Python Developer (with environmental sustainability focus)

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The role

We are looking for a Python developer to a) work on building and improving our environmental impact assessment models and b) help us integrate our model libraries with existing tools that farmers and food companies use.

These models are supporting farmers and food companies to reduce their environment impacts at the global level. From 2024 we will be conducting an international experiment to assess how much our models - integrated into farm tools - reduce the environmental impacts of farms, enabling us to quantify the effects we are having.

Hestiais a scientific University-based project, focused on developing the underlying science and technology to shift the global food system towards greater environmental sustainability.

This role is for an 18 months self-employed/freelance consultancy contract initially, with the option for renewal.

Responsibilities&Duties

• Write and maintain environmental models written in Python.
• Support other software needs across the Hestia stack in Python.
• Build reliable and resilient software.
• Anticipate scalability and performance issues.
• Ensure code quality through tests, in accordance with good practices; Participate in code reviews.
• Be a force of technical and functional proposals.

Essential skills and experience:

• Expertise in Python.
• Experience with environmental modelling (particularly using Life Cycle Assessment) or a desire to develop industry-leading knowledge in this area during the project.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Experience with Gitlab CI-CD.

Why work on the Hestia project?

• Mission:Our project aims to reduce the environmental impacts of the global agricultural system through science, data, and technology. Your abilities in these areas will directly contribute to helping solve environmental and food security challenges.
• Team:You will work with environmental scientists and software developers in a world leading University. You can find out more about our team on theOxford Martin School website.
• Collaborations:We collaborate with different departments in the University, with agricultural research organisations, and with businesses in the food supply chain.
• Flexibility:We are based at the Oxford Martin School in the centre of Oxford, but many of our team work remotely across Europe.
• International Projects:Our projects involve partnerships with international organisations and field trials in countries worldwide.
• Long-Term Funding:We have been funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) since 2019, and are now funded by the Login5 Foundation, WWF, DEFRA, Wellcome Trust, and Ardevora Charitable Trust.
• Our research:Data and methods underpinning Hestia were published in Science in 2018, and these data have been widely used by the media (e.g. the BBC, New York Times, and the Guardian), in policy documents (e.g. the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report and the UK's National Food Strategy), by NGOs (e.g. WWF and the WRI), and by Our World in Data. Our team's research has been published in Nature, PNAS, BMJ, Biological Conservation, amongst other journals.

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