Physical Scientist II

Important messages

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Assessment accommodation

When you apply to this selection process, you are not applying for a specific job, but to an inventory for future vacancies. As positions become available, applicants who meet the qualifications may be contacted for further assessment.

The intention of this process is to staff multiple PC-02 positions for term and indeterminate appointments at various Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) locations across Canada. A pool of qualified candidates may be established and used to staff similar positions with various tenures, language requirements and security requirements within Fisheries and Oceans Canada anywhere in Canada where CHS offices are located.

Duties

While key activities may vary from position to position, in general, a Physical Scientist II employee is expected to:

• Plan, organize and undertake assigned scientific projects to create enhanced knowledge, concepts and methodologies in physical & environmental science.
• Provide scientific information, advice and recommendations to managers, researchers, colleagues and external clients on issues such as the conduct, methodologies, and the findings of scientific projects and investigations.
• Participate in the development of new instrumentation, methods, technology, quality control and assurance procedures, and protocols for the collection and analysis of scientific data.
• Develop open source coding to produce, deliver and show case e-navigation products.
• Lead or contribute to short-term projects such as multidisciplinary at-sea, field and laboratory studies.
• Maintain custody and safekeeping of scientific samples, sample archives, equipment and instrumentation, and scientific data and information in hard-copy and electronic format.
• Write and/or contribute to the preparation of scientific papers and reports within a specialized area of physical & environmental science, and as a team member in peer reviews of scientific manuscripts.
• Review and evaluate new knowledge and advances in physical & environmental science for relevance and to improve current practices, respecting the collection, management, statistical analysis and interpretation of data.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

A covering letter in 999 words (maximum)

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

EDUCATION
Graduation with a degree from a recognized post-secondary institution with acceptable specialization in physics, geology, chemistry, ocean sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science or some other science relevant to the position.

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience conducting scientific, technical or coding of computational tools work related to physical oceanography or other relevant environmental science. Graduation from a recognized post-graduate program in these areas may be accepted as work experience.
• Experience conducting quantitative analyses and interpreting data using statistical analytical techniques or tools associated with oceanography, limnology or environmental science or experience in developing software tools to conduct quantitative analysis and interpretation of data for environmental sciences.
• Experience using computer programming or scripting languages for scientific or engineering purposes.
• Experience preparing and writing scientific papers or technical documents.
• Experience mentoring junior staff or leading a field team.

ABILITIES
• Ability to provide advice and recommendations to clients, supervisors or managers.
• Ability to analyze and interpret scientific data and formulate conclusions.
• Ability to communicate orally.
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing.
• Ability to take initiative and use judgment in carrying out assignments
• Ability to adapt quickly to changes in priorities
• Ability to have effective interpersonal relationships
• Ability to be innovative in problem-solving
• Dependability

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements
• English Essential in Sidney, BC; Burlington, ON; Dartmouth, NS; St. John’s, NL.
• French Essential in Mont-Joli, PQ and Dorval, PQ.

Information on language requirements

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

EDUCATION
• Post-graduate degree from a recognized university with acceptable specialization in physics, geology, ocean sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science or some other science relevant to the position.
• Certificate/Diploma from a recognized post-secondary program with a specialization relevant to the duties of the position (e.g. qualifications related to geographic information science, ocean technology, geodesy).

