Data Manager

The Pirbright Institute delivers world-leading research to understand, predict, detect and respond to viral disease outbreaks. We study viruses of livestock that are endemic and exotic to the UK, including zoonotic viruses, by using the most advanced tools and technologies to understand host-pathogen interactions in animals and arthropod vectors. Our major strength in understanding the immune systems of livestock provides a platform to control current diseases and respond to emerging threats.

Organisation position and purpose

The Pirbright Institute is looking to recruit a Data Manager. This is a new role that will contribute to the expanding data capabilities of the Institute. It is primarily a service role but working closely with scientists and with opportunities for some research tasks, if that suits the person employed.

The data manager will contribute to the planning and be the main point of contact in data management related tasks. The post holder will be managed by science staff but will be working closely with IT on a number of the requirements, ensuring the data is managed in a safe and secure manner at all times with no impact to Institute activities and Network performance.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• Assist in devising an overall scientific data management plan for the Institute.
• Ensure the data management plan is implementable within the Institute's IT infrastructure, administration and policies.
• Discuss the data management plan with research groups and ensure they take advantage of the plan's provisions.
• Champion the FAIR data principles and funder (UCKR/BBSRC) data standards within the Institute
• Develop knowledge of suitable resources along with skills and coding automating the uploading of Institute data to public servers
• Organise the infrastructure (in collaboration with IT) and facilitate the exchange of Institute data with external collaborators.
• Contribute to the design and coding for automating data transfer tasks.
• Advice on suitable meta-data to accompany each type of dataset and ensure integrity of generated datasets.

Due to the nature of the work, all successful applicants will be required to go through a comprehensive screening process including reference and qualification checks, financial and security clearances.

Personal specification

• Results driven with a clear ability to drive and organise multiple projects.
• Good collaborative skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Able to problem solve and be creative in generating a solution whilst also able to perform the same activity in a consistent manner.
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Critical mind with good problem-solving skills.

Requirements:

Essential

• BSc/MSc or equivalent in computer science or relevant discipline, or practical experience in data management or similar work area
• Experience with data handling related concepts: data workflows, lifecycle, retention and management
• Experience in handling large datasets particularly biological datasets
• Experience or awareness of data management plans and their implementation
• Experience or awareness of FAIR data principles
• Experience with communicating data needs with a variety of stakeholders

Desirable

• Experience in audit and regulated environments would be a plus, as would be cyber security awareness
• Experience in working with diverse biological data types (ideally in livestock or immunity)
• Good oral and written communication skills
• Knowledge of Unix and Linux operating systems would be a plus
• Ability to work within, but not restricted by, an MS Windows IT environment
• Scripting in Bash and R or Python programming and versioning tools
• High-throughput sequencing data types