Senior Technician (Marine Biology)

In compliance with the provisions of Article 48(e) of Law No. 24/2012, of July 9 (Framework Law on Foundations) and for the purposes of the provisions of Article 30(4) and Article 33 of the General Law on Public Service Employment (LTFP), approved by Law No. 35/2014 of June 20, and Article 19(1) of Government Council Resolution No. 178/2009 of November 24, republished by Rectification Statement No. 14/2009 of December 2, it is hereby made public that, by decision of September 24, 2026, of the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Gaspar Frutuoso FP Foundation, a public foundation governed by private law, a standard competitive selection process is now open for a fixed-term employment contract, for a period of six months, which may be extended, for a period of 10 business days from the date of publication of this notice, pursuant to Article 140(2)(h) of the Labor Code, and may not exceed the duration of the research project that co-funds it, with a view to filling a position in the career track and category of Senior Technician (Master’s degree in Marine Biology). The contract is part of the research project DEEP: Deep-sea Ecosystem Evaluation for Policy Solutions, project no. 2025.00366.AZO, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology.

1 – Applicable Legislation: Framework Law on Foundations, enacted by Law No. 24/2012 of July 9; General Law on Labor in the Public Service (LTFP), approved as an annex to Law No. 35/2014, of June 20; Labor Code, approved by Law No. 7/2009, of February 12, as currently in force; Government Council Resolution No. 178/2009, of November 24, republished by Rectification Statement No. 14/2009, of December 2, all legal instruments in their current versions.

2 – Guarantee of Equality between Men and Women – Reference referred to in Joint Order No. 373/2000, dated March 1:

“In accordance with Article 9(h) of the Constitution, the Public Administration, as an employer, actively promotes a policy of equal opportunity for men and women in access to employment and career advancement, taking scrupulous care to prevent any and all forms of discrimination.”

3 – Workplace: OKEANOS Research Center at Rua Frederico Machado No. 4, 9900-138 Horta.

4 – Job description: The duties to be performed correspond to functional complexity level 3, pursuant to Article 86(1)(c) of the LTFP, for which a master’s degree is required.

4.1 – The employee will perform duties at the Senior Technician level, under the scientific guidance of Dr. Telmo Morato, and will have the following specific responsibilities:

• Manual annotation of videos (L3) of deep-sea fish to quantify biodiversity patterns and support the modeling of biodiversity distribution at the regional (Azores EEZ) and local (geomorphological structures) scales (WP2).
• Updating the database of deep-sea fish occurrences in the Azores (WP 1).
• Assisting in the creation and structuring of the database of fish collected using the Azor drift-cam and other deep-sea sampling platforms (WP 1).
• Support for the manual annotation of videos (Level 3 with bounding boxes) of deep-sea biodiversity to train artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and feed a continuous cycle of evaluation and validation (WP1).
• Support for the production of project reports and for minor project management tasks.

4.2 – The contract is valid for 6 months and may be extended; under no circumstances, however, will the contract remain in effect beyond the period necessary for the execution of the project, which fully co-finances the costs associated with this contract.

5 – Scope of recruitment: Recruitment is conducted in accordance with Article 30(4) of the LTFP and is open to workers with or without an employment relationship, through a competitive selection process.

6 – Pay grade: The pay grade of the recruited employee will correspond to the first pay grade in the Senior Technician career track, pursuant to Regulatory Decree No. 14/2008, of July 31, which corresponds to pay level 19 of the Single Pay Scale (Ordinance No. 1553-C/2008, dated December 31, updated by Decree-Law No. 29-A/2026, dated January 30).

7 – Required Academic Qualifications: Master’s degree in Marine Biology or related fields, pursuant to Article 34 of the LTFP, which corresponds to functional complexity level 3, as provided for in Article 86(1)(c) of the LTFP; the required academic level cannot be substituted by professional training or experience.

8 – Selection methods and criteria: Pursuant to paragraph 8 of Article 6 of Regional Legislative Decree No. 26/2008/A, of July 24, as amended by Regional Legislative Decree No. 12/2018/A, dated October 22, the selection methods to be used are Curriculum Evaluation (AC) and the Oral Knowledge Test (PCO), in accordance with the following formula:

Final Score = 0.30 × AC + 0.70 × PCO

The final score for candidates will be expressed on a scale of 0 to 20, rounded to the nearest hundredth.

8.1 – Curriculum Evaluation (AC): aims to analyze candidates’ qualifications, specifically their academic or professional credentials, career path, relevance of the experience gained and training completed, type of duties performed, and performance evaluations received.

AC = (EI + FP + EP), where:

EI (4 points) = Experience in Research Projects: which considers experience in the development of research projects and scientific studies (summative evaluation):

• Experience in projects related to the deep sea………….………….2 points
• Experience in projects related to deep-sea fish in the Azores………...2 points

FP (4 points) = Professional Training: taking into account the areas of professional training and development related to the requirements and competencies necessary for performing the job:

1 – Master’s degree related to the scientific field of the position to be promoted…………………………………………………………………………………….……4 points

EP (12 points) = Professional Experience: taking into account and weighing the performance of activities inherent to the position and their degree of complexity, duly substantiated and expressed in terms of i) experience in video annotation, ii) experience in video annotation techniques using bounding boxes, iii) experience in managing and updating biodiversity and environmental databases, and iv) experience in identifying deep-sea fish from the Azores.

