• Suva-based position (Fiji)
• Attractive expatriate package
• Join the principal development organisation in the region

Description

The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, supporting development since 1947. We are an international development organisation owned and governed by our 27 country and territory members. In pursuit of sustainable development to benefit Pacific people, our organisation works across more than 25 sectors. We are known for our knowledge and innovation in such areas as fisheries science, public health, geoscience, and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The Geoscience Energy and Maritime (GEM) Division provides advice, technical assistance, research and training support to Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). There are four (4) areas of scientific programming within this division:

1. Oceans and Maritime Programme (OMP) – assists member countries with services that provide applied ocean science and knowledge for evidence-based policy-making and technical solutions for improved ocean and maritime governance, management and capacity development.
2. Georesources and Energy Programme (GEP) – assists member countries by applying technical knowledge in the areas of geoscience and sustainable energy use.
3. Disaster and Community Resilience Programme (DCRP) – assists member countries to demonstrate strengthened resilience through integrated action on disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, natural resource management and increased access to water and sanitation.
4. Earth and Ocean Observation Services – Promoting spatial data and systems analysis and capacity to improve decision-making to improve resilience and sustainable resource management.

The role – Earth Observation Loss and Damage Officer (EOLDO) will play a key role in leveraging remote sensing and geospatial data and enable value-added services utilising Digital Earth Pacific (DE Pacific) to build evidence - based outputs on climate change impacts, including climate risk and climate-related loss and damage across the Pacific region. The position will be responsible for implementation of geospatial database systems and tools to support development of case studies and use cases that demonstrate how remote sensing and geospatial data can support monitoring of national assets, climate risk and impacts and quantify them as an indicator to support loss and damage accounting. This will be especially important for key economic sectors and assets. The position will collate and enable resources for research and analysis, enhancing and strengthening evidence-based decision making by integrating earth observation and geospatial data with environmental and socio-economic data to highlight the impacts of climate change and climate-induced loss and damage.

The key responsibilities of the role include:

Manage Earth Observation and related geospatial data collection and curation

• Carry out collection and curation of earth observation and geospatial data and ensure adherence to relevant metadata standards, database management protocols and wider information systems standards
• Support application of best practices and innovation in workflow development and data management technologies to maintain data reliability and accuracy.
• Provide technical advice to enhance research work on data collection and ingestion into DE Pacific.
• Manage and coordinate collection of geospatial data through field surveys, annotations, labelling and or crowd-sourced approaches (across sectors including but not limited to economic assets including buildings, agriculture and natural assets).
• Work across various technical platforms including the Digital Earth Pacific Analytical Hub (Python) as well as with command line interface (CLI) processes.

Undertake research on EO applications on climate change impacts, including on climate-induced loss and damage

• Conduct and lead innovative research on use of earth observations for climate change impacts and climate-induced loss and damage grounded in scientific literature.
• Develop decision-support tools, dashboards and datasets for climate adaptation strategies, climate finance and resource mobilisation, to support diversity of stakeholders including indigenous communities.
• Contribute to fundraising opportunities through proposing innovative research topics proposals.
• Provide research and technical support and advice to SPC members to advance the adoption of EO in climate policy and projects through translating science to policy.

Support earth observation-related data integration and analysis for climate related national, regional and global indicators and requests by projects and countries

• Support projects and countries by providing EO data products aligned with relevant national, regional, and global climate indicators (e.g., SDGs, Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs], and adaptation metrics).
• Develop workflows for combining geospatial and non-geospatial data, Traditional Indigenous knowledge, to create robust, policy-relevant evidence.
• Engage with stakeholders to ensure EO data products address their policy reporting, monitoring, and analysis needs
• Develop evidence base to add depth and rigor to human interest stories on climate-induced loss and damage.

Support Digital Earth Pacific outreach, engagement and capacity building and training

• Engage with stakeholders to assess and address capacity building needs
• Development of relevant training modules and materials tailored to stakeholder needs.
• Organise and deliver workshops, including remote-based training sessions.
• Promote services and collaboration through regular events and knowledge-sharing activities

For a more detailed account of the key responsibilities, please refer to the online job description.

