Digital Livestock Scientist

Date: 24 Jan 2025

Location: Armidale, NSW, AU Brisbane, QLD, AU

Company: CSIRO

Acknowledgement of Country

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The opportunity

 

  • Develop and utilise digital technologies to drive livestock research forward
  • Tackle industry challenges in sustainability and animal health, nutrition, & reproductive efficiency
  • Advance your career with CSIRO – Australia’s National Science and Innovation Agency!

 

CSIRO Agriculture and Food (A&F) integrates world-class multidisciplinary science, technology, and facilities, alongside valuable IP and global networks, to create healthier, safer, and more sustainable food and fibre for the future. Our ‘Livestock and Aquaculture’ research program focuses on revolutionising breeding, health, monitoring, nutrition, production, and sustainability in the livestock and aquaculture sectors.

 

Within this broader program, our ‘Digital Livestock’ team employs a diverse array of digital technologies (motion sensing, geolocation, video data, computer vision) coupled with commercial technologies and environmental sensing infrastructure to advance livestock research. We focus on areas like sustainable production, animal nutrition, animal health and welfare, and reproductive efficiency.

 

As a Digital Livestock Scientist, you will bring your expertise to tackle industry-specific challenges and expand CSIRO’s digital livestock approaches, ensuring productive and responsible livestock farming in an ever-changing environment. You will:

  • Develop, manage, and support existing & emerging digital technologies.
  • Implement innovative features and contribute new data sets.
  • Collaborate closely with domain experts in algorithm development, software & hardware design, and delivery.

 

We are seeking passionate animal scientists with skills in coding, informatics, or data sciences; or data scientists with a strong interest in animal production systems. Expertise in computer vision and/or multi-modal data processing will be highly valued. If this sounds like you, apply now to join a supportive team dedicated to making a real impact!

 

Applications are invited across two capability levels, and the successful candidate will be appointed at the level commensurate with their skills and experience. Please refer to the Position Description for more details.

Your duties will include:

  • Incorporating novel approaches to scientific investigations by adapting and/or developing original concepts and ideas for new, existing, and further research, with a focus on boundary spanning, trans-disciplinary approaches.
  • Working closely with colleagues and industry to develop impact-focused digital technologies.
  • Developing data flows to augment the annotation, integration, and analysis of diverse data, in collaboration with Data61 data scientists.
  • Applying advanced data science workflows for integration of multi-modal data streams.
  • Utilising data science strategies to analyse and evaluate data, and managing data curation, storage, and data sharing in accordance with best practise guidelines.
  • Producing high quality scientific and/or engineering papers suitable for publication in quality journals and for presentation at national and international conferences.
  • At the higher CSOF6 capability level, additional duties would also include leading & taking responsibility for research projects, and providing leadership to technical staff and students.

 

Location: Armidale NSW (preferred), or Brisbane QLD  may be considered

Salary: AU$114K – AU$153K pa + up to 15.4% superannuation (across two capability levels)

Tenure: Specified Term of 3 years; Full-time

Reference: 98764

To be considered you will need:

Applications would be assessed according to the Selection Criteria listed below and the level they’re met, and the successful candidate will be considered/appointed at the capability level commensurate with their skills and experience, as assessed by the Selection Panel.
 

  • A PhD (or an equivalent combination of qualifications and research experience) in a relevant animal science or data science field.
  • Demonstrated understanding of animal production and/or livestock farming systems. 
  • Broad understanding of agri-food systems and an interest in deepening knowledge of current global and national issues.
  • Demonstrated experience in the development of digital workflows, including data annotation.
  • Demonstrated experience in data science and statistical analysis, coding and/or related analytical methods, and expert usage of statistical software packages, such as R.
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate scientific content clearly and effectively to a range of audiences.
  • A demonstrated publication history of authorship on scientific papers in peer reviewed journals and/or reports, grant applications or inventorship on patent applications.
  • Demonstrated ability to initiate and undertake original, creative, and innovative research by generating and pursuing novel ideas and solutions to scientific research problems.

 

For full details about this role please review the Position Description.

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to all candidates – Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents, or candidates who either hold, or are able to obtain, a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term (visa sponsorship and relocation assistance may be provided to the successful candidate if required).
 

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Flexible working arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

 

CSIRO is committed to values-based leadership to inspire performance and unlock the potential of our people.

 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to apply

Please apply online, and provide a CV and a detailed cover letter, responding to each of the selection criteria in detail, that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role. Please attach your selection criteria responses to your cover letter as one document.

Applications close

28 February 2025, 11:00pm AEDT