Job Profile

EMSO ERIC is seeking candidates for the position of Data Officer at the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMSO ERIC) in Rome, Italy.

The successful candidate will have a strong background in data science, data engineering, data curation, and data management in geosciences/marine science. The selected applicant will be responsible both for supporting existing efforts and for the development and administration of new metadata, data management, and documentation standards which maximize the ability of EMSO ERIC to archive, understand, and use multi-phenomenological data across many projects and scientific fields.

There will be opportunities to work with many complex data sets which span multiple scientific areas and to provide guidance/leadership for identifying, exploiting, and developing data-centric techniques across multiple scientific domains. This work may include collaborative efforts with EMSO ERIC Regional Facilities and domain specialists to identify data sources of interest, structure data, and develop methods enabling data harmonization, delivery, fusion and product generation.

The successful candidate will work closely with the EMSO ERIC Director General, EMSO Officers and other boards of the consortium to facilitate the deployment of the EMSO ERIC work programme. A component of these efforts will be coordinating with project teams to
pursue competitive funding opportunities.

Position responsibilities and tasks

  • Develop and maintain data and metadata management standards facilitating curation, use, re-use, quality, access, security, and preservation of data.
  • Promote ease of understanding, use, and exploitation of distributed, heterogenous, multi-phenomenological datasets.
  • Provide expertise regarding data and metadata standards and standard methodologies in geoscience/marine science, including: physical, seismic, biological, imagery, etc.
  • Act as liaison among EMSO ERIC Regional Facilities, Data Management Service Group, providing support in the execution of the Annual Work Programme to Service Group leader and other stakeholders, facilitating data collection, data and metadata management, data usage, and data exploitation.
  • Maintain an appropriate workflow for taking stewardship of the EMSO ERIC data lifecycle.
  • Create and review technical and user-focused data management documentation.
  • Recommend and implement appropriate mechanisms for sharing different categories of critical and controlled data.
  • Demonstrate leadership in forming and maintaining productive working relationships with the EMSO ERIC stakeholders.
  • Understand the requirements of the EMSO ERIC user’s community and support their data-related needs and execute plans according to FAIR principles.
  • Analyze applicable trends in the industry and explore new approaches to solve technical problems, including engineering and standardization issues related to (meta)data management.

The successful candidate will routinely interact with people of diverse backgrounds and nationalities from within and outside the EMSO ERIC organization, so interpersonal and communication skills are necessary.

The job allows international visibility and exposure to European and international scientific bodies in marine research in a multicultural and stimulating professional environment and can provide additional opportunities for the candidate’s professional and technical growth.

Required qualifications and competences

  • Bachelor’s degree in the above-stated fields experience; OR an applicable professional certification showing with relevant technical and analytical experience, for all the cases a minimum experience of four years.
  • Documented experience in marine data and metadata management and curation for at least four years.
  • Broad experience collecting, processing, organizing, curating, and analyzing datasets, with a preference for working with large multi-disciplinary datasets.
  • Experience with fundamental principles of metadata and data management best practices, with a strong preference for experience with creating data management plans.
  • Low supervision needed, takes the initiative in monitoring and troubleshooting issues that arise.
  • Demonstrated and presentation skills to engage technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Fluent in written and spoken English (Minimum c1).

Desirable Skills and Competencies

  • Demonstrated experience working with time series data formats and metadata standards for at least four years.
  • Knowledge of marine research infrastructures, instrumentation, and research campaigns data.
  • Ability to work in data integration and harmonization according to FAIR principles, and generate data products.
  • Knowledge of triple stores and semantic queries.
  • Proficiency in Italian or other European languages.

Personal Attributes Desired for the Position:

  • Strong interpersonal abilities.
  • Strong teamwork skills.
  • Ability to work also under pressure.
  • Highly motivated, precise and rigorous.

Working Conditions

  • The main place of work will be the EMSO ERIC Headquarters in Rome, Italy.
  • Work can be occasionally requested online during some weekends and holidays.
  • Work development might occasionally fulfil deadlines with short notice.

Selection Procedure

Application

Applicants should send:

  • A CV along with a covering letter as a single PDF document summarizing her / his relevant experience and expertise and motivations for applying to the EMSO ERIC vacancy .
  • Names and contact information of at least two relevant references.

Applicants must declare to have a clean criminal record.

Interview

The selected candidates will be notified and invited to participate to an interview to be held either in person or online. During the interview, the candidate will also be asked to carry out hands-on tests to assess his/her technical competence.

Application deadlines:

Applications should be submitted any time until 31/12/23, and will be subject to quarterly assessment of the received candidatures. The candidatures should be sent by email to recruitment@emso-eu.org, addressed to the Director General of the EMSO ERIC, with the
following subject heading: “2023 Data Officer Vacancy”.

  • Any specific enquiries about this job posting should be sent to recruitment@emsoeu.org, specifying the term of the sought position.
  • The outcomes of the selection are expected to be communicated to candidates on a quarterly basis
  •  Applications for the position are encouraged from citizens of the European Union and Associated Countries.

More information about this opportunity, can be found here.