Job Systems Operator, Earth Observation Data Hubs

Geoscience Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Cultures, and to elders past and present.

About us
Geoscience Australia is Australia's pre-eminent public sector geoscience organisation. We are the nation's trusted advisor on the geology and geography of Australia. We apply science and technology to describe and understand the Earth for the benefit of Australia. We apply our diverse professional expertise, our deep and trusted knowledge, our national-scale Earth observation infrastructure and our strong partnerships, to the opportunities and challenges that face our nation.

Our culture
Our strength lies in our people, including our diversity in backgrounds, skills and experiences, and the way we work together to respond to the emerging needs of our work. We value diversity in gender, backgrounds, culture, and experiences of our employees and are committed to providing an inclusive workplace culture that ensures everyone has equal opportunity to contribute, participate and progress. Applications from people who reflect this diversity are encouraged.

Our workplace is committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees and offers a variety of flexible working arrangements to enhance flexibility, including remote working arrangements.

What we can offer you
When you work at Geoscience Australia you will have access to a range of benefits and the opportunity to experience a workplace culture that truly values and promotes diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging. To learn more about our competitive salary, free onsite parking, generous flexible working arrangements and the role you can play in growing our culture click here.

The key duties of the position include
The opportunity
The Australian Government has announced it will partner with the United States in its flagship Landsat Next Earth satellite program. Underpinned by new investment of $207.4m over the next 4 years and $38.2m per annum ongoing, Australia will become the first country to join the Landsat 2030 International Partnerships Initiative.

Australia's contributions to this partnership will be delivered by Geoscience Australia and will involve investment in new science to take full advantage of Landsat Next's advanced capabilities, including an up to nine-fold increase in spatial resolution for key bands, more than twice the number of spectral bands, and increased frequency of data collection. Geoscience Australia will also deliver significant improvements to our satellite ground station in Alice Springs, our data processing and distribution, quality assurance and integrity monitoring, and Digital Earth and Digital Atlas capabilities.

Our team
The Satellite Land Imaging Collection Branch (SLIC) will be at the forefront of Australia's delivery of the Landsat Next partnership. A small but rapidly growing branch, SLIC comprises experts from a range of disciplines including data science, engineering, programmatics, Earth observations and remote sensing science, quality and technical assurance.

SLIC will deliver the enhanced satellite ground segment including an upgraded Alice Springs ground station, expanded satellite data processing and delivery architectures, new quality and integrity monitoring systems and science, supported by robust partner and stakeholder engagement, integrated systems engineering, governance, and program management.

The role
The Data Quality Officer will monitor satellite data hubs and processing systems performance and perform testing, quality assurance and analysing business intelligence on these systems. This role provides project support by undertaking regular administrative duties in order to produce effective operations, timely and comprehensive outputs and adherence to required standards. The successful applicant will have knowledge and experience in HPC environments, preferably linux-based, as well as cloud-based and hybrid computing and including scripting (python essential, other languages desirable), batch processing and scheduling, PostGIS/PostGres and APIs.

To be successful in the role you will:

• Have a commitment to fostering and contributing to a positive and inclusive culture within your team and workplace.
• Have a passion for technology and continuous improvement.
• Be able to work as a member of a team and provide technical support to assist project implementation, but also work autonomously, with support where required.
• Regularly monitor dashboards and inboxes to respond to issues, as well as collating and reporting on information received.
• Assist in processing data from satellite data hubs into systems.
• Apply your technical experience to provide advice and support to the SLIC Data Operations Team.
• Establish relationships with key stakeholders from other divisions, agencies, and organisations.

Required skills, knowledge, experience and/or qualifications

• A relevant degree and/or experience in Information Technology.
• Experience in a number of the following technologies (or similar) is required:
• Cloud and High Performance Computing environments.
• Modern programming languages, e.g. in Python, JavaScript.
• Software development practices, e.g. Agile, DevOps or other.
• DevOps software tools such as Ansible, Github and Docker.
• Familiarity with Spatial Science, Remote Sensing and/or GIS technologies would be highly desirable.
• Experience with Microsoft Power BI or Grafana visualisation tools would be beneficial.

Are you unsure about applying?
Did you know that a Hewlett Packard internal report found that men apply for jobs when they meet an average of 60 per cent of the job requirements? Women and other people from diverse backgrounds tend to only apply when they check every box. If you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single point on what we are looking for, please still apply or get in touch with the contact officer to learn more about the role.

To Apply
Please visit the careers page of our website to submit your application via our e-Recruit system. Your application should include:

• Your resume (no more than 3 pages)
• A brief statement (no more than 700 words) outlining your transferable skills, experience and capabilities related to the role and the value you would bring to Geoscience Australia.

If you have any questions regarding the role, please contact Michael Hope on +61 2 6249 5834 or email Write to the company

To learn more about applying for roles within the Australian Public Services please review, ' Applying for an APS job: cracking the code'.