About the job

Job summary

Do you want to play an important role in tackling the climate change emergency by helping to enable the sustainable development of offshore wind in Scotland?

OCTOBER START DATE

The Scottish Government is preparing for the implementation of a new HR and Finance platform and, as a result, some job offers will be subject to an October 2024 start date at the earliest.  This will be confirmed as your application progresses.

If you are the above, then this exciting opportunity to join the Marine Directorate could be for you.

This is a fixed term post (until 31 March 2026) associated with the PrePARED (Predators + Prey Around Renewable Energy Developments) project, funded by the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change programme and Crown Estate Scotland. The post-holder will direct and coordinate acoustic surveys of fish assemblages (when at sea), process acoustic signal and catch data into fish abundance data, take part in the analysis of Baited Camera video records, contribute to the analysis of distribution data (e.g. species distribution models) and communicate the results. The post holder will be required to work at sea as project objectives require.

Whilst we anticipate the role will be focussed on issues related to offshore wind, we operate a flexible resourcing policy within the Marine Directorate and as such the post-holder may be required to work on other areas of high priority work as required. 

In January 2022, Crown Estate Scotland announced the successful applicants to the ScotWind offshore wind leasing round to commence a new phase of offshore wind farm construction in Scottish waters helping Scotland meet its Net Zero targets, become carbon neutral by 2045 and tackle the climate emergency. The Scottish Government is responsible for identifying where the ScotWind projects will be located, administering the related offshore planning consents, and ensuring that projects are delivered in an environmentally sustainable manner. The Renewables and Ecology Team (R&E) in the Marine Directorate provides specialist scientific advice to regulators and policy makers to support this.   

The CCBE team within MD-SEDD currently has around 51 staff who provide evidence, assessment and advice within government that support our commitment to Healthy, Biologically Diverse & Clean Seas. Our specialists also provide advice on Scottish Government policy priorities, such as the protection of biodiversity, blue carbon, climate change and marine spatial planning.

Job description

• Lead on the collection of acoustic and trawl catch data at sea (including decisions on when to fish and adapt transect design) using systems provided on the MSS research vessel (e.g. EK60, towed echosounders)
• To process all raw acoustic data (echo integration) and catch data using proprietary tools in the production of fish abundance estimates and seabed maps. Analyse video footages from Baited Cameras and model fish distributions (species distribution models)
• To communicate effectively project successes, outputs and deliverables to PrePARED work package leads
• To produce draft communication briefings to the PrePARED lead where required during the course of the project

Person specification

• A demonstrable track record in the collection of active acoustic data and drawing inference relating to fish communities and proven experience of processing the acoustic signal (e.g. EK60 echosounder) with echo integration software (e.g. Myriax: Echoview).
• Experience of collecting fisheries acoustic data at sea.
• Proven experience with R and the use of common statistical models (GLMs, mixed models, GAMs) as well as GIS software, such as QGIS or ArcGIS.
• An ability to meet project milestones, working both within a multi-disciplinary team and independently, within tight timescales.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

To be confirmed

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

Security

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.