note that candidates invited to interview will be asked to undertake a technical skills assessment on the same day as their interview.