Contract type: Permanent
Starting salary: £28,403 rising to £32,088 per annum through annual increments being paid each year. (Pro rata for part time applicants).
Work pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Post number: 200315, 202765
As an organisation we support flexible working. This role allows hybrid working (a mix of home and office working) and a working pattern suitable for you can be discussed on appointment if you are successful.
You will be contracted to the nearest NRW office to your home, of which you will be required to attend for regular meetings, training and for one-to-one meetings with your manager. These will be planned in advance.
Job description
You’ll be joining the Hydrology, Geomorphology and Water Resources Management Team in North Wales, within our Flood and Water Management Department. You’ll be working on some of Wales most iconic rivers including the Dee, Conwy and Severn.
You’ll provide a technical hydrology and water resources management support service to internal and external customers. You will analyse and interpret hydrological data to assist with activities such as reviewing abstraction licence applications, drought management, and post-flood event analysis. You will also provide support to our management of the River Dee Regulation Scheme.
This is an excellent opportunity to develop a sound foundation of knowledge in operational hydrology and water resources management. You will also gain valuable experience by supporting senior members of the team deliver more complex technical projects.
You’ll ensure the principles of SMNR and Well-being of Future Generations Act are considered in all decision making.
We welcome applications from recent university graduates with a degree in a relevant scientific subject (e.g. physical geography, environment science).
Responsibilities
Your responsibilities include:
- Provide accurate and timely support for operational decisions and environmental issues by carrying out analysis and interpretation of data and preparing reports from information and field investigations.
- Contribute to investigations, identifying concerns and providing a first level technical response to the team / other functions, in line with NRW policy, to help influence and support environmental outcomes.
- Check compliance with environmental standards and service levels and undertake front line investigation e.g. inspection, monitoring, survey work, to carry out and support the business plan and environmental outcomes.
- Contribute to the successful implementation of emergency plans including drought and flood incident management.
- Produce water situation and drought monitoring reports using hydrometric data and information provided by water companies.
- Co-ordinate responses to correspondence and enquiries, ensuring that internal and external information is effectively processed and tracked to ensure compliance with NRW policy and procedure.
- Develop and maintain a strong customer focus to ensure effective relationship building and partnership working to achieve environmental goals.
- Maintain and develop information storage and retrieval systems and ensure that information is up to date and readily accessible to facilitate departmental workflow.
- Participate in the development of team work plans and undertake any agreed actions effectively, to contribute to business planning and delivery.
- Support health & safety best practice by actively promoting awareness and ensuring the provision of safe working practices to comply with Environment Agency policies and standards.
- Support the management of the River Dee to ensure the effective, timely and safe response to incidents and other operational requirements associated with flow management and flood warning in the catchment.
- Required to take part in incident response activities
Qualifications, experience and knowledge
Knowledge and experience of the following:
- Degree in relevant scientific subject (e.g. physical geography, environment science).
- Member of, or willing to work towards, membership of a relevant professional body (e.g. CIWEM or ICE).
- Relevant work experience or Degree in hydrology/water resources management/flood risk management/statistical data analysis and processing.
- Ability to demonstrate a basic understanding of hydrological or related issues e.g. different hydrological parameters, types of hydrological data, data measurement methods etc.
- Computer literate, experience in technical report writing and data manipulation.
- Full UK driving licence
Welsh Language Requirements
Essential: Level 1 – able to pronounce Welsh and use basic phrases
Please note if you do not meet the level 1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.
Competencies
Please note – Applications to this role will be assessed based on the following competencies, both at shortlisting and interview. Please give examples of how you demonstrate these competencies when completing your application form.
| Essential Knowledge and Skills | Demonstrable previous practical experience gained in a technical discipline or scientific environment, at a level that enables them to implement programmes of work of a modest size and complexity and provide guidance and supervision to others.Able to evidence subject matter expertise in a discrete area of their work.Ability to process and analyse routine information and produce accurate reports and information based on sound analytical processes.Has good literacy, numerical and communication skills together with IT and systems knowledge. |
| Evaluation of Information | Ability to understand and interpret procedure manuals, statutory codes and legislation used whilst carrying out the role.May lead and implement a programme of work requiring the gathering of data and information from different sources and systems, to produce standard documents.Able to undertake routine analysis of samples and simple data following formal procedures, resulting in the production of analytical reports and documentation that will be used by others. |
| Decision Making and Autonomy Requirements | Ability to apply some technical judgment to deal with issues; or know when direct them to others.Able to consider options from a small range of solutions to make decisions, possibly having to tailor some work methods to achieve the required results without making fundamental changes to procedures or processes.Whilst the work will predominantly involve a variety of similar, well defined tasks; it will require the initiative to resolve issues and apply different techniques or methods.The post holder will manage discrete programmes of work and need to solve problems and make decisions which have a degree of complexity, around how best to achieve results.The work of the post holder may be part of a larger project, so that the degree of autonomy will be limited. |
| Communication and Relationships with Others | The role will require a high degree of interaction with people with the ability to foster good working relationships, with internal and external contacts.Demonstrates good communication skills with the ability to adapt style and content depending on the person and nature of the relationship.Able to advise and brief others, requiring the ability to clearly explain and share information with a variety of people, adapting their style and approach as necessary.Communication includes dealing with difficult or challenging customers, often in sensitive or complex situations; requiring the need for tact, patience and the ability to remain calm. |
Benefits of working for us
This role will offer a range of benefits, including:
- agile and flexible working (role dependent)
- Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 26.6% to 30.3%
- 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
- generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
- health and wellbeing benefits and support
- weekly well-being hour to use at your choice
See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.
Please keep reading
If you think you have what it takes to do this role, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch and we will be happy to discuss the role with you in more detail.
We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of disability, neurodivergence, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender expression and gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, culture, or religion. We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.
We are committed to equal opportunities, and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.
We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards. Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.
How to apply
Application closing date: 06/08/2023
Interviews will take place week commencing 21/08/2023 through Microsoft Teams.
If you have any queries about the role, please contact Rob Bissell at robert.bissell@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk or 03000 653902.
You are welcome to apply for any vacancy in Welsh or English and any application submitted will be treated equally. Applications are welcome from individuals who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time.
Please send a completed Application form to applications@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk
using the post number as the email reference. Before completing your application, please read our Guidance on completing a job application form
