Esther Githinji
- @EstherGithinji
- | She/Her
WILDLABS
Fauna & Flora
About the Organisation
Connected Conservation Foundation is a small charity. They exist to protect and restore wildlife and natural ecosystems, supporting local education and communities through technology. By uniting the collective capabilities of local partners, technology leaders and conservationists, they apply digital solutions to solve local wildlife challenges and bring benefits to both wildlife and people. CCF has nine long-running projects across Kenya, South Africa and Zambia, with solutions to help stop poaching, environmental destruction and human-wildlife conflict.
About the Role
Location: Based remotely in either: the UK, South Africa or Kenya
Contract: Two-year permanent contract / Part Time (Ideally @ 3 days a week, with some flexibility to increase)
Key Contacts: Sophie Maxwell, Executive Director
Salary: Commensurate with experience and geographic location of the applicant
This role requires a passion for wildlife conservation, sustainability and environmental stewardship, coupled with a strong affinity for innovative technologies, through research and the identification of potential funding opportunities that could enhance the work of our community-based field partners.
Proficiency in a range of technical competencies is essential, encompassing GIS, remote sensing, telemetry, machine learning and cloud technologies. Daily responsibilities will encompass the creation, delivery and support of solutions within these domains.
Responsibilities & Duties
- Build engagement with new partners to understand their project requirements and how CCF and their corporate partners can help.
- Work with specialists across organisations to define problem statements, use cases and input into solution development.
- Provide support to conservation organisations and scientists designing data collection, data analysis and interpretation of complex datasets to enable data-driven decisions.
- Manage acquisition, collection, analysis and troubleshooting of GPS, GIS and remotely sensed data to support our partner’s projects and decision-making.
- Bring a solid foundation and experience in managing, building and using machine learning and modelling pipelines.
- Work to continually advance data analytics solutions and your own expertise. Staying abreast of new Machine Learning techniques and remote sensing approaches to address environmental challenges.
- Manage CCF’s data infrastructure, software licensing, and data and GIS-related computing resources.
- Review data collected from fieldwork and other projects and summarise data in reports, documents, presentations or other methods.
- Work with CCF's Communications and Fundraising Manager to produce visually compelling data visualisations and summaries for fundraising, grant proposals, donors and communications activities.
- Communicate with local communities, field teams, rangers, technology partners and conservation stakeholders to determine needs and explain any technical issues.
- Help field partners install any new technologies, access data and test new solutions.
- Support and consultancy for conservation field teams on technical improvements, related to GIS, remote sensing and Data Analytics.
- Help monitor and diagnose technology and equipment problems, helping to resolve issues.
- Support training of users on best practices.
- Log overseas donated equipment licenses for conservation partners.
Eligibility Criteria
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in geoinformation, computer science, data science or a similar-related field.
- At least two years of GIS and/or data science experience, ideally with a focus on ArcGIS.
- Experience with remote sensing analyses related to ecosystem change detection.
- Experience managing and analysing complex datasets and databases
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate with diverse geographic and technical backgrounds.
- Attention to detail, with excellent follow-up skills to see projects and research to completion.
- Self-learner and self-manager, with a start-up inquisitive mindset who loves problem-solving.
- Proficient in excel, word and ArcGIS.
- Desirable but not essential is experience with drones for wildlife and ecosystem surveys.
Application Details
Please send your CV and Cover Letter to i[email protected]
Application Deadline: Monday 13 November, 2023
Interviews will take place in December 2023.