Spatial Data Scientist

Salary - £34,562 to £36,556, Depending on experience
Hybrid working (50/50)
Closing date for applications, 9th May 2023. We reserve the right to close this advert early if we find the right candidate, so we encourage you to apply early. UKCEH is looking for an experienced Spatial Data Scientist to join our 600-strong team, contributing to scientific discovery and generating the data, insights and solutions that researchers, businesses and governments need to solve complex environmental challenges. Working at UKCEH is rewarding. Our science makes a real difference, enabling people and the environment to prosper, and enriching society. We are the custodians of a wealth of environmental data, collected by UKCEH and its predecessors over the course of more than 60 years. As a valued member of our team, you’ll get:

• 27 days annual leave, rising to 29 days after five years

• 10% employer pension contribution
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• 24 hour, 365-day access to support with physical, mental, social, health or financial issues
• Flexible working opportunities
• And much more.

Are you highly motivated, numerate, and interested in applying your existing spatial data analysis skills to conduct research into the releases and behaviour of environmental pollutants such as pharmaceutical compounds and pesticides? Are you interested in further developing your skills in an innovative research environment? Reporting to Dr Stephen Lofts, you will be part of a small but dynamic team working on a range of projects researching the fate and impacts of chemical pollutants in soils and freshwaters. Your core initial responsibility will be to develop spatial datasets and models of pollutant inputs to freshwaters, including the development of datasets of future scenarios with a range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors. In the longer term, the scope of the post is flexible, depending on your interests and skills, and could include, for example, fate modelling and risk assessment of environmental pollutants. You’ll be joining a leading independent, not-for-profit research institute that’s committed to recruiting talented people like you, progressing your career and giving you the support you need to thrive at UKCEH. Your main responsibilities will include:

• Working closely with pollutant fate modellers, using your skills to developing spatial and temporal datasets of the inputs of polluting chemicals into soils and freshwaters
• Where appropriate, taking part in participatory co-design of future scenarios of polluting chemical inputs with stakeholders
• Working collaboratively within the Environmental Contaminants team, with other specialists in UKCEH including hydrologists, geochemists, and ecotoxicologists, and with external partners
• Interpreting your results and communicating these to other specialists and non-specialists within and outside UKCEH
• Contributing your expertise to funding proposals, papers and reports, including as lead author

For the role of Spatial Data Scientist, we’re looking for somebody who:

• Has a PhD or MSc/BSc with relevant experience in a relevant subject (e.g. Natural Science, Environmental Science, Geography)
• Has experience in analysing spatial data (e.g. using ArcGIS, QGIS, R and/or Python) and developing scripts/applications in a high level language (i.e., R, Python, Julia or Matlab)
• Demonstrates excellent communication and time management skills, including the ability to communicate scientific and data concepts to non-specialists
• Can integrate datasets from different sources to create derived datasets (desirable)
• Has knowledge of legacy and emerging environmental pollutants, their sources and environmental fate (desirable)
• Has familiarity with future scenarios and the tools used to develop them, for example the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, or the Story-and-Simulation approach to scenario development (desirable)
• Understands approaches to quantify the drivers of environmental change and their outcomes, such as the DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response) framework (desirable)
• Has prepared or contributed to research reports, papers or proposals (desirable)

• Please note that this role involves occasional attendance at international events and conferences and so a willingness to travel abroad essential to enable collaboration with partners in other countries and territories.

If we’ve just described you, we’d love to meet. To apply, please send us your CV, accompanied by a covering letter which highlights any relevant skills and experience you feel would be well suited for this particular role.