Geologist/Acoustician - Ocean Environment Scientist

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Geologist and/or Acoustician to apply their scientific and data programming/analysis expertise across a range of marine environmental data to support the development of world leading products and services for the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO).

About UKHO

UKHO is an executive agency, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence. We work with a wide range of data partners to chart the world's oceans in order to develop and serve world leading software and data solutions to commercial shipping companies, navies and maritime organisations.

UKHO customers require professional advice and a range of situational awareness products, providing information about the marine environment to assist in their planning. To support this, the Ocean Environment Team, within the Scientific Analysis Group, acquires data from a variety of sources and analyses this data for subsequent use.

The role

As an Ocean Environment Scientist you will advise on the use of environmental data to provide an assessment of the environmental conditions likely to be encountered by our customers.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Keeping abreast of developments in marine environmental data and analytical techniques and developing a network of contacts throughout the scientific/NGO community to do so
• Undertaking analysis of spatial data to create representative descriptions of the expected marine environmental conditions for our customers
• Developing a good understanding of the customers need for and use of environmental information to inform development planning
• Producing technical reports to record methodology

What we are looking for

You will need a postgraduate qualification in geology/acoustics, including experience of working within these fields (e.g. Marine Geology, Marine Geophysics, Underwater Acoustics) and will be confident in spatial data analysis and its application to marine environmental data.

You will also need demonstrable experience of computer programming skills in either one or more of the following: R, Python, Matlab, as well as the ability to adapt to other programming languages e.g. Fortran.

Good working knowledge of geospatial software packages (e.g. ArcGIS, QGIS) and experience with applied geophysical modelling is equally important.

The ability to apply skills in data programming/data analysis to meet the evolving needs of our customers is also key to success in the role, as is a genuine desire to work collaboratively as part of a small, dynamic team.

And in return?

UKHO is a great place in which to explore your career potential and offers a wealth of training and development opportunities. While our projects are career-defining, the work/life balance that we can offer you is equally exceptional. From flexitime, flexible working, an award-winning office environment, wellbeing schemes, a generous annual leave allowance, and access to MOD and Civil service discounts, the opportunities open to you here are hard to beat.

The role will be contractually based at our office in Taunton. We have embraced hybrid working, recognising it is about what you bring to the role and deliver, not where you work from. Based on the individual needs of your role, you may need to be in the office.

For a full job description, including the competencies you will be assessed on in your application, please click the apply button.  

Closing date: Apply before 11:55 pm on Tuesday 11th October 2022.

UKHO embraces diversity and promotes inclusion and equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident employer, which includes offering a guaranteed interview to candidates with disabilities, providing they meet the minimum selection criteria.