Vacancies at Blue Ventures

Responsibilities

• Provide oversight and leadership for the development and delivery of technical support, guidance, training and mentoring to partners and Blue Ventures’ practitioners focused on the delivery of financial inclusion initiatives to support community-based fisheries management of coastal tropical fisheries
• Leading a “training and tools” approach by creating training materials, user friendly tools and freely available resources that build skills to enable partners to deliver participatory, community based financial inclusion approaches
• Working closely with the Data Science team to embed digital data collection as a central tenet for successful community-based financial inclusion with all our partners
• Building connections among partners across different geographies, with a particular focus on ensuring information, lessons learned, and best practices are identifie and proactively shared
• In close collaboration with the Technical Knowledge team, country teams and regional partners (e.g. NGOs, universities and government agencies), supporting partners to assess and fill their own capacity gaps by providing training programmes and technical guidance to improve their knowledge and practical skills and incorporate approaches and tools into their programming
• Ongoing development of Blue Ventures’ best practice principles for financial inclusion and its links to (through internal and external consultative processes) and ensuring training and tools are freely available and accessible to all
• Ensuring technical rigour on knowledge products, reports and other external documents relating to financial inclusion and ensuring adaptation and evolution of strategies and approaches where needed
• Championing the documentation and sharing of financial inclusion learning internally and externally, to elevate the importance of community-based management as a critical path to safeguard livelihoods and protect coastal ecosystems.
• Championing Blue Ventures’ mission at relevant events and identifying opportunities for partners and colleagues to do so as well
• Cultivating a dynamic and supportive network within the financial inclusion sector Contributing to Blue Ventures’ organisational development by representing financial inclusion work and progress with partners and donors

Skills and experience

Required

• A postgraduate-level qualification or equivalent experience in a relevant natural resource management, conservation, social science, or economics discipline, especially political economics, development studies, or development finance
• Strong understanding and at least five years of practical experience implementing pro-poor finance (microcredit, fintech, cash transfers and/or savings and loans programs) to support small holders and/or producers, ideally in fisheries
• Substantive experience co-designing financial inclusion models with multiple partners for small-holders and/or producers, ideally in fisheries
• Previous field support to SMEs to develop organisational financial management capacity and access to financial services through a “learning by doing” or other participatory approaches
• Excellent research, analytical and technical writing skills
• Highly organised with an eye for detail
• Ability to take initiative and solve problems quickly
• Excellent skills in communication of complex information to a diverse range of stakeholders
• Ability to work well as part of a multicultural team demonstrating empathy, adaptability and diplomacy skills
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office, Google Apps, and social media tools (Facebook,
• Twitter, Instagram and Google plus)
• Willingness to travel and spend time in remote and challenging environments for an extended period

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Summary job description

We are currently recruiting an experienced and innovative Spatial Data Developer to strengthen our evolving operations supporting our Spatial Data team. They will work closely with the Head of Spatial Data, data scientists and engineers across the larger Data Science team, and other stakeholders to ensure that spatial data is accessible, reliable and effectively visualised. The Spatial Data Developer will focus on strengthening our spatial data pipelines as well as designing and implementing user-friendly front-end interfaces to support decision-making in small-scale fishing communities and across the organisation. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), excellent organisational and critical thinking skills, and a passion for using data to drive meaningful change.

Responsibilities
Spatial Data Management

• Work closely with the Head of Spatial Data to design, develop, and maintain scalable spatial data pipelines for data storage, processing, and analysis
• Implement scripting and automation techniques within the pipeline to improve workflow efficiency and data quality.
• Monitor and troubleshoot data pipeline performance, ensuring high availability and reliability.
• Document data processes, systems, and standards to ensure knowledge sharing and compliance.
• Ensure non-spatial users can easily contribute to and access spatial data from the system
• Organise and maintain PostGIS database, ensuring consistency, quality and version control
• Collaborate with data scientists, GIS analysts, and other stakeholders to understand data system needs and deliver efficient solutions.

Tool Development

• Work closely with the Head of Spatial Data to build interactive spatial data tools or web apps using React, ArcGIS Dashboard, ArcGIS Web AppBuilder, R Shiny, Felt, Tableau, or Mapbox
• Design intuitive, user-friendly, secure interfaces that facilitate data exploration from multiple perspectives, enhancing decision-making processes.
• Ensure that tools are tailored to the needs of small-scale fishing communities and decision-makers across the organisation.
• Continuously optimise the tools for performance, scalability, and user engagement.

Skills and experience

Required

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Data Science/Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in designing and implementing scalable data architectures, and developing map-based data visualisation tools.
• Expertise in using tools such as React, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Dashboards, ArcGIS Web AppBuilder, Tableau, QGIS, SQL, R, and Python for spatial data processing, automation and visualisation
• Solid understanding of spatial and non-spatial relational databases and Structured Query Language (SQL) such as: SQL Server, Oracle, Esri SDE, PostGreSQL, and PostGIS extension
• Experience with API development and integration, ensuring smooth data flow between tools and systems
• Strong problem-solving skills, capable of troubleshooting and resolving technical issues quickly.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to work across teams and engage with stakeholders to gather requirements.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality tools.
• Willingness to travel internationally as required.

We would also love to see

• Some knowledge of marine ecology, fisheries science, and marine spatial planning
• Experience of the small-scale fisheries, marine conservation or rural development sectors, working with institutional partners, conservation and development sectors.
• Competency in French, Portuguese or Bahasa

You will be a great fit if

• You show a commitment to Blue Ventures’ mission and values, evidenced by a high level of personal and professional integrity, humility and humanity.
• You demonstrate a strong bias for action and comfort with the uncertain; you are motivated to move forward, make decisions, and finalise details quickly once information is available.
• You’ve shown a willingness and ability to challenge the status quo creatively and productively.
• You have an analytical mindset and orientation toward measurement, outcomes and continuous improvement and learning. You value in others, and yourself, data-driven and consultative decision-making.
• You think critically and put a high value on offering and receiving constructive feedback and criticism.
• You’re a natural relationship builder and have a proven ability to work collaboratively with others in a complex organisation, demonstrating professional curiosity, team building and facilitation skills. You enjoy collaboration and have a genuine interest in learning from and developing others.
• You are a passionate professional combining strong leadership skills, patience, and a humble approach.
• You’re able to engage people’s energies, hearts and minds in service of a mission.
• You use exemplary interpersonal skills to establish relationships of trust and influence
• You’re detail-oriented and compliance-minded; you enjoy dotting i’s and crossing t’s
• You demonstrate excellent organisational skills, an ability to marshall resources, and continually improve systems and processes.
• You show self-motivation, flexibility, and the ability to work and thrive in a fast-paced, energetic, entrepreneurial environment.
• You’re trustworthy in managing sensitive situations and information; you are discrete, professional, and possess excellent judgement
• You are comfortable with a playfully professional workplace culture.