Canine Science Associate

The Canine Science Associate helps people with sight loss to live the life they choose by providing the organisation with robust and valid evidence and insights within the areas of canine behaviour, reproduction and health as required by Guide Dogs and as advised by the Head of Science Programme and Senior Canine Science Associate.

The role will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of Guide Dogs' welfare, breeding, training and service provision programmes and operational effectiveness. The role will also support and develop the working relationships, practices and partnerships with the Canine Science team’s external and internal partners, customers and interfaces. Depending on specific project needs, the post may involve working in close association with external organisations who are carrying out approved canine science activities on behalf of Guide Dogs.

This role will be based on site at our Guide Dogs National Centre office, working closely with a team of specialist professionals. You’ll be working 35 hours per week, worked 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

We offer a generous pension scheme, annual leave, life assurance and enhanced pay for parenting and sickness leave. In addition, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme, flexible benefits package and discounts and cashback scheme to care for our people.

More details can be found in the attached candidate pack and job description.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

Diversity

Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality.

We encourage applications from people with disabilities as they are currently under-represented in the organisation and guarantee an invitation to interview for all applicants with disabilities who demonstrate, within their application form, sufficient evidence to meet the essential criteria for the job.

Safeguarding

Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

Candidate requirements

To be able to fulfil this role, the skills and experience we are looking for in a potential candidate include;

Essential

• Post-graduate degree in animal or biological sciences or a relevant field.
• Experience of designing, undertaking and managing a number of scientific research projects.
• Considerable experience in the fields of animal or biological sciences.
• Experience working in an applied research role.
• Experience of analysing and interpreting data, communicating scientific research results to a variety of audiences and drawing actionable insights from scientific research data.
• Experience of applying relevant scientific research methodologies.
• Experience of working with stakeholders and third party suppliers to deliver scientific research projects and insights.
• Experience of quantitative analysis including gathering, extracting and analysing large and complex data sets.

Desirable

• Proven experience in the specific area of canine science.
• Experience presenting at conferences and/or submitting articles to high quality publications.
• Experience of machine learning.
• Experience of working in the third sector.

For the complete list of essential and desirable criteria necessary to be successful in this role please see the Person Specification within the Job Description below. The candidate pack contains more information about this role & the recruitment process at Guide Dogs.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. We cannot provide sponsorship for this role.

How to apply
If you have any accessibility issues, please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or recruitment@guidedogs.org.uk.

Applications need to be made using the online application form, accessed using the ‘apply’ button above.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description.

The system has a one-hour time limit. We would advise you to prepare your answers separately and then copy and paste into the online form once finalised.
If any mandatory fields are missed, a pop-up box will appear at the top of the page advising which sections require completion.

Please note that you’ll have to upload a CV as this is a mandatory requirement as part of our Safer Recruitment Policy.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If there is not enough space in your application form to provide this information, please ensure you upload additional documentation containing the additional detail.