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Job summary

This position is based Nationally

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 Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) supports development while delivering targeted environmental protection and nature recovery. It introduces new mechanisms to secure environmental improvements where development impacts protected sites or species. Through Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs), the NRF identifies and delivers strategic, landscape‑scale conservation measures to achieve improved outcomes for nature.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the NRF Communications & Engagement Team, helping to support both our customers and colleagues understand their role in making the scheme a success.

The successful candidate will be responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships with customers, partners and stakeholders, ensuring they understand the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) and their role in its successful delivery.

Whilst this role will focus on engaging our stakeholders as an immediate priority, there will be an expectation that successful candidates work flexibility across the Communications & Engagement function in NRF. Roles will evolve as the Programme matures.

Prospective candidates should be aware the NRF is a unique agile environment. The ideal candidate would be highly ambitious, comfortable in ambiguity and confident when faced with challenge.

Job description

Key responsibilities:

• Lead stakeholder engagement activity across the NRF programme.
• Design and deliver in-person and virtual engagement events, workshops and roundtable discussions, with support from across team.
• Develop and maintain relationships with developers, local authorities, environmental organisations, government colleagues and other key stakeholders.
• Represent/support those representing the NRF at national conferences, industry events and external forums.
• Gather stakeholder insights and feedback to inform the ongoing development of the scheme and identify emerging issues.
• Facilitate constructive dialogue between stakeholders to support shared understanding and successful implementation of Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs).
• Work closely with policy, delivery and operational teams to ensure engagement activity reflects programme priorities and customer needs.
• Monitor and evaluate engagement activities, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Provide expert advice on stakeholder management and engagement approaches across the programme.
• Co-ordinate and project manage communications and engagement tasks, ensuring stakeholders receive go-live information in a timely fashion.
• Work with other teams, including External Affairs, Private Office and account managers to establish how programme level engagement will complement and build on existing relationships.
• Be prepared to work flexibly to deliver ad-hoc outcomes as required in a high pressure and fastmoving change environment.
• Using creative acumen to devise new and innovative ways to engage colleagues and stakeholders.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Essential

• Experience of developing and delivering communications and/or stakeholder engagement activity within a project or programme environment.
• Experience of stakeholder mapping and analysis, with the ability to identify, prioritise and manage a range of internal and external audiences.
• Experience of business readiness activity, ensuring stakeholders understand changes, required actions and key milestones.
• Ability to work autonomously and at pace to develop, implement and evaluate communications and engagement plans and activities.
• Experience of tailoring messages and approaches to different audiences using a range of channels, products and engagement methods.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, engaging and accessible content.
• Experience of delivering events, workshops, webinars, roundtable discussions or other communications and engagement activities.
• Ability to build effective, collaborative relationships across teams and with external stakeholders.
• Comfortable working in a busy and complex environment, making sound decisions, managing risks and balancing competing priorities.
• Strategic thinker, able to align communications and engagement activity with wider programme and organisational objectives, with good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams.

Desirable

• Experience of public consultation or formal stakeholder engagement processes.
• Creative design skills and experience of producing engaging communications materials.
• Experience of representing an organisation at conferences, industry events or external forums.
• Knowledge of environmental, planning, conservation or land-use policy issues.

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 25 days per year (pro rata), increasing by 1 day for each year served to a maximum of 30 days (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: 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

• Experience delivering communications and engagement across complex programmes and multiple stakeholders.
  • Experience planning and delivering communications and engagement activity to support programme delivery and business readiness.
  • Ability to translate complex policy or technical information into clear, actionable messages.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience tailoring approaches for different audiences.
  • Ability to manage competing priorities and work effectively in a fast-paced environment.

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and your organisation and inspire others to act (Practitioner).
Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together (Practitioner).
Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective (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 diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and your organisation (Practitioner).

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,550, Natural England contributes £12,037 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 : Liz Sopwith
• Email : liz.sopwith@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone : 07824 759712

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/6686-6686-NRF-Senior-Communications-and-Engagement-Officer/en-GB

Attachments

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