Application deadline: Wednesday, 18 September 2024 – 23.45

Location:  Cambridge, UK (hybrid working)

Full Time : 35 hours per week

Contract: 1 year fixed-term contract, with potential for extension

Salary: £28,000 - £31,000 per annum (dependent on skills and experience), plus competitive 12% pension benefit

Annual Leave : 25 days pro rata per annum in year 1, increasing by 1 day p/a to 28 days

BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation partnership. Through our unique local-to-global approach, we deliver high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

BirdLife works actively with governments and the energy sector to ensure that the environmental impacts of energy development are fully considered and minimised. With our partner organisations, we have developed a range of decision-support tools and guidance materials to aid the nature-safe deployment of energy infrastructure.

We are now seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and experienced Spatial Analyst (Seabirds & Energy) to support our scientific work on the impacts of energy infrastructure on seabirds, with a particular focus on the spatial assessment of avian sensitivity to offshore wind turbines.

How you will do this:

• Support the development of the Avian Sensitivity Tool for Energy Planning (AVISTEP https://avistep.birdlife.org), used to inform nature-safe siting of renewable energy and powerline infrastructure, with a focus on the marine sensitivity mapping for offshore wind development.
• Work with the team on methodology development, data collation, and spatial data handling and analysis.
• Collaborate with various stakeholders (BirdLife partners, academics, researchers, web developers, energy developers, and financial institutions).
• Assist in acquiring and processing tracking data for the Seabird Tracking Database; solicit and input new datasets and manage data requests.
• Conduct research on the impacts of energy infrastructure on birds; develop strategies to mitigate these impacts.
• Represent BirdLife at scientific and policy forums; promote BirdLife’s science and best practices in energy development.
• Participate in CMS Energy Task Force, academic conferences, workshops, and stakeholder meetings.
• Provide support and contribute to the Marine Programme as needed.

Ideally you will have:

• Masters’ Degree (or equivalent relevant experience) in a biological or environmental subject.
• Specialist knowledge of advanced spatial analysis including relevant statistical techniques.
• Experience in the practical use of GIS (preferably ArcGIS) and programming (preferably R) is essential.
• Excellent knowledge of the collation and analysis of tracking data, preferably seabirds.
• An understanding of the use of spatial data in conservation and planning.
• Strong scientific background with a comprehensive understanding of scientific project design, literature review, mathematical computation.
• Good knowledge of global biodiversity conservation issues and specific knowledge of seabirds and marine ecology.
• A good understanding of the issues surrounding energy infrastructure and its potential impact on birds and other wildlife would be desirable.
• Experience of literature review and report writing.
• Experience of forging and maintaining relationships with stakeholders would be desirable.
• Experience in using species distribution modelling would be desirable.

See the full job description here.

Some of our benefits:

• We are able to offer a hybrid model of working on-site and from home/remote for most roles, which helps to ensure a flexible work-life balance.
• A chance to work in the award-winning David Attenborough Building, which brings together much of the Cambridge-based conservation community on a ‘conservation campus.’
• A generous pension scheme, up to 12% company contribution.
• Holiday starting at 25 days excluding Bank Holidays and increasing for every year of service up to a maximum of 28 days.
• Full access to LinkedIn Learning with access to more than 13,000 high-quality, on-demand courses.
• Employee Assistance Programme, including access to Health Assured online health portal (webinars, nutritional advice, 4-week programmes, financial wellbeing and more).

BirdLife values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Find out more about our Diversity statement.

We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture, a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. We aim to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.

We will consider putting into place appropriate reasonable adjustments for candidates who may have a disability.

Please note: under the UK Government criteria this role will not qualify for Skilled Worker Visa sponsorship. There are some exceptions around level of degree and/or age at application, please get in touch if you need further information.

Interviews: Interviews will be held week commencing 07 October 2024.