Marine Technician

Reporting to: Senior Scientist
Salary: £30,000 – £38,000 (Grade 3)
Contract: Fixed-term until Dec 2026 (ongoing subject to funding)
Hours of work: Full time, 35 hours per week, flexible hours, to include weekend and bank holiday working as required.
Location: Project Seagrass Headquarters, Unit 1 Garth Drive, Brackla Industrial Estate, Bridgend, CF31 2AQ (with regular travel and fieldwork required across the United Kingdom)

Introduction

Project Seagrass is an environmental charity devoted to the conservation of seagrass ecosystems through community, research and action. Our mission is to lead societal change to enable the recognition, recovery and resilience of seagrass ecosystems globally; that provide biodiversity, equitable and sustainable livelihoods and planetary life support.

The successful candidate will play a key role in a variety of marine ecological activities associated with seagrass restoration, supporting and leading fieldwork both from shore and boat, acting as subject matter expert and technician for marine technology such as our ROV, USV and sonar. The individual will be solutions driven with the ability to organise complex field logistics and have a passion for marine technology, presenting a friendly Project Seagrass face to all volunteers and partners. The successful candidate will be comfortable working long hours on fieldwork regularly throughout the year along with assisting with routine laboratory tasks. With good data management, analysis and report writing skills, they will work professionally to support the wider Project Seagrass and aligned research projects. The preferred candidate would benefit from having Welsh language skills.

Purpose of the role

The research technician provides operational support to the organisation in the undertaking of its core activities associated with the RESEARCH, ACTION and COMMUNITY aspects of the charity’s aims and objectives. They act as lead technician and subject matter expert for monitoring technology such as ROV, USV and sonar.

Key duties & responsibilities:

Essential

• Provide logistical and marine biological support for all Project Seagrass UK marine field operations including intertidal, boat- based and diving work
• Ensure all teams embarking on fieldwork are adequately resourced and provisioned, are provided appropriate accommodation and transport, and operation-specific equipment is available
• Lead on the charity’s technology-based operations for fieldwork and survey expeditions, ensuring all equipment is properly maintained, and fieldwork staff are suitably trained to utilise.
• Co-ordinate with volunteers and external partners to ensure cohesive logistics planning and project/objective delivery.
• Manage and supervise junior staff assigned to support delivery of fieldwork.
• Create and maintain policies to ensure the smooth running of fieldwork operations and marine technology
• In collaboration with project leads, ensure all required licences, permissions, insurance, risk assessments and other documentation as required in legislation is complete
• Manage health and safety processes such as near miss and RIDDOR.
• Research and stay up to date with developments that can impact fieldwork including, but not limited to weather, etc
• Collaborate with science leads, the Skipper & Boat Officer, Mapping and other stakeholders to ensure all equipment and operators are available as and when required
• Responsible for the reporting of all operational activities andn projects and ensuring accurate and up to date records are maintained of work undertaken
• Responsible for maintaining and developing systems of monitoring that can capture and analyse performance data to track progress of projects
• Collect, analyse and summarise environmental data including GIS mapping

Preferred

• Act as Project Seagrass’ HSE Dive Contractor
• Ensure that diving activities are undertaken in a safe and efficient manner to HSE Scientific Diving ACOPs and that all diving operations follow Project Seagrass relevant Standing Operating Procedures
• Maintain all diving equipment and dive store. Keep equipment and dive store maintenance records
• Be self-motivated, apply and use initiative and seek guidance when needed
• Conduct the job role and all activities in accordance with safety, health and sustainability policies and management systems
• Promote equality and diversity in working practices and maintain positive working relationships.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria Values

• Demonstrable evidence of working with marine technology
• Ability to work together in an environment of equity, trust and respect
• A commitment to improving the environment and acting in a responsible environmental manner

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in marine biology, environmental science, oceanography or related fields.

Essential experience

• Practical experience working with marine technology such as sonar, ROVs and/or USVs
• A minimum of two years’ experience of operational and logistic support
• Field experience of UK marine systems

Knowledge and skills

• Leadership skills, always leading by example
• Detail oriented, self-motivated with strong research and data analysis skills
• Proven ability to engage and work both independently but also collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including community organizations and policymakers.
• Knowledge or proficiency of data analysis, GIS and/or R software
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience in report writing and public presentations.

Desirable

• HSE diving experience
• Boat handling ability or experience working onboard boats.
• Experience operating in the charity, conservation or third sector in the UK
• Ability to speak Welsh
• Seagrass knowledge/experience

Additional Information

All applicants will need to have an existing right to work (visa) in the UK. Applications are invited based on a 2-page CV and 2-page covering letter by email to emma.p@projectseagrass.org. Informal enquiries are welcome and can be directed to Celia Marlowe via email: celia@projectseagrass.org