Key selection criteria

Qualifications

• A degree in computer science, remote sensing, geospatial, environmental science and or equivalent body of knowledge and experience.

Technical expertise

• At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in remote sensing and experience in geospatial information products; preferably using open spatial data and imagery.
• Strong proficiency in a data science programming language – Python, R or Matlab.
• Strong knowledge of QGIS and its Plugin Ecosystem or other open-source geospatial toolsets.
• Deep familiarity with cloud-based workflows (e.g: Jupyter NoteBooks, cloud-based spatial data libraries used in Google Earth Engine, Open Data Cube and Sentinel SciHub).     

Language skills

• Excellent English communication skills (oral and written) with a working knowledge of French being an advantage.

Interpersonal skills and cultural awareness

• Ability to work in a multicultural, inclusive and equitable environment.

Salary, terms and conditions

Contract Duration – 1 year – subject to renewal depending on funding and performance.

Remuneration – The Earth Observation for Loss and Damage Officer is a band 9 position in SPC’s 2026 salary scale, with a starting salary range of 2,399‒2,998 SDR (special drawing rights) per month, which currently converts to approximately FJD 7,412–9,265 (USD 3,214–4,018; EUR 2,900–3,625).Remuneration of expatriate SPC staff members is not subject to income tax in Fiji; Fiji nationals employed by SPC in Fiji will be subject to income tax. An offer of appointment for an initial contract will normally be made in the lower half of this range, with due consideration given to experience and qualifications. Progression within the salary scale will be based on annual performance reviews. Remuneration of expatriate SPC staff members is not subject to income tax in Fiji; Fiji nationals employed by SPC in Fiji will be subject to income tax.

Benefits for Staff in a position advertised internationally (EPAI) whose duty station is Suva – SPC provides a housing allowance of FJD 1,500–5,200 per month. Establishment and repatriation grant, removal expenses, airfares, home leave travel, health and life and disability insurances and education allowances are available for eligible employees and their eligible dependents. Employees are entitled to 25 working days of annual leave per annum and other types of leave, and access to SPC’s Provident Fund (contributing 8% of salary, to which SPC adds a 10% contribution).

Languages – SPC’s working languages are English and French.

Recruitment principles – SPC’s recruitment is based on merit and fairness, and candidates are competing in a selection process that is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory. SPC is an equal-opportunity employer, and is committed to cultural and gender diversity, including bilingualism, and will seek to attract and appoint candidates who respect these values. Due attention is given to gender equity and the maintenance of strong representation from Pacific Island professionals. If two interviewed candidates are ranked equal by the selection panel, preference will be given to the Pacific Islander. Applicants will be assured of complete confidentiality in line with SPC’s Privacy Policy.

Application procedure

Closing Date: 15 February 2026 at 11:59pm (Fiji time)

Job Reference: JM000922

Applicants must apply online at http://careers.spc.int/

Hard copies of applications will not be accepted.

For your application to be considered, you must provide us with:

• an updated resume with contact details for three professional referees
• a cover letter detailing your skills, experience and interest in this position
• responses to all screening questions

Your application will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed at shortlisting stage if all the above documents are not provided. Applicants should not attach copies of qualifications or letters of reference. Please ensure your documents are in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

For international staff in Fiji, only one foreign national per family can be employed with an entity operating in Fiji at any one given time. SPC may assist on a case-by-case basis with submissions to Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their consideration and final approval. SPC cannot and does not make any guarantee whatsoever of approval for such applications to Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs and where an application is approved, the spouse or partner will subject to such terms and conditions as may be set from time to time by the Ministry.

SPC does not charge a fee to consider your application and will never ask for your banking or financial information during the recruitment process.

Screening Questions (maximum of 2,000 characters per question):

1. Provide an example of how you applied data analytics to inform a development challenge related to climate or environmental issues. Detail your approach and methodologies employed.
2. Identify three (3) key areas where earth observations data and services can be applied for loss and damage assessment.
3. Given a use-case of monitoring slow-onset events, such as drought, in a small island or atoll state, detail your approach to designing and implementing a project that uses satellite data to monitor the changes and their environmental impact.