Project Description
We seek to appoint an ambitious and creative Associate to undertake an exciting and challenging Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project in collaboration with Scottish Water. The successful candidate will develop analytical tools to uncover causal trends in past water quality failures and develop predictive models to support planning of efficient interventions. This project is important because it informs strategic and operational decision making within Scottish Water, and will influence opportunities for savings and service improvement.
The Associate should have strong mathematical modelling skills and have, at least, an MSc in Operational Research, Management Science, Industrial Engineering, Statistics, or related discipline. Candidates should be interested in problem-solving and enjoy making sense of complex data. The Associate will have a generous training and development programme, and the opportunity to develop and embed market leading technology in one of Scotland’s largest companies; contributing from day one to their ambitious asset management strategy that will impact every household and business in Scotland. Scottish Water is a publically owned company, answerable to the Scottish Parliament. Its job is to provide 1.3 billion litres of drinking water every day and take away 840 million litres of waste water daily. It has 5 million customers and employs 3,400 people. Details about the company can be found at http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/.
The Associate will work closely with the support and guidance of a team of analysts based within the Scottish Water Analytics Team, as well as with the academic supervisors, Professor Lesley Walls and Dr Matthew Revie. The Associate will also have the opportunity to work towards management qualifications through the KTP programme as well as to register for a higher degree through the Department of Management Science within Strathclyde Business School. The Department of Management Science is one of the UK’s leading OR departments, with a reputation for impactful research and renowned MSc programmes in Operational Research and Business Analysis & Consulting. Details about the department can be found at http://www.strath.ac.uk/mansci/. During the recent Research Excellence Framework, Strathclyde Business School was ranked #1 in Scotland, and #5 in the UK.
The successful applicant will be based at the Scottish Water’s new state of the art office in Stepps, just outside Glasgow. Although this is initially a 24 month post, the company sees huge potential for the successful candidate to progress to a permanent post within the company.
Main Activities/Responsibilities:
- Engage with key stakeholders to understand problem complexities and uncertainties
- Design and undertake data analysis to explore and understand causal trends in historical water quality
- Review methods currently used to inform development of conceptual predictive model for water quality
- Develop conceptual statistical models for water treatment system and identify appropriate case studies for implementation
- Refine predictive analytics model for implementation, verification and validation through multiple case studies
- Prepare reports for senior management within Scottish Water to inform future implementation of developed tool
Person Specification
Educational and/or Professional Qualifications
(E=Essential, i.e. a candidate must meet all essential criteria to be considered for selection, D=Desirable)
E1 Masters degree in Operational Research, Management Science, Engineering, Statistics, or related relevant discipline.
Experience
E2 Ability to analyse large complex data sets and make meaningful interpretations
E3 Ability to engage with stakeholders to structure complex problems.
D1 Ability to develop statistical models to solve complex industrial problems.
E4 Use statistical or mathematical software packages such as R, SAS, Matlab, etc.
E5 Ability to problem solve
E6 Planning and managing projects to successful completion
Job Related Skills and Achievements
E7 Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to listen, engage and persuade, and to present complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences
E8 Ability to work independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary and/or cross-disciplinary team
E9 Ability to work under pressure and driven to deliver results
Personal Attributes
E10 Open and willing to undertake new challenges and learn new skills
Salary Range: Up to £28k + £4k personal development budget
Contract Type: Fixed Term (24 months)