Bird Island Science Manager in Cambridge

Location: Cambridge

Salary: Band E S2 £52,907 - £58,198

Closing date: 18 May 2026

Interview date: 4/5 June 2026

Background/Overview:

Purpose: To manage the long‑term monitoring and targeted research projects on higher predators (seals, albatrosses, penguins and petrels) at Bird Island. This includes management of Bird Island: including infrastructure, databases, purchasing, equipment, development of new technologies, public outreach, permits, risk assessment, liaison with Operations, Corporate Services, Science etc. recruiting, directing and supporting the 6 zoological field assistants; managing the bird ringing and tracking programmes; managing and developing the long‑term monitoring and demography databases; personal scientific research as lead and in support of other members of Ecosystems and external collaborators; applying for external grants as PI or Co‑I; publishing papers as lead or co‑author in peer‑reviewed journals. The post holder will also be required to provide specialist support across the Ecosystems Team and other science teams in BAS.

Duties:

• Manage the science infrastructure at Bird Island.
• Equipment purchases.
• BAS management committees and meetings relating to Bird Island.
• Permit applications and reports (PEA, South Georgia RAP, AWERB).
• Risk assessments.
• Lead annual recruitment of new Bird Island Zoological Field Assistants.
• Manage training of the Bird Island Zoological Field Assistants.
• Manage the Bird Island Zoological Field Assistants in the field.
• Manage the bird ringing programmes.
• Manage and develop the predator demography databases and data‑entry systems.
• Ecosystems representative on NPRAM.
• Public outreach (including web pages) for the long‑term predator monitoring programmes.

Scientific Research:

• Lead targeted research projects generating primary science outputs in seabird and marine mammal research.
• Deliver a key piece of software or key dataset or publish on average at least one first‑author paper per year in a high‑quality journal.
• Contribute on average to two or more papers as co‑author per year.
• Develop grant applications (including NERC standard grants or equivalent as PI or Co‑I) to undertake innovative predator research, with a strong focus on Bird Island.
• Generate proposals for development of innovative technical systems and capital equipment bids for predator research.
• Code bespoke extracts from the long‑term demography and tracking databases for BAS and external collaborators.
• Manage the Predators Argos tracking programs.
• Provide specialist IT, data science, analysis and support to the Predators team, PhD students and Polar Data Centre.
• Maintain/build web pages and associated data feeds for tracking studies.

Skills, Qualifications and Experience:

Essential:

• Experience of research on ecology of birds or mammals.
• Experience of publishing in high quality academic journals.
• Knowledge of marine ecosystems.
• Good first degree or Masters in biological or environmental sciences.
• PhD in biology, ecology, marine science or related field.
• Proven experience of managing and querying relational databases.
• Demonstrable ability to report, analyse and interpret ecological data.
• Proficient in R, MS Office.
• Experience of managing staff, and of planning and management of research programmes and budgets.
• Proficient in written and spoken English.
• Ability to make effective decisions both independently and by consensus.
• Demonstrable ability to work cooperatively as part of a team.
• Good interpersonal skills required for engagement with scientists, collaborators, operations, public and other stakeholders.
• British Trust for Ornithology ringing permit (C or full A).

Desirable:

• Experience of predator research on remote Antarctic/sub‑Antarctic islands.
• Expertise on higher predators or predator‑prey interactions in marine ecosystems.
• Experience of securing funding for research or associated infrastructure.
• Experience of analysing tracking data.
• Knowledge of SQL or other programming languages; ARGOS data management; web page development; GIS.
• Experience of recruiting staff; remote management of staff.
• Experience of working with multiple stakeholders.

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re‑run security clearance as required during the course of employment.