Research Data Scientist - Marine Socio-ecological Systems

KAUST; Thuwal; On-site; SAR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, invites applications for a Research Specialist in the Integrated Reef Fisheries Lab. You will support data-driven research on coral reef fisheries by managing large datasets, building pipelines, performing analyses, and helping design robust workflows in collaboration with Professor Jessica Zamborain Mason's team.

This role emphasizes reproducible research, code documentation, manuscript support, and mentorship of new

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in data science, statistics, computer science, environmental science, or a related quantitative field.
• Strong proficiency in R for data manipulation, analysis, and visualization.
• Familiarity with Git and GitHub for version control and collaborative coding.
• Excellent communication, writing, and organizational skills.
• Proven ability to work with large and complex datasets.
• Experience contributing to peer‑reviewed publications.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively in multidisciplinary research environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and optimize data pipelines for collecting, cleaning, harmonizing and transforming large and complex datasets including a range of environmental, ecological, social and economic variables.
• Conduct statistical and geospatial analyses, data visualization, and mechanistic modeling as required by project goals.
• Ensure data integrity, reproducibility, and documentation throughout the research lifecycle.
• Collaborate with the PI to interpret and summarize analytical results.
• Conduct literature reviews and synthesize findings relevant to ongoing research topics.
• Assist in preparing manuscripts, reports, presentations, and grant proposals.
• Contribute to writing methods sections and developing reproducible analysis scripts.
• Manage code repositories and collaborative workflows using GitHub/GitLab.
• Maintain documentation of code, workflows, and data sources.
• Contribute to the development of automated pipelines and reproducible research frameworks.
• Support the PI in coordinating research activities, meetings, and lab schedules.
• Assist with data sharing, compliance, and ethics documentation.
• Help onboard and mentor new lab members in data practices and computational tools.

Skills

R proficiency

Git/GitHub

Communication

Data management

Publications experience

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Data Science/Statistics/CS/Environmental Science

Tools

Git

GitHub

Job description

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, invites applications for a Research Specialist in the Integrated Reef Fisheries Lab. You will support data-driven research on coral reef fisheries by managing large datasets, building pipelines, performing analyses, and helping design robust workflows in collaboration with Professor Jessica Zamborain Mason's team.

This role emphasizes reproducible research, code documentation, manuscript support, and mentorship of new