Nature Recovery Higher Officer Bedfordshire - ( Ref 6655 )

Job summary

This position can be based at Cambridge or Peterborough

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

West Anglia Area Team has an ambitious plan to build a resilient natural environment. We want to create flourishing landscapes that are a source of pride, employment, access and enjoyment. The habitats across our landscapes will provide benefits to biodiversity, water quality, flood management, climate change and the wider farmed environment.

West Anglia Area Team contains four county-based teams (Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Beds & Hertfordshire and Essex) – where we develop our plans and deliver our services under the leadership of a Team Leader. The county teams are multi-disciplinary, enabling us to bring together different tools and advice to deliver our outcomes in partnership with others, this role is part of the Beds & Herts team. Supporting our county teams is our People & Nature cross cutting team, essential to provide over-arching leadership and support in a number of areas.

We have offices in Peterborough and Cambridge as well as some staff based in our London office.

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. This role will involve regular travel to sites, so a driving license is essential.

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.

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:

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.

Job description

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

The purpose of this role is to work with a range of partners including landowners/managers, statutory undertakers, and other agencies to drive forward local nature recovery.

The role operates through stakeholder engagement and uses of a range of tools such as technical advice, grant schemes and regulatory mechanisms to secure environmental improvements.

This Higher Officer role sits in Area Teams and provides the main interface between Natural England (NE) and the key local stakeholders who NE wish to engage with and influence. The scope of the role extends across the full range of protected habitats and the wider farmed environment, encompassing a variety of agricultural sectors and practices.

The role has an important customer-facing function. To effectively influence and support landowners and managers, it’s necessary to develop and maintain external relationships, including fostering and influencing partnerships to achieve shared nature recovery goals. Higher Officers will also develop networks and work closely with both Area Team and national colleagues.

This role is to work in collaboration with colleagues and partners to recover nature in Bedfordshire, including a lead role on delivering projects for joining up habitats and enhancing protected sites and enabling improved access to nature for people:

• Engage with landowners/land managers and stakeholders, including statutory undertakers and agencies, to deliver improvements to the condition of habitats and species on protected sites.
• Contribute to the production of strategic plans, working closely with partner agencies and private companies, such as utility providers.
• Apply technical knowledge and advice on protected sites casework such as assessing proposals for activities affecting Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
• Apply relevant legislation, policy and governance frameworks to ensure consistent advice and messages are delivered to customers.
• Collaborate with partners and stakeholders to identify and deliver shared objectives.
• Take responsibility for ensuring personal safe working in line with corporate guidance.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

The post holder will use their communication skills, technical knowledge and a range of tools to secure important environmental enhancements for the protected sites network and the wider environment. The role focuses on cases and partnerships where high opportunity or high-risk environmental outcomes have been identified. This role must analyse evidence to make informed, objective decisions, negotiate ambitious grant agreements within a complex governance framework and find pragmatic solutions to accommodate the needs of both people and nature. This role demands a good understanding of the ecological processes and systems in Bedfordshire. The post holder must be able to communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing, and experience of building pragmatic working relationships with partners and stakeholders is essential.

A relevant academic qualification or significant equivalent industry experience and knowledge will be required alongside the ability to gain additional technical knowledge at pace. Competence in the use of IT and the ability to drive for site visits will also be necessary.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Technical skills and knowledge

Description

• Knowledge of ecological principles and the ecology of habitats or species groups
  • Understanding of how to apply protected sites legislation and/or understanding of agricultural land management practices in the context of nature recovery
  • Experience of analysing data/evidence to inform decision making

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Creating Resilient landscapes and seas

Description

• Recognise and describe the environmental value of designated sites (including undertaking condition assessments using the correct methodology)
  • Understand the environmental value of designated sites and explain that to partners, stakeholders and customers
  • Design your local projects to have beneficial impacts at the landscape scale

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Putting people at the heart of the environment

Description

• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims
  • Understand and explain the outcomes that we seek in your local patch and how these fit in with local and national issues
  • Work proactively and collaboratively with stakeholders and partners to identify and secure opportunities to deliver gains for people and nature

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience
  • Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and Natural England and inspire others to act

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Licences

Driving Licence

Qualifications

A relevant academic qualification or significant equivalent industry experience and knowledge will be required.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,780, Natural England contributes £9,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• 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 : Phil Holton
• Email : phil.holton@naturalengland.org.uk

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/6655-6655-Nature-Recovery-Higher-Officer-Bedfordshire/en-GB

Attachments

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