Senior Data Scientist Geospatial (Ref: 6366)

Job summary

This is a Nationally based role

Job description

The team

Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive

Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.

Our role

Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do this working through and with others.

Strategic Outcomes for Nature

Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes. Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.

• Recovering Nature – Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.
• Building Better Places – Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.
• Improving Health and Wellbeing – Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
• Delivering Security through Nature – Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK.

The Chief Scientist Directorate (CSD) provides scientific and evidence leadership services and support to help Natural England operate as an evidence-led organisation. The Data Science Services (DSS) Team, within the Analysis Directorate of CSD, provides access to evidence through the provision and management of data and digital systems, and through the provision of analytical services.

The Role

As part of Data Science Services, this role will primarily oversee a variety of small teams and programmes / projects to manage, process, and analyse geospatial data to create quality reproducible products that inform evidence-led advice and decision making within NE and partner organisations. The holder of this post will design and oversee the delivery of robust spatial data processing flows and complex spatial data analysis, communicate methods and outputs effectively to various stakeholders, and implement data standards and quality assurance on a range of projects using both marine and terrestrial data.

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

• Oversee Programme/Project planning and management (liaising with project leads, owners and teams) so that projects are delivered efficiently, with appropriate resource and capability, to a high standard, and progress, risks and issues are monitored and reported.
• Lead, coordinate and deliver automated spatial data processing workflows and spatial analyses to meet the evidence needs of a variety of Natural England, Defra group and other stakeholders.
• Put in place project data standards, processes and systems to ensure outputs are high-quality and robust (including through good documentation and automation) so that customer decisions and advice can be based on sound evidence and outputs can be reproduced.
• Engage with customers and partners to identify and exploit opportunities for new or revised projects (inc. use of new technologies), or for bringing together projects into programmes of work, which will improve the evidence base, improve efficiency, build capability or generate funding.
• Liaise with relevant stakeholders / partners / authorities / professional networks to understand and interpret advice, standards and best practice for relevant application in NE.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Essential

• People leadership and mentoring skills, functional management of delivery-focussed teams.
• Experience of planning and leading the delivery of projects.
• Data management skills and working with spatial data throughout the data lifecycle (sourcing data, data flows/providers, data licensing, metadata, data standards, and publishing data).
• Data processing and analysis skills, with a focus on spatial data, including:
  • data extraction/ingestion and preparation, data flows and metadata management
  • experience of exploratory analysis, complex spatial analysis and data interpretation through problem solving and using various analytical skills and tools
  • experience in GIS software (e.g. ArcPro, ArcGIS Online, QGIS)
  • implementation of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAPs)
• Effective written and verbal communication skills, especially in conveying complex information, data, analytical methods, and results to a range of audiences.
• Experience of leading quality assurance activities: verification, validation, analytical review.
• Experience of liaising with contractors to develop projects and to maintain quality and progress.
• An interest in personal development and willingness to learn where knowledge gaps are present.

Desirable

• Coding skills and experience with different programming languages (e.g. Python, R, SQL).
• Experience and understanding of data gathering and survey methods (marine / terrestrial).
• Understanding of legislative drivers and organisational priorities for data, evidence and analysis (marine / terrestrial).
• Understanding of habitat classification systems and ecology in both marine and terrestrial environments.
• Awareness of data visualisation and communication of results through dashboards, (e.g. Power BI, story maps).

Benefits

At Natural England, we support a healthy work-life balance by offering full-time, part-time, and flexible working arrangements.

We provide excellent opportunities for career progression, training, and development tailored to your role. This includes ten days annually for personal learning and development, plus three additional days for volunteering.

You’ll receive a generous leave allowance of 33 days per year (pro rata), access to the Civil Service Pension scheme with a 28.97% employer contribution, and a range of benefits such as shopping discounts and a cycle-to-work scheme. Staff can also join the Civil Service Sport club for discounts on sports, leisure activities, and social events.

We are committed to fairness, equality, and inclusivity. Our employee-led diversity networks help foster a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and supported.

Locations

Natural England has adopted hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England, and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Staff are expected to attend their associated office for 20% of their contractual hours.

Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work-related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.

National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area.

View a map of our office locations here: online map of Natural England office locations

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.

How to Apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview. We now provide primary interview questions in advance for all formal recruitments.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:

• Technical Skills and Knowledge
• Work Delivery
• Personal Effectiveness

When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your Action.

Please note that STAR format is not required when answering a Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview via MS Teams or a suitable alternative, where you will be asked to give examples for all competencies as set out in the Job Description.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Technical Skills & Knowledge

Description

• People leadership and mentoring skills, functional management of delivery-focussed teams (Essential).
• Experience of planning and leading the delivery of projects (Essential).
• Data management skills and working with spatial data throughout the data lifecycle (sourcing data, data flows/providers, data licensing, metadata, data standards, and publishing data) (Essential)
• Data processing and analysis skills, with a focus on spatial data (Essential), including:

o data extraction/ingestion and preparation, data flows and metadata management

o experience of exploratory analysis, complex spatial analysis and data interpretation through problem solving and using various analytical skills and tools

o experience in GIS software (e.g. ArcPro, ArcGIS Online, QGIS)

o implementation of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAPs)

• Effective written and verbal communication skills, especially in conveying complex information, data, analytical methods, and results to a range of audiences (Essential).

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Work Delivery

Description

• Clearly define roles, responsibilities and accountabilities and establish controls to monitor project progress and compliance (Practitioner)
• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures (Practitioner)
• Ensure that activities are planned and completed to enable the business to implement the change and realise the benefits (Practitioner)
• Identify, monitor and plan how to mitigate or respond to risks and issues and implement the responses (Practitioner)

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

• Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and Natural England and inspire others to act (Practitioner)
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together (Practitioner)
• Apply new technology to improve the way we deliver our work (Practitioner)

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,950, Natural England contributes £10,994 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Please refer to Job Description

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Chris Healey
• Email : chris.healey@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone : 07721 669 092

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

https://networkrecruitment.tal.net/vx/appcentre-7/brand-4/spa-1/tmpwid-4f9f_331b4a4e-479f-4a16-97ae-601288d2a83f/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/8/opp/6366-6366-Senior-Data-Scientist-Geospatial/en-GB

Attachments

DEF-001h - Candidate Pack Natural England v2.3 Opens in new window (docx, 1325kB)