Reference number
296271
Salary
£33,736
Job grade
Senior Executive Officer
Senior Adviser
Contract type
Permanent
Type of role
Environment and Sustainability
Operational Delivery
Working pattern
Full-time, Job share, Part-time
Number of jobs available
1
Location
West Midlands (England)
About the job
Job summary
This position is based in Telford and Worcester
Job description
The team
Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment?
If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature.
The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:
- Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive
- Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change
- Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods
- Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature
- Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing
We are the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.
See more about the work of Natural England at:
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england
Benefits
Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.
Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days to volunteer.
You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us.
You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events.
Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated.
We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan.
About the Job
As the freshwater agenda continues to grow within Natural England we are looking for a Senior Adviser providing leadership and coordinating the delivery of a breath of work within the freshwater agenda across the West Midlands.
Natural England’s West Midlands Area Team covers Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands Combined Authority. Our offices are in Telford and Worcester.
The West Midlands landscape is rich in nature and cultural heritage, from its industrial heartlands to the hills of the Welsh border in the West. We have accessible nature next or near to dense conurbations, home to over 6.5 million people. Most of the area is farmed, with the River Severn and its many tributaries snaking through the landscape. The area boasts a great natural diversity, including rivers, meres, mosses, lowland heaths, uplands, ancient woodland and grassland.
Our vision for the West Midlands reflects the ambitions set out in the Government’s 25 year Environment Plan. We want to see big green connected places, with lots of wildlife, thriving habitats and people enjoying it forever; a West Midlands that is characterised by distinctive landscapes of connected high quality habitats, teeming with a diversity of species. Our urban environments providing high quality green space that connects both people and nature to the wider landscape.
National Nature Reserves (NNR) and protected sites form the heart of many of these landscapes, and the catalysts for building a healthy thriving Nature Recovery Network. NNRs are also places to help people engage and understand the value of nature, and work together to continue to enhance it
Our freshwater work covers a huge range of these unique habitats, from the meres and mosses which are internationally unique wetland sites, to the Severn Estuary and its diverse assemblage of migratory fish. Our protected sites also include the unique Cotswold Water Park, the stunning River Wye, as well as the River Clun and the Teme which hold one of the last remaining populations of freshwater pearl mussels in England. The work is diverse, interesting and challenging and there has never been a more exciting time to deliver our ambitions for water.
The post holder will work closely with the wider leadership team with-in the West Midlands, as well as national staff, to help contribute to the wider strategic water programme in NE and the local area team Nature Recovery ambitions. You will support the lead advisers across the geographical area of the post to deliver their work, providing technical leadership and effective networks to support this. You will need to work closely with a range of partners and stakeholders providing strategic engagement and relationship management – such as with the Environment Agency, Local Authorities, landowners and the Water Companies.
It is expected that candidates will have excellent understanding of freshwater issues. The person should be knowledgeable on water quality and/or resources and how the protected sites system works to be confident to support casework across the team.
Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities
- Provide leadership, oversight and direction of the team’s engagement and input into Strategic Water Planning. Identifying and securing opportunities to address the challenges affecting our water environment e.g. climate change, drought, flooding, abstraction, pollution etc.
- Strategic engagement and relationship management of key partners (such as the EA, Water companies etc.) to maximize joined up and effective delivery of opportunities across the West Midlands.
- Engaging actively with our Strategic Headwaters Projects, embedding landscape scale restoration thinking across the Area Team.
- Provide leadership in working across the area team with Farm Advice, National Nature Reserves, Protected Sites and Sustainable Development to embed opportunities to deliver our strategic water ambitions.
- Seek innovative and novel solutions to long standing intractable site-based issues working with other to implement;
- Champion Nature based water solutions and put our water programme at the heart of Nature Recovery;
- Build and lead effective networks to facilitate and influence thinking in this area, sharing information across the team.
- Provide risk oversight and act as the escalation point for high risk casework in the local area team and provide technical leadership on hydrological issues
- Provide mentoring and training to grow the capability and capacity of our team to provide technical water advice, creating resilience in this work area, and expanding the understanding of water across the whole team.
- Engage with new tools such as Green Finance, Biodiversity Net Gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategies to deliver our strategic water ambitions.
Support our freshwater Lead Advisers and Advisers with:
- Technical advice on water related consultations.
- Completion of Diffuse Water Pollution Plans with the Environment Agency and embed the roll-out of their actions.
- Provision of Discretionary Advice Service (DAS) work related to statutory water company plans (drought plan, water resource management plan and business plan) in particular Drought Plan Environmental.
- Work with others to input or develop protected sites monitoring strategy, which integrates all aspects of our work.
Competencies
Competence 1
Professional competency
Technical Skills & Knowledge (STAR format not needed for this competency)
- Familiarity and experience of Strategic Water Planning, eg. River Basin Management Plans, Flood and Coastal Risk Management, Diffuse Water Pollution Plans, Water Level Management Plans, RAPID and Price Review 19/24. (Essential)
- Understanding of the challenges affecting our water environment eg. climate change, drought, flooding, abstraction, pollution etc. (Essential)
- Understand how an ecosystem functions, recognising and advising on impacts which could affect the resilience of an ecosystem (including ecological networks). (Essential)
- Understand the use of Habitats Regulations and give appropriate consent, assent and advice. (Essential)
- Identify and apply relevant planning and environmental legislation, policies and processes to deliver effective and proportionate evidence-based solutions and advice. (Essential)
- Understand the environmental value of designated sites and explain that to partners, stakeholders and customers. (Essential)
- Knowledge of freshwater ecology and systems including open waters, rivers, standing waters and estuarine environments. (Essential)
- Knowledge of wetland ecology and systems including bogs, fens, reed beds and grazing marshes. (Essential)
- Knowledge of water supply, quality and resource protection issues, including catchment-sensitive farming. (Essential)
- Knowledge of Hydrology and hydrogeology. (Essential)
- Ability to oversee complex technical cases/issues in the team. (Essential)
Competence 2
Professional competency
Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
- Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and and the organisation you represent. (Practitioner)
- Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver the organisation you represent vision, mission and aims. (Practitioner)
Competence 3
Professional competency
Personal Effectiveness
- Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence. (Expert)
- Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and throughout the organisation and inspire others to act. (Expert)
Competence 4
Professional competency
Work Delivery
- See the big picture so you can set your team’s work within the context of the organisation’s vision, mission and aims, and help them understand how their work relates to and supports this. (Practitioner)
- Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines. (Expert)
Competence 5
Professional competency
Creating Resilient Landscapes and Seas
- Identify and apply relevant planning and environmental legislation, policies, and processes to deliver effective and proportionate evidence-based solutions and advice. (Practitioner)
- Understand how an ecosystem functions, recognising and advising on impacts which could affect the resilience of an ecosystem (including ecological networks). (Practitioner)
Person specification
Please refer to Job Description
Licences
Drivers license
Qualifications
relevant degree or equivalent
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Please refer to Job Description
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
Apply and further information
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name :Claire Minett
- Email :claire.minett@naturalengland.org.uk
- Telephone :07825761776
Recruitment team
- Email :defra-recruitment-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
Further information
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england/about/complaints-procedure
Attachments
| Candidate Pack Natural England v1.5 Opens in new window(docx, 1319kB) |