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
• Experience conducting scientific work in oceanography, limnology or water resource management.
• Experience in operating tide, water level, and current instrumentation and data acquisition methods and systems.
• Experience related to tidal surveying and vertical datum checks.
• Experience with hydrographic data collection, instrumentation and procedures.
• Experience analyzing tidal and/or current data to create constituents for predictions, including quality control and processing of data.
• Experience using online project coordination tools such as, but not limited to, Slack and Trello.
• Experience using software version and control tools such as, but not limited to, GIT (e.g. GitHub, GitLab).
• Experience using scientific programing languages such as, but not limited to, Fortran, Matlab, R, Python, Shell, Perl, or SQL for the analysis of scientific data.
• Experience in scientific data management, database design (relational or non-relational) and query programming for the storage, analysis and access of scientific data types.
• Experience in using CARIS BDB software tools or similar.
• Experience with time series analysis both in time and frequency domains.
• Experience in utilizing and/or developing parallelized computer programs for shared or distributed CPU and memory computations.
• Experience in ocean circulation modelling.
• Experience working with small craft in coastal, lake or river environments.
• Experience working within a client and stakeholder service focused environment.
• Recent experience* using ESRI ArcGIS software for the mapping and manipulation of geospatial data.

* Recent experience means within the last 5 years.

Conditions of employment

Reliability Status security clearance

**Please note that not all Conditions of Employment may be required and are dependent on the positions being staffed**

• Medical fitness in accordance with requirements as prescribed by Health Canada.
• Valid driver’s license
• Willingness and ability to work flexible hours and overtime
• Willingness and ability to travel nationally and internationally.
• Willingness and ability to work in the field for up to 4 weeks at a time and up to 12 weeks per year as required.
• Willingness and ability to work from small aircraft or helicopters or small vessels in remote areas.
• Willingness and ability to work at sea for up to 12 weeks per year as required.

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

You must meet all essential qualifications in order to be appointed to the position. Other qualifications may be a deciding factor in choosing the person to be appointed. Some essential and other qualifications will be assessed through your application. It is your responsibility to provide appropriate examples that illustrate how you meet each qualification. Failing to do so could result in your application being rejected.

When answering the screening questions, the assessment board cannot make assumptions about your experience. It is insufficient to say that you have the required qualifications or to list your current or past duties. Rather, candidates must demonstrate how they meet the education and experience criteria listed in the job opportunity advertisement by providing clear and concrete examples.

Clear and concrete examples are defined as illustrations in which you fully explain the actions, considerations and steps you completed in order to gain the experience you are describing. This detailed, contextual information will be used by the board members reviewing your submission to assess whether you have sufficient experience in a relevant field. This is similar to what would be expected if you were asked to provide a concrete example of a particular situation in an interview. Such examples usually require a minimum of ½ page to describe and a maximum of 2 pages. In order to facilitate this process, you may wish to start your submissions with a sentence similar to: "A clear and concrete example of a situation where I did X is a situation which occurred on Y date and my role in this activity was to...".

Resumes will be used as a secondary source of information and to strictly validate the concrete examples you will have described in this tool.

Also, when reading the experience criteria for staffing processes, please pay close attention to action words contained within and ensure the examples you choose pertain to all of them. Similar attention should be given to punctuation and connector words such as "commas", "and" and "or" as these have a different function when used to describe an experience criteria. As such, action words or activities separated with a "," and connected with an "and" must all be demonstrated with concrete examples as in this case, they are all deemed essential by the hiring manager. Conversely, when action words or activities are separated with a "," and connected with an "or", candidates may provide concrete examples for only one of the activities listed in the criterion since.

For example, when responding to a criterion which reads: "Experience reading, writing and publishing instructions for a competitive process." you must provide concrete examples of situations where you read instructions, concrete examples of situations where you wrote instructions as well as concrete examples of situations where you published instructions for a competitive process. These may be part of the same example however, you must ensure to provide sufficient details to cover the three actions as they are all critical.

On the other hand, when responding to an experience criterion which reads: "Experience reading, writing or publishing instructions for a competitive process" you must provide concrete examples for a minimum of one situation where you either read, wrote or published instructions for a competitive process as experience in a minimum of one activity is critical. This being said, when this structure is used, you may also provide concrete examples for all action words or activities as this approach will provide board members with additional information to assess the breath of your experience.

Finally, if the examples you provide speak of experience that was acquired in a team setting, please be specific as to your exact role within this team as it is your experience the board will be looking to assess and not that of your team.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.