Data Analyst (Ref: 5269)

East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber

This is a National Role

The team  

The Natural Capital & Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme is a Defra Group evidence programme which aims to deliver high quality national and local evidence to assess the state and condition of biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural capital assets across our terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments.

Natural England has an exciting role in leading terrestrial NCEA workstreams for habitat mapping and earth observation, species data mobilisation and integration, England ecosystem survey development, citizen science, peat mapping and state of natural capital reporting.

Job description  

This role sits within Natural England’s NCEA Data Analysis & Integration team, whose purpose is to support and deliver quality data analysis, including modelling and statistics, and to support development of our data science capability for the terrestrial Natural Capital & Ecosystem Assessment (tNCEA) programme.

The focus of this role will be split between providing advice and support to the projects that make up the NCEA programme and developing the systems and capacity to integrate and analyse all the data generated by the NCEA. The scope of the role may develop and evolve according to the evidence needs. The postholder will:

• Support the development of infrastructure and tools to integrate the multidisciplinary data generated by the NCEA, Natural England and other Defra group partners.
• Support high-quality, interdisciplinary analytical work combining a range of biological, geographical, and social data using appropriate methods and quality assurance practices.
• Liaise with NCEA project managers and teams to discuss analytical requirements and plan provision accordingly.
• Support the data handling, analysis and modelling activities being undertaken by the different NCEA projects.
• Promote innovation within the NCEA through the development and application of data science approaches, especially around data integration, modelling, standards, and quality.
• Support NCEA, Natural England and Defra group strategic priorities.
• Develop links with relevant government professional networks – such as Defra data-related communities, Government Statistical Service, Office for National Statistics and UK Statistics Authority.

Benefits

Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.

Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days to volunteer.

You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us. 

You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events. 

Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated. We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan.

Locations

Natural England is adopting 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. Full time staff are expected to attend their associated office for a minimum of one day a week. 

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: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/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.

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

• Technical Skills and Knowledge.
• Personal Effectiveness.
• Work Delivery.

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

Technical Skills and Knowledge (STAR format not required for this competency)

Essential

• Experience of, and ability to appropriately apply, data analysis, modelling, or statistical techniques.
• Knowledge and experience of data analysis and statistical software, such as Excel, and preferably including a computer programming language for data science such as R or Python.
• Ability to work within agreed data standards (e.g., good data management, open data, quality assurance, GDPR compliance).

Desirable

• Experience of working with a range of data types, such as biological data, habitat data, social sciences data, or spatial data.
• Experience of transforming data, such as integrating different data types (e.g., spatial and non-spatial) or data from different sources.
• Knowledge and experience of databases and other data storage technologies such as PostgreSQL, Oracle, MS SQL Server, etc., and familiarity with languages such SQL.
• Experience of spatial analysis and software such as ESRI ArcGIS products (e.g., ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, etc.) or similar alternatives (MapInfo, QGIS, etc.).
• Experience with cloud-based tools and infrastructure (e.g., AWS and Microsoft Azure).
• Experience of interactive data publishing tools such as RShiny or PowerBI.
• An understanding of nature-based evidence, such as field surveys, habitat mapping, analysis, land-use/landscape classifications, etc.

Competence 2  

Professional competency

Personal Effectiveness

• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles, and techniques that engage your audience (Basic).
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together (Basic).

Competence 3  

Professional competency

Work Delivery

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Practitioner).

Please refer to Job Description

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

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).

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Job contact :

• Name : Chantal Cooper
• Email : chantal.cooper@naturalengland.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@gov.sscl.com