About the job

Job summary

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.  

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.

Job description

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.

Person specification

Please demonstrate in your statement your suitability for the position.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,573, Joint Nature Conservation Committee contributes £8,254 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a statement of suitability. In your statement, refer to the Post Duties section of this advert to show how you’re suitable for the role.

Please use the STARR technique

• Situation: Set the stage. 
• Task: Explain where you fit in. 
• Action: Describe each step. 
• Results: Impress with your achievements.
• Reflection: what have you learned 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.