Senior Geospatial Technologist
Job summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.
We are transforming how we use data to better understand and measure the UK’s economy and society, to drive better decision making, and to improve the lives of citizens. A core part of this work is the development of our geospatial capability, driving the effective use of geospatial methods across the organisation to add maximum value to ONS statistics.
The ONS Geography team provides geospatial expertise and guidance to ONS and across government. The team is dynamic and undertakes a mixture of work aimed at improving the use and integration of geospatial data with statistics.
We are seeking a highly skilled geospatial technologist to join our team and support the provision of a fit-for-purpose and up-to-date geospatial service and infrastructure. This role is pivotal in delivering the geospatial technology strategy within ONS ensuring our users can find, use, and unlock the potential and the availability of geospatial data. The successful candidate will oversee the maintenance, update, and delivery of geospatial tools and technology platforms, in alignment with our strategic objectives.
Job description
As the successful candidate, you will work in an exciting, fast-paced and technically diverse role. You will provide expertise in geospatial data management, architecture, solutions and infrastructure. You will develop automation workflows using Extract Transform Load (ETL) software (e.g. FME), ensuring that ONS Geography data and metadata are maintained and comply with relevant standards. You will maintain and develop systems and applications, including the Open Geography Portal, which is currently being redesigned in ArcGIS Online Hub.
You will work collaboratively to gather user requirements and feedback, develop technical solutions, and lead user testing. You will build positive relationships with stakeholders across the projects you lead.
We believe in continuous development, and you will be encouraged to further enhance your skills by keeping abreast of emerging geospatial technologies and industry best practice.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage the day-to-day administration, maintenance and optimisation of geospatial platforms and infrastructure, including ArcGIS Online.
- Lead cross-disciplinary projects and workstreams, supporting delivery from initial scoping and planning through to implementation and review.
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation of geospatial infrastructure, systems and technical designs used across ONS.
- Ensure geospatial data, services and platforms comply with relevant national and international standards relating to data format, metadata, interoperability, infrastructure and APIs.
- Plan, coordinate and lead user testing to ensure geospatial applications and infrastructure meet business and user requirements.
- Develop and implement automated solutions primarily using FME to improve the efficiency, quality and consistency of geospatial data management, integration and linkage processes.
- Work collaboratively with teams across ONS to review, enhance and maintain the structure, design and accessibility of geospatial data and solutions.
- Support stakeholder engagement activities, gathering user requirements and feedback to drive the continuous improvement of geospatial services.
- Monitor developments in geospatial technology, commercial products and solution design, identifying opportunities to enhance existing services and capabilities.
- Contribute to the development and promotion of the geography community across ONS and wider government through collaboration, knowledge sharing and best practice.
- Support ONS engagement with external organisations and professional bodies on topics relevant to the role, including geospatial standards, technology and open-source solutions.
Person specification
Essential Skills & Experience
Skill level definition
- Expert: Has knowledge and can demonstrate experience in the application of this skill. Is a recognised specialist and advisor in this skill including customer needs, generation of ideas, methods, tools and leading or guiding others in best practice use.
- Practitioner: Shares knowledge and experience of the skill with others, including tools and techniques, defining those most appropriate for the environment.
- Geospatial Software and Systems – Expert: The use of desktop and online tools including QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, FME and ArcGIS Online for managing, analysing and displaying geospatial data, interactively or in workflows.
- Geospatial Data Standards – Practitioner: The ability to recognise, use and apply the agreed geospatial standards for sharing and accessing geographic information with a view to enable interoperability. This will include the use of appropriate data formats, schemas, metadata, and accessibility standards.
- Geospatial Data Management – Practitioner: The ability to collate, manage and curate datasets within a workflow and architecture for geospatial data (e.g. ArcGIS Enterprise), for use within the organisation and beyond, taking into consideration data governance policies (including data versioning and licencing, as well as the need for authoritative data), procedures and methods that manage data access, sharing, dissemination and protection.
- Geographic Strategy – Practitioner: The ability to understand the capability and the art of the possible relating to the application of geographic information, in the aim of developing strategies, plans and road maps for geographic policy, research or delivery of products.
- Problem Management – Practitioner: The ability to anticipate and identify problems in systems, processes or services, and ensuring appropriate solutions are implemented, by monitoring the health of the systems, investigating issues when they arise and implementing solutions.
Qualifications
At least either a masters degree, or equivalent, with relevance to the job description OR at least 2 years’ experience in a role/study relevant to the job description.Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Developing Self and Others
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Geospatial Software and Systems
- Geospatial Data Standards
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £43,644, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,643 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
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
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.Security Clearance
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Visa Sponsorship
ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, it must have at least 18 months remaining at the point of application.
Right to Work and Nationality Requirements
To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.
If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 3 stage process
- Stage 1: Eligibility pre-sift
- Stage 1: Application
- Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1
A pre-sift will be conducted on location and eligibility criteria set out in the advert. Ineligible candidates will be removed from the selection process and will not proceed to the application stage.
Stage 2 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your CV, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.
When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.
Stage 2 – Interview
If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.
Candidates will be expected to deliver a 5 minute presentation on the Technical Skills outlined in the advert. This information will be provided to the candidates in advance of the interview.
Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams.
Our main locations are Newport (South Wales), Titchfield & Darlington.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
Important Dates:
- The Sift will be conducted from 17th August
- Interviews will be conducted from 1st September
Dates are subject to change.
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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
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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
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
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : Ralph Hughes
- Email : ralph.hughes@ons.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service CommissionAttachments
2721 Advert 1B Permanent - ONS National v1-00 (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)Role1_Standard_Requirements Opens in new window (pdf, 76kB)Salary range
- £43,644 per year