6018 - Senior Data Scientist - Living England Earth Observation Analyst and Project Lead

The Team is responsible for delivering Natural England's part of the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA). The NCEA is a transformative programme to understand the extent, condition and change over time of environmental assets across England's land and water environments, supporting the government's ambition to improve the environment within a generation. Data will come from Earth Observation, professional field data collection, citizen science and partner data sets. Natural England's Terrestrial NCEA delivery is organised into projects: 1. Mapping and Earth Observation- Spatial data and maps on natural capital to inform national and local decision making and delivery. 2. England Peat Map- Mapping the extent and condition of England's peatlands. 3. Field data collection- Data on habitats, soils, landscapes and species to understand the condition of natural capital assets. 4. Citizen science- Working with citizens and community science to fill gaps, provide local and landscape scale information and engaging the public. 5. Data mobilisation and integration and reporting- Making NCEA, partner and volunteer data available for analysis, integration and use, producing high quality evidence products by analysing and integrating NCEA data. 6. Programme management - Managing Natural England's NCEA programme. This role sits within Project NE1 - Mapping & Earth Observation - Living England. The Living England project delivers a satellite-derived broad habitat map using machine learning. Living England has developed a standardised methodology to be used for future iterations, but some elements require further development to improve accuracy. Furthermore, the development of change detection to assess change in broad habitat extent is planned over the next couple of years. This will include extensive field surveys to validate and improve the methodology used. Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment? If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature. The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:

• Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive.
• Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change.
• Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods.
• Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature, and Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing
We are the Government's Adviser for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government's 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment. Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england This is a pivotal role for the Living England project linking two elements of the projects work. As the project lead for Living England, your duties will include leading the whole team and ensuring overall tasks are completed and consistent across the field and technical teams. This will include project planning and reporting, quality assurance, technical leadership and managing individuals' tasks.