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.
Post Duties - The main duties of the Environmental Data Specialist post are to:
• Take a lead role as a spatial data specialist within the organisation. Drive the adoption of best practices, advise on methodologies and implement technical solutions across JNCC.
• 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 Biodiversity Indicators reporting and managing protected areas databases.
• Provide advice, practical design or production assistance in technical implementation, scripting, data management, processing or automation to support programmes across JNCC, with a particular focus on geospatial data.
• Work with other teams requiring technical solutions for spatial, structured and unstructured data across JNCC to define requirements and plan and deliver innovative solutions.
• 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.
• Lead in quality assurance and advice on management of ‘production’-level analytical scripts and analyses. Promote good practice in script creation, versioning, and documentation.
• Share best practice, mentor or skill share with colleagues to drive technical upskilling across the organisation.
Technical - To be a successful candidate you will be/have:
• Solid experience with R or Python 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.
• A strong understanding of GIS systems (preferably experienced in QGIS or ArcGIS). Experienced manipulating and analysing spatial data in a diverse range of formats.
• Ability to write SQL queries to manipulate and extract data from large and complex datasets (preferably with experience using PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL Server). Experience of designing relational databases would be an advantage.
While not a requirement, if you have an understanding of 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:
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