Our client the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are currently accepting applications for the position of Scientific Officer I (Level 3) Land Evidence.
Overview of the Role:
The successful candidate will fulfil the role of Scientific Officer I (Level 3) Land Evidence. The EPA will form a panel from this recruitment campaign from which future Scientific Officer I (Level 3) Land Evidence vacancies may be filled. The post will be based in EPA Headquarters Wexford working in the EPA Office of Evidence and Assessment.
Reporting Arrangements: The appointee will be assigned a technical role reporting to the Senior Manager or other designated officer and will be a member of a multi-disciplinary team.
Key Responsibilities will include:
- Leading on the development of a land evidence hub to support the EPA’s monitoring, assessment, and regulatory functions. This role will include both the creation of new land evidence (landcover maps, land use maps, land change assessment etc) and the sourcing, collation, integration, and analysis of land evidence from external data providers.
- Engagement with EPA teams to discover opportunities for the gathering and application of land evidence and to understand their specific requirements for land mapping data.
- Assessment of the ICT infrastructure required to support a land evidence hub for the EPA (data creation, storage, analysis, and modelling) and working with the EPA ICT team to deliver this infrastructure.
- Participation in European Environment Agency Eionet Land Systems group as the EPA representative.
- Engagement with the development of Copernicus Land Monitoring System (CLMS) products: in 2025 this specifically includes the management of the delivery of the Corine 2024 map and Corine 2018 – 2014 change map. It also includes verification of Copernicus products, input to the specification of CLMS products and developing practical use cases for CLMS and other Copernicus products in the EPA.
- Identifying opportunities to use land mapping and earth observation techniques to support environmental protection and delivering projects to exploit these opportunities, either through the commissioning of EPA funded research projects or via the management of contracted resources.
- Participation in national groups such as the Land Evidence Forum and the Land Use Review Technical Working Group.
General duties may include
- Developing and implementing work programmes, engaging in relevant EPA cross-office activities, and other EPA events.
- Collaboration and engagement with internal and external stakeholders
- Managing and leading staff and contractors, including budget preparation, management and control.
- Supervising, leading, motivating and developing staff through a performance management and development system (PMDS).
- Engaging with the public, the media and various outside bodies.
- Undertaking such other duties as maybe assigned from time to time.
Essential Requirements:
Candidates must have on or before 4pm on Wednesday 8th January 2025:
- An appropriate degree (NFQ Level 8) in Science, Geography, Mathematics or Engineering or a relevant post graduate qualification (NFQ Level 9).
- A minimum of five years’ work experience including one or more of the following:
a. Delivery of land mapping projects such as landcover or land use map development.
b. Use of the CLMS products in environmental protection applications.
c. Development and delivery of earth observation projects in environmental protection applications.
d. Use of image classification and/or spatial data analysis techniques to identify land cover, land use or land change.
3. Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to convey complex technical and/or environmental information in a clear and concise manner to a range of audiences.
4. Excellent stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to identify opportunities and deliver results with internal EPA teams and external stakeholders.
5. Proven track record in delivering as part of a high-performance team and sharing technical knowledge and expertise
Desirable Requirements:
- Experience in the use of analytical tools such as Python, R or similar.
- Experience of the use or development of image classification algorithms/tools.
Eligibility to Compete and Certain Restrictions on Eligibility
Eligible candidates must be:
(a) A citizen of the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA consists of the Member States of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway; or
(b) A citizen of the United Kingdom (UK); or
(c) A citizen of Switzerland pursuant to the agreement between the EU and Switzerland on the free movement of persons; or
(d) A non-EEA citizen who has a stamp 4* or a Stamp 5 visa;
*Please note that a 50 TEU visa, which is a replacement for Stamp 4EUFAM after Brexit, is acceptable as a Stamp 4 equivalent.
The EPA will use the essential and desirable requirements to shortlist candidates and scoring will be based on the information contained in the application form for the role of Scientific Officer I (Level 3).
Applicants must demonstrate, by reference to specific achievements in their career to date that they possess the qualities, skills and knowledge required for the role of a Scientific Officer I (Level 3) as identified in the ‘Essential requirements’.
The EPA will convene an expert board to carry out the competitive stages of the selection process to the highest standard of best practice.
In addition to the specific requirements set out above, candidates at interview must be able to demonstrate that they possess the required competencies identified for effective performance as set out in Appendix A:
Required Competencies
• Team Leadership
• Interpersonal & Communication Skills
• Customer and Stakeholder Focus
• Management & Delivery of Results
• Judgement, Analysis & Decision Making
• Specialist Knowledge/Expertise and Self-development
How to apply:
Application Forms and Candidate Information Booklets are available from the careers section on the EPA website https://www.epa.ie/
Please note that cover letters and CVs are not required and should not be submitted. Only applications submitted by email on the official EPA application form for this competition will be accepted. Applications will not be accepted after the closing date and late applications will be ineligible for consideration. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have allowed adequate transmission time for receipt of your application. Applicants must ensure they retain a copy of the email submitted to including the date and time in case of any queries. Canvassing is prohibited.
Application forms must be completed and sent to [email protected].
Important Note: Closing Date for Applications is 4.00pm on Wednesday 8th 2025