Overview
To lead the development and delivery of robust analytical and data programmes and projects to increase efficiency and provide improved evidence to support the organisation's strategic objectives. To apply specialist skills and domain expertise to identify opportunities for data science to improve the evidence base to support the organisation's strategic objectives. To ensure quality and promote appropriate use of data and analysis (including uncertainty) to minimise risk and increase robustness of evidence underpinning advice, decision-making and delivery.
Key tasks / principal accountabilities
- Oversee small teams and projects and carry out complex data (including spatial) analyses and data management to meet the evidence needs of Natural England, Defra group and other stakeholders.
- Put in place project data standards, processes, and systems, and exemplify a culture of quality, to ensure outputs are high-quality and robust (through good documentation and automation) so that customer decisions and advice can be based on quality evidence and outputs can be reproduced.
- Understand organisational objectives and engage with business planning processes to provide technical intel and assist with prioritisation and scoping of projects.
- Liaise with project leads, owners and teams to establish project planning and resourcing so that projects are delivered efficiently, with appropriate resource and capability, to a high standard, and progress, risks and issues can be monitored.
- Engage with customers and partners to identify and exploit opportunities for new or revised projects (inc. use of new technologies), or for developing projects to improve the evidence base, improve efficiency, build capability or generate funding.
- Build capability and develop others in the team and across NE (as appropriate) to enable effective analytical delivery and support resilience to absence and change.
- Liaise with relevant partners/authorities/professional networks to understand and interpret advice, standards, and best practice for relevant application in NE.
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.
This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:
- Technical Skills and Knowledge
- Leading and managing people
- 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 doing so.
Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.
Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.
Competencies
- Competence 1 — Professional competency — Detail — Technical skills and knowledge, Set clear plans and expectations for your team, explain reasons behind decisions, be clear on the outcomes to be achieved, and make things happen by sharing and delegating work to the right people (Practitioner)
- Competence 3 — Professional competency — Detail — Work Delivery, Identify and apply the most appropriate data and methodologies for your analysis, utilising reproducible analytical pipelines and data science approaches where appropriate (Practitioner)
- Competence 4 — Professional competency — Detail — Personal Effectiveness, Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (Practitioner)
Essential experience and skills
- Significant experience in the development of species distributions models at varying spatial/temporal scales with understanding of multiple regression and classification modelling methodologies (including the optimisation of those models) (Essential)
- Highly proficient with coding in R, proficient in at least one other programming language (Essential)
- Proficient at using scripts to handle spatial data (including an understanding of multi-core processing design and options) (Essential)
- Highly proficient in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS; ArcGIS / QGIS) and undertaking spatial analysis of both vector and raster datasets (Essential)
- People leadership skills / experience in either a functional or line management context (Essential)
- Experience of planning and leading the delivery of projects (Essential)
- Understanding of species ecological niches and dispersal characteristics, and how these are incorporated into SDMs (Essential)
- Able to clearly communicate the meaning of analytical outputs to a range of audiences and stakeholders, including the ability to present any results. (Essential)
- Experience in designing and delivering proportionate assurance activities and processes in the analytical process to ensure the delivery of quality outputs (Essential)
- Experience and knowledge of options relating to the development of sampling strategies (Desirable)
- Experience of transforming data including integrating different data types (e.g. spatial and non-spatial) and from different data sources (Desirable)
- Experience of using version control (e.g. Git & GitHub) in managing and developing code in a collaborative analytical environment (Desirable)
Competence 2 — Leading and Managing People — Professional competency — Detail —
Leading and Managing People, Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.
Salary and 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%
