Freshwater Senior Officer - ( Ref : 6528 )

Job summary

This position can be based at Eastleigh , London, Reading or Wallingford

Job description

Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.

Our Role

Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do this working through and with others.

Strategic Outcomes for Nature

Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes. Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.

• Recovering Nature– Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.
• Building Better Places– Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.
• Improving Health and Wellbeing– Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
• Delivering Security through Nature– Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at:

Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK

The Role

The role involves using your ecological and regulatory knowledge and a problem-solving approach to provide leadership and coordinating the delivery across the breath of work related to the freshwater environment within the team. The post holder will work closely with other senior and principal officers, locally and nationally including the Strategic solutions staff, to contribute to the wider strategic water programme in Natural England and the Area Team Nature Recovery ambitions.

You will support colleagues across the Area Team, providing technical advice and support, leadership and effective networks to support this. This role will also collaborate with staff in neighbouring Area Teams to encourage wider nature recovery and bring resilience by improving integration of water work at regional scale.

You will work closely with partners and stakeholders providing strategic engagement and relationship management - such as with the Environment Agency, Water Companies, Local Authorities and wider water stakeholders.

As part of the leadership team, you will contribute to building capability and capacity within the team by supporting staff development and sharing knowledge gained through national networks

Working for the Thames Solent Area Team

The Thames Solent area covers many counties; Berkshire, Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes), Hampshire, Isle of Wight, London, Oxfordshire and Surrey. All of which have a diverse geology and natural environment, rich in history and habitats. Features include extensive areas and mosaics of wetlands, heathlands, coastal habitats and marine sites, ancient woods and pasture, chalk river catchments and estuaries. They are complemented by the rural nature of our agricultural landscapes.

Partnerships for Nature Recovery are at the heart of everything we do. We work with a wide range of partners and stakeholders, including Water Companies, Local Authorities, Water Resources Southeast, The Environment Agency, Wildlife Trusts, Rivers Trusts, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, major landowners, farmers and our local communities. We want to help support the restoration of flourishing landscapes that are a source of rich biodiversity, pride, employment, access and enjoyment.

Job description

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

• Provide oversight and direction of the team’s engagement and input into Strategic Water Planning. Taking an ecosystem and hydro-ecological process approach to identify and secure opportunities to address the challenges affecting our water environment e.g. climate change, drought, flooding, abstraction, pollution

• Provide technical advice and leadership for the team on hydrological issues to build resilient ecosystems

• Seek effective solutions to long standing freshwater issues working with others to implement them, using innovative and novel approaches where appropriate

• Commission and / or deliver work to build our evidence base to support nature recovery

• Work with colleagues from across the organisation, both local and national, and lead on technical input into major water projects and / or casework including Discretionary Advice Services
• Strategic engagement and relationship management of key partners (such as the Environment Agency, Water Companies, Local Planning Authorities, stakeholder groups and organisations) to maximize joined up and effective delivery of opportunities
• Build and lead effective networks to facilitate and influence thinking in this area, building resilience and sharing information across the freshwater team, Thames Solent Area Team and neighbouring Area Teams

• Provide risk oversight and act as the escalation point for freshwater related high-risk casework in the area team in accordance with NE’s schemes of delegation

• Work with all our work areas (e.g. protected sites, integrated farm advice, sustainable development and marine) and support our Officers to deliver water outcomes across all our work to ultimately deliver nature recovery at scale
• Provide technical input where possible / relevant into Protected Sites Strategies in the Area
• Provide mentoring and training to grow the capability and capacity of our teams to provide technical water advice, and create resilience in this work area

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Familiarity and experience of Strategic Water Planning, or similar strategic approaches, e.g. Water Company Plans and Price Review, RAPID, River Basin Management Plans, Diffuse Water Pollution Plans, Water Level Management Plans, Local Plans, Water cycle studies. (essential)
• Understanding of the challenges affecting our water environment e.g. climate change, drought, flooding, abstraction, pollution, management. (essential)
• Understand how freshwater dependent ecosystems function, recognising and advising on impacts which could affect the resilience of an ecosystem (including ecological networks) (essential). This could include:

• Understand the use of Habitats Regulations and give appropriate consent, assent and advice (essential)
• Identify and apply relevant environmental, water and/or planning legislation, policies and processes to deliver effective and proportionate evidence-based solutions and advice (essential)
• Understand the environmental value of designated sites, utilising evidence on site condition and explain that to partners, stakeholders and customers. (essential)
• Knowledge of water quality, hydrology and hydrogeology (desirable)
• Ability to use available evidence and make decisions (essential)
• Ability to oversee complex technical cases/issues in the team (essential)

Benefits

At Natural England, we support a healthy work-life balance by offering full-time, part-time, and flexible working arrangements.

We provide excellent opportunities for career progression, training, and development tailored to your role. This includes ten days annually for personal learning and development, plus three additional days for volunteering.

You’ll receive a generous leave allowance of 33 days per year (pro rata), access to the Civil Service Pension scheme with a 28.97% employer contribution, and a range of benefits such as shopping discounts and a cycle-to-work scheme. Staff can also join the Civil Service Sport club for discounts on sports, leisure activities, and social events.

We are committed to fairness, equality, and inclusivity. Our employee-led diversity networks help foster a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and supported.

Locations

Natural England has adopted hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England, and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Staff are expected to attend their associated office for 20% of their contractual hours.

Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work-related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.

National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area.

View a map of our office locations here: online map of Natural England office locations

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.

How to Apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview. We now provide primary interview questions in advance for all formal recruitments.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:

• Technical Skills and Knowledge
• Personal Effectiveness
• Work Delivery
• Putting People at the Heart of the Environment

When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your Action.

Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview via MS Teams or a suitable alternative, where you will be asked to give examples for all competencies as set out in the Job Description.

As with all roles in NE, these roles require office attendance of a minimum of 20% of the working time – one day per week for those who work full time, subject to any reasonable adjustments and/or existing contractual homeworking.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Technical Skills and Knowledge

Description

• Demonstrable technical expertise in freshwater ecology, hydrology and hydro ecological processes, with applied experience of using this knowledge to identify pressures, risks and solutions for freshwater-dependent habitats, designated sites and wider catchments, supporting nature recovery and ecosystem resilience (Essential).
  • Strong working knowledge and practical application of environmental, water and planning legislation and mechanisms, including Habitats Regulations Assessment, strategic water planning processes (e.g. River Basin Management Plans, Water Company Plans, Water Resource Management Plans, Water Level Management Plans) and related consents, enabling proportionate, evidence-based advice and decision-making (Essential).
  • Ability to understand, interpret and apply new and emerging planning, regulatory and policy processes to enable delivery of enhanced freshwater nature recovery, including integrating climate change adaptation, abstraction, water quality and flood risk considerations into strategic solutions (Essential).
  • Knowledge of how partner organisations operate, particularly Environment Agency, Water Companies and Local Planning Authorities, and the ability to build effective partnerships across organisational boundaries to influence outcomes; supported by a sound understanding of ecological evidence, site condition and land or water management practices (Desirable).

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

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 Natural England and inspire others to act (practitioner)

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Work Delivery

Description

Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (expert)
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)

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment

Description

Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England (practitioner)
Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims (practitioner)

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,660, Natural England contributes £11,489 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

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 the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

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 : Laura Hughes
• Email : laura.hughes@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone : 07825054393

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

https://networkrecruitment.tal.net/vx/appcentre-7/brand-4/spa-1/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/8/opp/6528-6528-Freshwater-Senior-Officer/en-GB

Attachments

DEF-001h - Candidate Pack Natural England v2.8 Opens in new window (docx, 666kB)