Job Description

Salary

The starting salary will be from 33,482 on Grade E, depending on qualifications and experience.

Contractual hours

36.5

Package

Generous holiday allowances, flexible working, pension scheme and relocation package (if applicable).

Job category/type

Technicians and Laboratory Staff

Date posted

04/08/2025

Job reference

Q07520

Technical Strategy and Operations

This new full time post is available from1 October 2025 on a fixed term basis until 31 December 2026.

This position could be an opportunity for an internal secondment, with approval from your current line manager.

Summary of the role

A Technical Specialist is required to work alongside Dr Alan Puttock and colleagues within the Geography department on a range of hydrological monitoring projects seeking to understand whether natural flood management or other nature-based solution and landscape restoration interventions have the potential to provide hydrological resilience.

The candidate will help monitor and quantify the impact of Natural Flood Management (NFM) Interventions in Devon as part of the Devon Resilience Impact Project (DRIP) alongside other similar projects across Southwest England. The role will involve an extensive fieldwork component to maintain and collect data from existing hydrological monitoring sites and undertake drone surveys to capture the structure of sites. The role will also involve a desktop component managing, quality controlling and processing hydrological and geospatial data collected during fieldwork. Whilst fieldwork and data analysis experience is essential, training will be provided for example to undertake drone surveys of study sites.

These research projects affords a unique opportunity to work with, and learn from, an experienced team utilising cutting edge methods to quantify hydrological functioning of NFM interventions at the site and catchment scale. The post holder will collect, process and analyse high quality hydrological monitoring data that meets the needs of project partners, including the Environment Agency and Devon County Council.

Please ensure you read the and Person Specification for full details of this role.

Organisational context:

The Research Services Division is a key enabler to the delivery of the University's Strategy 2030, the Research and Impact Strategy, successful REF performances, and meeting research income targets.

This role is within the Technical Strategy & Operations part of the Division. We are research and teaching technical staff across the entirety of the University of Exeter. We work in specialist areas across the University and beyond, undertaking and supporting research and teaching and promoting compliance and best practice, in the labs, studios, workshops, and field.

The service is comprised of a team of talented individuals who support our teaching and research, and in training the next generation of top scientists. Our technical roles, which include experimental officers, laboratory technicians and research technicians, all focus on different aspects of science and humanities - from mechanical/electrical engineering, medicine and health, life sciences, social sciences, film, drama & communications, physics, geology and geography, and so much more.

This post supports the

Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy

The Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy is a vibrant interdisciplinary community, dedicated to delivering world-class education and research that breaks new boundaries and has a positive impact on the world. We work across fundamental sciences, engineering and business to deliver on the University's Strategy 2030 to create a sustainable, healthy and socially just future.

We are one of the world's best universities in interdisciplinary environment and sustainability, founded on strong fundamental disciplinary research and education. The faculty is home to ten departments in physical and environmental sciences, engineering and includes the globally recognised, triple accredited University of Exeter Business School.

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking 2024). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our world-leading research impact has grown more than any other Russell Group university in recent years, and we are home to some of the world's most influential researchers, seeking to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today. More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and 47 percent is world-leading (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research - Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

We are committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community.

With over 30,000 students and 7,000 staff from 150 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN and Project Juno for Physics), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer.

We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and welcome applications from service people.

Benefits

We offer some fantastic benefits including:

41 days leave per year options for flexible working numerous discounts at leading retailers onsite gyms on all of our campus' and a cycle to work scheme sector leading policies around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay) and a Fertility Treatment Policy stunning campus environments in Exeter and Cornwall, in the beautiful South West of England

Further information

Please contact Please contact Alan Puttock (a.k.puttock@exeter.ac.uk)

We welcome applications from candidates interested in working part-time hours or job-sharing arrangements.

This role may be subject to additional background screening.

The University of Exeter is a proud supporter of the Technician Commitment, a charter focussing on the visibility, recognition and career development of our technical staff. For further information please see our website.