Post Title: Senior Analyst

Team: Ecosystems Analysis

Ref No: 202311

Grade: S (SEO)

Type of appointment: Permanent

Location: Peterborough or Aberdeen

Salary: £36,669                                       

This post will have a base in either Peterborough or Aberdeen.

JNCC has adopted a hybrid working approach, allowing colleagues to benefit from time in the office, with the flexibility also to work from home. Employees are expected to work from our office base for 1 – 2 days a month as a minimum, this will vary by team and the exact balance will depend on the nature of your role. We can provide more details at the interview and offer stages.

Who are JNCC?

Established in 1991, we’re the UK’s statutory advisor on issues affecting the natural environment across the UK and internationally. Our primary role is advising all four Governments of the UK. We also work with private sector organisations to support decision making on the sustainable use of marine waters and natural resources around the UK. We work at the science-policy interface, meaning our evidence-based advice, data and tools can have substantial nature positive impacts across the UK and beyond.

JNCC is led by the Joint Committee, which brings together members from the nature conservation bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and independent members appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under an independent Chair. Support is provided to the Committee by approx. 270 people who bring together scientific and technical expertise, extensive knowledge of policy at global, European and national levels, and skills in working with other organisations. Staff are based in two main offices in Peterborough and Aberdeen.

Why JNCC?

We’re small enough that your voice is heard by everyone including the CEO, but big enough that we have all the skills, resources and people you’ll need to get the job done. All our staff are passionate about conservation and making a difference to the world we live in. We have a very flexible, inclusive and welcoming organisational culture. Our Executive Management provides employees with the freedom and tools you will need, and our friendly team will assist you in your role. 

JNCC is committed to maintaining employee health and wellbeing, whether it is physically, emotionally, financially or socially, and offers a range of benefits to support employees in this. Such benefits include the option to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme, professional and personal development opportunities as well as an exciting job in a unique environment. 

Hours of work:                     Full-time

Normal minimum hours of attendance for the post are 36 hours per week over a 5-day period, Monday to Friday.

Flexi time is available. This post may also be suitable for job share.

Annual Leave:

The annual leave allowance is 25 days per year, rising to 30 days per year after 5 years’ service. There are also 12 days public and privilege leave. Part-time staff will receive this on a pro rata basis.                  

Short Summary: Post background

JNCC is looking for a senior analyst with expertise in analysis and modelling of biodiversity and ecosystem services, to work within a dynamic multi-disciplinary Ecosystems Analysis team. You will help deliver innovative ways of measuring the trajectory of biodiversity as we strive to meet the Nature Positive 2030 vision and apply data and models that integrate biodiversity into the complex decision making in areas such as land management, sustainable production and overseas development projects.

You will be working with colleagues who sustain and develop, alongside NGO and academic partners, the iconic long-term measure of biodiversity change in the UK.  You will also interact with colleagues who have led the application of the new wave of Earth Observation data to the environment, and others finding novel evidence to support diverse areas including sustainable consumption and plant health.

Our work involves devising practical evidence solutions to complex problems including targeting investment for multiple ecosystem service outcomes, detecting the response of biodiversity to interventions at the local scale, understanding the impact of consumption on the environment, and devising workable indicators for soil health and biodiversity indicators for Overseas Development Aid projects.  

The senior analyst post has a cross cutting role, devising analytical approaches working with colleagues leading projects such as these, and will also be able to devise and lead new projects. You will use your strong geospatial and statistical analysis background to develop technical components to projects, which includes spatial analyses and modelling over a range of scales and timeframes. Much of the work will rely on your direct development or steer of open-source code, both for one-off analyses, but increasingly in tool and user interface creation to support decision-making and policy, providing the technical means and evidence to communicate with a non-technical audience.

As post holder you will use your analytical, and facilitation skills to help ensure that environmental decision-making is based on the best available evidence. The post holder will be able to invest in their skills but will also encourage and support the development of analytical skills of others. The role is expected to facilitate current delivery, develop technical components to new projects, and provide technical leadership and oversight to steer and mentor analysts within the team, and support projects across JNCC.

The precise duties and responsibilities will be determined depending on the skills of the successful candidate.

Job Description:

Post Duties

·       Provide technical leadership and analytical insight to address complex issues, design and conduct appropriate methodological processes, and deliver informative and accessible outputs and tools

·       Assess requirements for evidence with stakeholders, create programmes of work that will help clarify and deliver stakeholder evidence needs

·       Innovate and devise technical options for tackling evidence needs, drawing together internal and external sources of data and expertise, and translate approaches into practical tangible outputs

·       Deliver outputs to meet evidence needs applying the best available data and methods, and packaging these so they are in a format that is easy for customers to understand and interpret, including via tool creation (e.g. R Shiny apps), user interfaces, case studies, proofs of concept, standards, and research reports or published research, leading or working collaboratively with others

·       Manage work packages and projects for the team or other teams in JNCC, ensuring that staff resources are used effectively and that we work efficiently alongside external contractors

·       Maintain and build your own analytical skills and those of the team overall

·       Support colleagues within JNCC more broadly where analytical expertise is required, coaching and sharing knowledge where appropriate

·       Provide quality control and assurance for analytical projects

Technical

To be a successful candidate you will be/have:

• Educated to post-graduate degree level in a science or relevant subject, or equivalent experience
• A logical analytical approach?to?understand complex scientific or societal issues, the ability to devise and construct technical investigations or projects to inform aspects of them, and advise on the strengths and weaknesses of alternative analytical approaches to meet stakeholder objectives and needs.
• Excellent coding, statistical, modelling, and geospatial skills demonstrated across a range of use cases and outputs. (Note that R is the most commonly used programming language amongst the analysts, with Python often deployed by our Earth Observation specialists)
• A strong background in selecting and deploying data and models to help answer questions or support decisions relating to complex issues.

Experience (Responsibilities)

To be a successful candidate you will have:

• A good understanding of the components of biodiversity and how these can be related to the services provided to society and to natural capital values.    
• A good understanding of the pressures and impacts on biodiversity and how these might affect sustainable development based on examples either within the UK, or other countries.
• An ability to engage with stakeholders and partners, determine their priorities and work collaboratively with them.

Behaviours

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

In the event that we receive a large volume of applications we reserve the right to conduct the sift based on the Lead Behaviour of Making Effective Decisions

Please see the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Nationality requirements 

This job is broadly open to the following groups: 

• UK nationals 
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK 
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland 
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) 
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service 
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service 
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals 

Closing date and interview date

The closing date for this post is 23:55 on Sunday, 02 April 2023

The anticipated interview date is week commencing Monday, 17 April 2023

Please note an initial telephone chat will be undertaken to gauge suitability of suitable candidates before being invited to main interviews, this is expected to take place on 12^th April 2023.

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