Applied Data Scientist ID:4849


Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Salary:	£34,765 to £34,765 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	YO41 1LZ
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	28 Aug 2026
Closing date:	15 Sept 2026

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Summary

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and also works on behalf of the Scottish Government and Welsh Government. Our diverse teams of over 3,000 skilled and committed professionals come together to provide research, advice and support to UK Government for safeguarding animal, public and plant health for the benefit of the environment and economy.

APHA is a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, because it helps us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We are dedicated to being an inclusive employer, offering equitable opportunities for all individuals. Our goal is to build a diverse workforce, and we hope to attract applications from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups.

APHA are seeking a highly motivated and enthusiastic Applied Data Scientist with an interest in wildlife epidemiology and management to join our Numerical Sciences Team. This is an exciting opportunity to work at the interface of ecology, data science and policy, supporting projects that inform real-world management and evidence-based decision-making.

Our remit includes identifying, managing, and controlling incidents and outbreaks of endemic and exotic diseases and pests in animals, plants, and bees. We provide unique capabilities and an evidence base for UK government, together with international reference responsibilities. The APHA Wildlife Department is a nationally important centre for wildlife disease management with multidisciplinary skills in epidemiology, statistics, and field ecology. The successful applicant will bolster the department’s role supporting Defra’s policy making and disease outbreak response activities.

You will play an important role in managing, analysing and interpreting complex ecological, environmental and geospatial datasets, providing analytical support and advice across a diverse portfolio of projects relating to wildlife and disease-risk management. Working closely with colleagues from a range of disciplines, you will help deliver scientifically robust, operationally practical and data-driven analytical solutions, improve data workflows, and generate evidence that supports project delivery and decision-making.

This role offers a varied mix of responsibilities spanning data science, geospatial analysis, evidence synthesis, operational service delivery and research support. It would suit someone who enjoys working with challenging datasets, developing efficient and reproducible workflows, evaluating analytical methods and applying data-driven approaches to solve environmental and ecological challenges. Opportunities also exist to contribute to innovative research, evidence synthesis and model quality assurance activities. You will help develop robust, efficient, reproducible analytical methodologies and workflows that improve our understanding of wildlife populations, movement ecology and disease transmission dynamics.

Key Responsibilities

Provide analytical and technical support across a range of wildlife management, surveillance and applied research projects.
Develop, implement and maintain reproducible data workflows that support the collection, processing, analysis and reporting of project data.
Develop automated solutions to improve the efficiency, consistency and reproducibility of data management, analysis and reporting activities.
Produce data visualisations, dashboards and analytical outputs that support evidence-based decision-making.
Work collaboratively with colleagues to understand project requirements and identify practical approaches to delivering analytical outputs.
Communicate analytical findings clearly through reports, presentations and data products suitable for both technical and non-technical audiences.
Contribute to the development of analytical capability, data literacy and good analytical practice across the National Wildlife Management Centre (NWMC).

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