1 - Professional experience not directly related to items i), ii), iii), and iv) ......................................................................... .................................................................2 points

2 - Professional experience in an activity directly related to the duties to be performed in the position to be filled, for a period exceeding 6 months, but covering only one of i), ii), iii), and iv) ..………….......................................... ...............................................................................4 points

3 - Professional experience in activities directly related to the duties to be performed in the position to be filled, for a period of no less than 6 months and covering at least two of the points i), ii), iii), and iv) ………............................................ ............................................................. 6 points

4 - Professional experience in activities directly related to the duties to be performed in the position to be filled, for a period of no less than 6 months and covering at least three of the following: i), ii), iii), and iv) ………............................................ ............................................................. 8 points

5 - Professional experience in activities directly related to the duties of the position to be filled, for a period of at least 6 months and covering all of points i), ii), iii), and iv) ……….............................................. ............................................................................... 12 points

8.2 – The Oral Knowledge Test (PCO) is designed to assess candidates’ academic and/or professional knowledge and the technical skills required to perform a specific job.

For each Oral Knowledge Test (PCO), an individual report is prepared, containing a summary of the topics covered, the evaluation criteria, and the score obtained for each criterion, duly justified.

The Oral Knowledge Test (PCO) uses a scale from 0 to 20 points, with scores rounded to the hundredths.

9 – Failure by candidates to appear for the Oral Knowledge Test (PCO) is considered a withdrawal from the competitive examination; similarly, candidates who scored less than 10 points on the AC will be excluded from the process and will not be invited to the professional interview.

10 – In cases of a tie, the provisions of Article 35 of Government Council Resolution No. 178/2009, dated November 24, republished by Rectification Statement No. 14/2009, dated December 2, shall apply.

11 – Pursuant to Article 19(t) of Resolution No. 178/2009, dated November 24, republished by Rectification Statement No. 14/2009, dated December 2, the jury’s minutes—which include the evaluation criteria and respective weighting of each selection method to be used, the grading scale, and the method’s final scoring system—are made available to candidates upon request.

12 – Exclusion and notification of candidates: In accordance with the provisions of Article 30(1) of Government Council Resolution No. 178/2009, dated November 24, republished by Rectification Statement No. 14/2009, dated December 2, excluded candidates will be notified to attend a hearing for interested parties.

12.1 – The right to participate as an interested party must be exercised via email.

12.2 – Admitted candidates will be informed of the results of the selection process, in accordance with the terms set forth in Article 32 and by one of the methods provided for in Article 30(3) of the Council Resolution Government Decree No. 178/2009, of November 24, republished by Rectification Statement No. 14/2009, of December 2, preferably by email.

13 – Employment Quotas: The provisions of Article 3(3) of Decree-Law No. 29/2001, of February 3, as adapted to the Region by Regional Legislative Decree No. 4/2002/A, of March 1, shall be complied with. Candidates with disabilities are given preference in the event of a tie, which takes precedence over any other legal preference; to this end, candidates must declare in their application form, under oath, their degree of disability, the type of disability, and the means of communication/expression to be used during the selection process.

14 – Validity Period: The competitive selection process is valid for one year.

15 – Composition of the Selection Committee:

Chair:

Dr. Telmo Morato Gomes

Permanent Members:

Dr. Filipe Porteiro

Dr. Marisa Antunes Gomes

16 – Submission of Applications: Applications must be submitted via email and addressed to the chair of the selection committee, with the subject line “Competitive Selection Process for a Fixed-Term Employment Contract, Ref. DEEP2.”

17 – The application must be accompanied by the following documents, submitted electronically; the selection committee may require the submission of the original hard copies, under penalty of exclusion:

1. A photocopy of the citizen’s card or identity card and tax identification number.
2. Certificate of academic qualifications;
3. Proof of professional training attended (conferences, seminars, advanced courses, etc.);
4. A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae, dated and signed by the candidate, listing, in particular, published articles and books, professional experience, and professional training; and
5. Other documents deemed relevant to the review of the application.

18 – False statements made by candidates will be punished in accordance with the law.

19 – Candidates must submit their applications and supporting documents, addressed to the Chair of the Selection Committee, via email to marisa.a.gomes@uac.pt with a copy to silvia.f.martinho@uac.pt, by the last day of the application period.

20 – The jury reserves the right to require any candidate to submit supporting documents for the statements made under oath and for any information it deems relevant to the proceedings.

21 – The final ranking list of candidates will be sent by email, and communications with candidates will preferably be conducted via email.

Where to apply

E-mail: marisa.a.gomes@uac.pt

Requirements

Research Field: Other

Education Level: Master Degree or equivalent

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available: 1

Company/Institute: OKEANOS – Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar

Country: Portugal

City: Horta

Postal Code: 9900-138

Street: Rua Frederico Machado nr 4

Contact

City: Ponta Delgada

Website: https://fgf.uac.pt/pt-pt

Street: Rua da Mãe de Deus

Postal Code: 9500-321