Land Agent National Nature Reserves - West Midlands OR Northeast of England - ( Ref : 6561 )

Job summary

This position can be based at Berwick-upon-Tweed , Bewdley , Forest-in-Teesdale, Hartlepool , Lincoln , Louth , Minsterley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne , Peterlee , Stamford , Telford , Whixall or Worcester

Job description

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 Adviser 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.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Join Natural England as a Chartered Surveyor – Help Shape the Future of Nature Recovery

Natural England is seeking a Chartered Surveyor to support nature recovery and the sustainable management of natural capital and ecosystem services across our National Nature Reserve estate.

These roles offer a unique opportunity to contribute to conservation without the pressure of fee targets, and with the benefit of flexible working arrangements.

As part of our Estate Management team, you’ll help manage a diverse portfolio of leasehold and freehold assets covering approximately 65,000 hectares, including 134 National Nature Reserves (NNRs)—some of the most iconic and ecologically significant sites in England. The estate also includes offices, workshops, and other buildings essential to our operations.

Chartered Surveyors play a vital role in ensuring the estate delivers its full conservation and income potential, meets legal obligations, and provides value for public investment. You’ll be joining a national team of Surveyors and Land Agents, working collaboratively with conservation professionals across the country.

These roles will primarily focus on casework in the North of England—including County Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Cheshire—with occasional involvement in national strategic projects.

The roles offer flexibility for home or office working or a mixture of the two. There is flexibility in your location base, however it is expected that you spend 2 – 3 days per fortnight working with the Area Teams and on their NNRs, supporting local delivery. You would be expected to work out of an NE office once a week (minimum).

Job description

Key areas of work include:

• Estate Management - manage all tenure casework for a particular geographic area.
• Professional advice - the post holder will provide advice on casework, legal and valuation matters related to the management of the Natural England estate. This may include engagement of internal and external advisers on such matters. Internally, this will involve working with our Area Teams, NNR staff, the National NNR team and Natural England’s legal team.
• Work with wider NE teams to provide Land Agent input to emerging policy areas and/or schemes and to align the NE Estate processes with NE regulatory needs – e.g. tenure and protected sites such as Telecoms or wildfowling guidance.
• Income generation - explore traditional and new potential of Estate assets and drive forward opportunities from emerging environmental markets such as Biodiversity Net Gain & Nutrient Mitigation.
• Acquisitions and declarations - advise the relevant geographic team on NNR acquisitions and National Nature Reserve designation.
• NNR records - updating and maintaining of property records and mapping.
• Finance - work with support staff to deliver accurate payments and receipts from the Estate tenure and assist with procurement for valuation and other contracts.
• Contribute to reviews and updates of upcoming Government policy and Estate Management procedures.

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.

Locations

Natural England is adopting 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. Full time staff are expected to attend their associated office for a minimum of one day a week.

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: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range. In addition to a salary of £39,660 this role also attract a market skills allowance of £5,000 per annum.

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.

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Collaborating and Partnering
• Technical Skills and Knowledge

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 doing so.

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.

Next Steps

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 four competencies as set out in the Job Description.

Successful candidates will be allocated roles in merit order based on scores achieved at interview and in accordance with location preferences, taking into account the work area to which successful candidates are most suited, wherever possible.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Making Effective Decisions

Description

Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience (practitioner)
Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (expert)
Progress your personal development and take responsibility for keeping your knowledge and expertise current (practitioner)

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Delivering at Pace

Description

Manage and deliver your workload to meet agreed targets and deadlines (expert)
Consider the financial implications of your work and seek income from our products and services (practitioner)

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Collaborating and Partnering

Description

Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver the vision, mission and aims of the organisation you represent (practitioner)

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Specialist Skills

Description

You will be a qualified member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and will be required to keep professional membership up to date. Professional membership of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers is not essential but preferable.
Knowledge and experience of property management, preferably rural, including legal and valuation matters and working with a range of landowners, occupiers and farmers will be valuable
Experience in all aspects of Rural Estate Management of a wide and varied portfolio: -
o Lease negotiations, rent reviews, lease management, tenant relations.
o Valuations – freehold and leasehold.
o Rent and debt management
o Estate utilisation and rationalisation
o Property Transactions – purchases, leases, easements, wayleaves
o Stakeholder Engagement
o Estate Terrier Management

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Licences

Driving license

Qualifications

You will be a qualified member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and will be required to keep professional membership up to date. Professional membership of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers is not essential but preferable.

Memberships

RICS and potentially CAAV full membership

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 : Philip Bowler
• Email : philip.bowler@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone : 07801547948

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/6561-6561-Land-Agent-National-Nature-Reserves-West-Midlands-OR-Northeast-of-England/en-GB

Attachments

DEF-001h - Candidate Pack Natural England v2.9 Opens in new window (docx, 548kB)