Biodiversity Data Officer

Job Introduction

Job details

• Salary range: £33,366 to £39,513 per annum
• Work location: Hybrid Working with an office base at County Hall, Oxford
• Hours per week: 37 – we are open to discussions about flexible working
• Contract type: Permanent 
• Closing date: 5^th January 2025
• Interview date: January 2025

Do you love working with geospatial data? Want to play an important role in using technology and wrangling data to help our communities use what we know about the natural environment more effectively? Would you like to be a Biodiversity Data Officer at TVERC?

About us

TVERC collects, analyses and shares biodiversity and geodiversity information in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. This helps people make sound decisions about how to develop and manage land sustainably, where to direct wildlife conservation work and for scientific education and research. See www.tverc.org.

About the role

In your role as Biodiversity Data Officer you will collect, validate, and manage our species, sites and habitats data. Much of this is geospatial and you and the TVERC team will use it to provide services to our customers to help their decision making. You will support the day to day running of our data search and licencing service, often dealing with more complex queries and analysis.

You will maintain excellent data standards alongside maintaining and developing tools and processes to ensure high levels of data quality and consistency throughout the data lifecycle including acquisition, storage, analysis and presentation. 

Supporting and working closely with the Biodiversity Data Assistant, Biodiversity Data Officer and Data Managers, much of the role is about making sure the day-to-day processes work efficiently and reliably and deliver accurate and timely insights to our clients. Some of your time will also be spent delivering specific internal and customer projects. We are keen to seek and implement improvements to our data platform and services, and this role will take a key role in taking this forward. We are always looking to extend the types and volumes of data we can hold and use, and you will use your skills and experience to make our systems support these.

We are a small team and work with a range of volunteers. You will need to work well with them providing some support and assistance in making full use of our systems and data. Many of the projects we work on with our customers use the data in new and innovative ways, this role will help the team extend our possibilities.

About you

You love working with data especially related to wildlife, nature and the environment. A confident user of Geographic Information Systems and must have extensive experience using and managing ecological and geospatial data. Your great general IT skills will extend to being very confident using both SQL and R, and it is likely you will have experience with using other programming languages and tools to work with data. You understand the importance of the quality and accuracy of data and insights, enjoying taking action to ensure these are assured in your work.

You must enjoy collaborating as part of a small team but be confident to work independently. Comfortable taking ownership of problems and being resourceful and creative in resolving them. As the quality of our data and services are critical you will have very good attention to detail, be conscientious, methodical and accurate in your approach.

You may well spend some of your spare time involved with wildlife or recording groups and understand the ecological and planning contexts of our services.

Rewards and benefits

• Competitive salary from £33,366 to £39,513
• Annual leave allowance starting at 30 days per year (plus bank holidays)
• Pension – up to 19.9% employer contribution
• Flexible working – agile working policy
• Electric car benefit scheme, cycle to work scheme
• Staff discount scheme for a range of retailers, holidays, insurance, restaurants, health and leisure activities, and rail travel

Would you like to know more?

Please see the bottom of the page to view the Job Description and Selection Criteria.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Steve Wilkes (Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre Director) at Steve.Wilkes@Oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Application Procedure

To apply, you will need to complete an online application form. This includes a section asking you to explain how you meet the role requirements, as specified in the job posting. In addition to your CV, you may also attach a cover letter to your application form; however, it is not mandatory.

If you are shortlisted, you will be required to complete an exercise in your own time. This will involve using your skills to cleanse, synthesise, analyse and present environmental data. You will need to submit the code used, the results and a description of your methods, in advance of attending an interview. 

During the interview you will be required to deliver a presentation, explaining the methodology you used in the exercise, what you found and how this might be useful to TVERC and their customers.

The details of the exercise and presentation will be shared with candidates if they have been shortlisted.

Initial interviews will be with a panel from TVERC and are expected to last for approximately one hour.

Our commitment to:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At Oxfordshire County Council we are proud of our diverse workforce. Everyone is accepted for who they are, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, faith or belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or on maternity or family leave. We have a number of staff network groups which provide peer support, education and safe spaces for all.

Our commitment to:
Guaranteed Interview Schemes

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job. We also guarantee interviews to care leavers who have completed further education and who meet the essential criteria for the job. For those leaving care without any further education, we guarantee an interview for our apprenticeships. We are also committed to helping and supporting those transitioning from HM Armed Forces to civilian life and guarantee an interview for those demonstrating the essential criteria for the role, within three years of leaving the service.

Our commitment to:
Safeguarding

Oxfordshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect these commitments.

Our commitment to:
Flexible Working

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which can include flexi-time, full time and part time working, job sharing, nine-day fortnights and annualised hours, depending on the requirements of the role and the service.

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If you encounter any technical issues with the application system, please contact us at: careers@oxfordshire.gov.uk