ACCLIMATISE Senior Conservation Seabird Scientist

We are seeking a Senior Conservation Seabird Scientist to join the RSPB’s Conservation Science team. This offers an opportunity to work at the cutting edge of seabird tagging, tracking and monitoring and research and policy in Northern Ireland.  Funded by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body, A Changing Climate Impact Monitoring and Assessment Toolbox for Irish SEas (ACCLIMATISE) is a €7.1M, cross-border project, led by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute. The post-holder will be working for RSPB who are one partner in this multi partner project.  

What’s the role about? 

The ACCLIMATISE project will fill evidence gaps for the seas around Northern Ireland and border counties. You will work alongside other scientists specialising in seabirds, dietary analyses, cetaceans, fish and different marine trophic elements.  This role will manage a field worker but will also require some field work and some time away from home.  The role will require excellent communication skills and ability to represent RSPB when working with a wide range of people, whether within RSPB, with partner organisations, when working on Rathlin and with representatives from the fishing industry.

This role will deliver:

• Safe fieldwork to tag and track seabirds from Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland.
• Data from Rathlin on seabird foraging areas and flight behaviour.
• Samples for seabird diet analyses.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues from the British Trust for Ornithology, to publish outputs from seabird tracking.
• Deploying passive acoustic monitoring devices on Rathlin.
• Producing a report mapping the risk of seabird by-catch in the seas around Northern Ireland and border counties.
• Co-operative production of cross border seabird action plans and seabird strategy.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience: 

• Expertise in trapping seabirds and fitting different types of tags, particularly GPS. A BTO ringing licence with seabird tag fitting expertise and endorsements.
• Knowledge of health and safety training and procedures necessary for fieldwork at seabird colonies at high cliff sites in potentially challenging environments.
• Knowledge of data downloading from tagged seabirds, collating and working with seabird tracking data.
• A PhD in a relevant subject (e.g. seabird ecology) with a practical and analytical focus, or equivalent experience doing relevant research.
• Methodical and rigorous approach to data collection, management, ensuring results will pass peer-reviewed standards of scrutiny and audit, demonstrated by having published previous work in peer reviewed journals.
• A driving licence valid for use in the UK.
• Self-motivated and able to work efficiently under pressure to meet deadlines and prioritise your own working schedule. This necessitates the ability to plan and organise your own work.

Desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Experience of recruiting and managing staff.
• Knowledge of spatial analysis including relevant statistical techniques. Proficient in R and in ArcGIS to allow standardised data management and analyses of spatial tracking data.
• A skilled communicator, with the ability to use a range of mediums to influence others and engage with different audiences, often with opposing perspectives
• Experience of cooperative working relationships with external stakeholders
• Knowledge of seabird by-catch risk and mapping and building relationships with the fishing industry.
• Experience of co-producing reports equivalent to species action plans and strategies.

This is a Fixed-Term Full-Time role for 37.5 hours per week until 31st December 2028. The role will start no earlier than 1st January 2026. The RSPB reserves the right to extend or make this role permanent without further advertising dependent on business needs at the end of the contract term.

We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 17th November 2025. For further information please contact [email protected]

As part of this application process you will be asked to  complete an application form including evidence on how you meet the skills, knowledge, and experience listed above.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Before applying for this role, we recommend reading through the candidate guidance notes.