Geospatial Data Engineer Job Description
Job Purpose: To enhance MapAction’s data processing and automation capabilities
Location: Remote but based in the United Kingdom.
Salary: £36,000- £40,000 per annum, subject to experience
Contract: Full time, substantive position for 12 months. Start ASAP.
Reports to: Head of Data & GIS
The Opportunity
Are you a Data Engineer eager to use your skills to help people in humanitarian crises? At MapAction, you can do exactly that.
We are offering an exciting opportunity for a Geospatial Data Engineer ready for their next challenge in a fast-paced, dynamic humanitarian response organisation. You’ll join our Technical Team to support the delivery of geospatial data processing and automation projects, working alongside an incredible community of expert volunteers and colleagues.
In this role, you’ll contribute to four core areas of MapAction’s mission: emergency response, preparedness, anticipatory action, and training. These are at the heart of everything we do—and we’d love for you to be part of it.
Why MapAction?
MapAction is a leading humanitarian mapping charity delivering information services and products to enhance decision making in disasters and conflicts. In collaboration with our partners, this mapped information helps responders understand vulnerabilities and target their response effectively, contributing to saving lives and minimising suffering. We work through a team of skilled volunteer professionals and a small paid staff team.
We have built a strong reputation in the humanitarian sector and are a technical partner of the United Nations and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, as well as Non-Government Organisations such as World Central Kitchen. MapAction increasingly focused on helping Civil Society Organisations, regional entities and national ministries.
The humanitarian sector is evolving, and technical expertise such as GIS, mapping, information management, data processing and visualisation are becoming increasingly utilised for improving decision making in complex humanitarian response. MapAction and our partners are uniquely positioned to provide technical expertise in support of this.
We have an exciting and ambitious new strategy which will see us help reduce vulnerability in emergencies for those at greatest risk through supporting local technical and emergency leadership and promoting the exchange of well analysed data. A particular area of focus will be on the use of Anticipatory Action prior to an emergency.
What will you do?
You will be expected to conduct and automate data processing (extraction, transformation, loading) from various online sources. Requirements will be defined in collaboration with MapAction staff, volunteers or partners. Working with external partners such as UN agencies, NGOs and Disaster Management Agencies is a key part of this position.
Main Responsibilities
- Conduct and automate data collection and processing scripts
- Create and maintain optimal, performant data pipeline architectures, both internally and externally
- Propose improvements to infrastructure, schemas, platforms, toolchains and configurations
- Ensure find-ability. availability, scalability, reproducibility, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of all data-products
- Assist in the automation, provision and management of development environments, source-code, build-tools, pipelines and deployments
- Support ad-hoc Data Processing during MapAction’s Emergency Responses in collaboration with MapAction’s GIS Coordinator and Volunteer team
- Support data-related project scoping in collaboration with MapAction’s Head of Data & GIS
- Support internal systems maintenance and administration in collaboration with MapAction’s IT Support Engineer
- Engage with MapAction’s Volunteer team on data-related projects
- Support development of Data Engineer and Data Science training materials in collaboration with MapAction’s Head of Capacity Building and Volunteer team
What are we looking for?
If you feel you are a good match but do not feel like you meet all the requirements, we are still happy to receive your application!
The core skills we look for in all of our team members are the following:
- A desire to use their skills, experience and dedication in the cause of humanitarian ends
- Good team player with leadership and/or project management experience or ambition wherever possible
- Exceptional communication skills, to explain your work to people who don't understand the mechanics behind data analysis, and experience in understanding partner needs and requirements, in particular working with non-technical clients
- Adaptable, resilient and solution-oriented
- Self-motivated and organised
- Ability to improvise solutions for emergency response teams
Essential:
- Degree or equivalent experience in the field of Data Science, Data Engineering, Computer Science, Software Development, Information Technology or a related field
- At least one year of professional experience working in the area of data engineering
- Experience and proficiency working with Python and Jupyter Notebooks
- Experience working with geospatial data (raster and vector)
- Databases (NoSQL, SQL, Graph Dbs, Principles of RDBs)
- Data pipeline design skills
- Knowledge of cloud platforms like GCP, AWS or Azure
- Experience and understanding of CI/CD pipelines
- Collaborative code management using Git & GitHub
Desirable:
- Experience with QGIS or ArcGIS
- Experience with Systems Engineering
- Understanding of the Software Development Life cycle (preferably Agile)
- Thorough grounding in containerisation e.g. Docker, Kubernetes
- Shell scripting
- Experience with BI
- An interest in software-engineering or data-science e.g. ML / DL / AI / Statistics
- Project management experience
- Humanitarian knowledge/experience
Additional Information
- This is a remote position and you will be expected to attend some weekend training events throughout the year (camping at various venues around the UK). Travel expenses are paid and reasonable time off in lieu provided.
- This is a full time position for 12 months with a possible extension to be confirmed end of 2026
- Required to work remotely and to attend team days near the MapAction office in Oxfordshire at least 6 times a year, at own expense
- 30 days holiday (pro rata) with a workplace pension and also paid training opportunities to help further your career
- Must have the right to live and work in the UK - MapAction is unable to consider candidates who do not already hold appropriate permissions and can not help facilitate a relocation
- Part time of 4 days a week will be considered, please state when applying if you would like 4 or 5 days a week.
- Contract may be extended if additional funding is secured
This is an important role in a small, highly specialised charity and an appreciation of, and affinity with the humanitarian purpose of the charity is essential, as well as a willingness to take up additional tasks outside of the normal role when needed.
Equal opportunities policy
MapAction is an Equal Opportunities employer. All employees have a personal responsibility to promote and support measures designed to create a working environment which is free from harassment or discrimination on the grounds of gender, marital status, age, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, membership of the Traveller community of HIV & AIDS status. MapAction also positively encourages women and those from the BAME community to apply.
How to apply:
Please provide a CV and cover letter that sets out how you meet the required competencies for the role, this is a mandatory requirement for this position. All applications should be made via our website and GoHire. Deadline for applications is 5th January 2026 however we are running a rolling recruitment and will interview any suitable candidates as soon as they apply.