Statistical Data Analyst

Part of the Forestry Commission family, Forest Research is a world leader in applied forest science, providing evidence and practical solutions to policy makers, forestry practitioners, land managers and anyone with green space, UK-wide. With climate and biodiversity in crisis, and an increasing number of pests and diseases, our research is more vital than ever before. We advise on how woodlands can help combat climate change. We’re identifying tree species that will thrive in the future and ways of safeguarding those species at risk. Our research supports UK timber production because fewer imports reduce carbon emissions. We provide data on forests in Scotland, Wales and England, and provide evidence of the societal benefits of woodland. We do all this working collaboratively with academia, partners and industry, nationally and internationally.

The Forest Information and Statistics team is a multi-disciplinary team including statisticians, spatial analysts, data scientists and others. There are 3 teams within Forest Information and Statistics, covering National Forest Inventory scheduling and mapping, National Forest Inventory analysis and outputs, and Statistics. Together, they are responsible for overseeing data collection and providing analysis and support to a range of internal and external customers and for producing a range of analytical outputs, including official statistics and the National Forest Inventory.

The purpose of the job is to contribute to policy development, monitoring and evaluation of sustainable forest management by supporting analysis and provision of advice on economic aspects of forestry. The postholder will also support Forest Research’s Official Statistics team in ensuring compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Key Work Areas:

• Working with the project lead on the development of statistics on timber utilisation to support the timber in construction roadmap, by consulting on requirements, identifying data sources and developing a methodology to produce statistics on the use of wood fibre.
• Using R and/or SAS to process data and test methodology for statistics produced as part of the Official Statistics outputs and timber utilisation.
• Supporting the economic lead with the collection and management of data on economic aspects of forestry (annual surveys of the UK timber industry and other data sources) by carrying out data cleaning and compiling reports using their outputs.
• Working with other members of the team to carry out quality assurance of Official Statistics and the methods used to produce them to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
• Attending cross-departmental groups with the economic lead, such as the Expert Group on Timber & Trade Statistics, to stay up to date on discussions that have an impact on the statistics produced in the team.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Please apply at Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK

You will be asked to:

• Complete a CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years
• Submit a Personal Statement – limited to 500 words
• Provide a 250 word statement for each of the three listed Behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Communicating & Influencing and Working Together We will use this information to assess your application against the essential criteria in the person specification.

Shortlist

The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the Essential Criteria set out in the Person Specification. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Sift is planned to take place week commencing 5th October 2026

Interviews are in person at Alice Holt, Farnham and Northern Research Station, Roslin in week commencing 19 October 2026

If we receive a large volume of applications, then we will sift on CV (Experience) and the lead behaviour Delivering at Pace.

Applicants invited to attend for interview will be required to prepare a presentation. The topic is : 'Describe a piece of work you have undertaken to carry out statistical analysis including the methodology you chose, how you handled the data, explaining your analysis to a non expert audience. Further instructions will be provided to candidates shortlisted for interview.

At interview stage you will be assessed on your experience, your presentation and the following 3 behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Working Together and Changing & Improving. The presentation will be evaluated against the essential criteria advertised.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Forest Research which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Visa Sponsorship

FR holds a licence to sponsor Skilled Workers under the Home Office points-based immigration system. Candidates wishing to apply should note that the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship would depend on an assessment of this role against defined criteria, which include:

o Whether the Job role has been identified as being a Critical Role in FR, which has been identified in the Workforce Plan, and / or

o Whether the Job role is a known Capability gap, which has been identified in the Workforce Plan for the relevant Centre, and

o Evidence of significant recruitment challenges in filling the Job role previously

Skilled Worker sponsorship may be available, subject to an application and assessment process and the Home Office points-based system.

For further details, please refer to the Sponsorship for Skilled Workers – guidance for applicants and managers on our website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.