Marine Processes Senior Specialist – ref : 5601

East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber

This position is based Nationally

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, and
• 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

Job description   

You will be based in the Science Directorate, which is a team of specialists who support the organisation in their ambitions to be evidence-led and driven by science. We lead on the development and application of natural, economic and social science and evidence to underpin and enable the achievement of environmental outcomes both within Natural England and externally.

We are looking for an enthusiastic marine processes specialist to join the Coastal and Freshwater team in Natural England to work alongside our coastal and marine industries specialists to deliver advice across the organisation. The coastal and freshwater team is one of three teams based within our Habitats Team, a large and varied national team of over forty dispersed staff within the Science Directorate.   

This new role will be focused on providing marine processes advice into Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). This is an exciting opportunity to make a strong contribution to Natural England’s engagement with some of the most important development proposals in the country. NSIPs are major planning schemes that present both challenges and significant opportunities for the natural environment. Due to the continued growth of markets including offshore wind, ports and aggregates we are looking to expand our team.

An understanding of oceanographic processes and their interaction with seafloor morphology and sediment distribution is a fundamental part of this role. The successful applicant will have experience in coastal and marine processes assessments to support the delivery of maritime, renewable or coastal management schemes, and ideally have experience of reviewing marine physical processes aspects of Environmental Impact Assessments.

Working with colleagues in both your team and across the organisation, you will help ensure that the natural environment is fully considered through the planning process, seeking to maximise gains for nature from these nationally significant projects. Our aim is to ensure that all development is truly sustainable, not only protecting what we have but also contributing to nature recovery.

Key Tasks and Accountabilities

This role will focus on taking commissions from across the organisation for specialist technical advice on marine processes. This will include planning casework/NSIPs and protected sites work.

Analyse and interpret reports on technical scientific data to provide good information to relevant teams to support decision making in a clear and precise manor.

Specific responsibilities will develop and change over time and the post holder will need to maintain a flexible and adaptable attitude and approach. Broad work areas are described below:

• Provide timely, clear and consistent advice and guidance to area team staff with respect to marine processes to enable area teams to deliver successful environmental outcomes.
• Develop and maintain Natural England’s evidence base to better understand relationships between the impacts of marine industries on marine processes.
• Identify and prioritise monitoring and research, securing funding and designing and managing projects (both internally and with partners/contractors).
• Represent Natural England externally as a marine physical processes expert, building relationships with key experts, stakeholders and academic institutions. This will include contributing to Natural England’s engagement on strategic consultations with marine industry developers.
• Work with other Natural England colleagues to progress delivery of the Defra 25 Year Environment Plan – including engagement and contribution to the Habitats Team’s work on nature recovery.   
• Provision of synthesis of evidence and case studies to support Natural England teams, including input to evidence briefings at short notice.
• To build capability, provide training and mentoring for Natural England staff on marine processes, play a role in internal networks.

Although based in the Coast and Freshwater Team, the post holder can expect to work closely with marine teams across Natural England. This will include the sharing of knowledge across networks. This includes the Marine team within the Science Directorate. 

Skills and Experience

• The ideal candidate will be qualified to at least BSc level in a marine/environmental discipline, or, can demonstrate equivalent experience. Post graduate qualification is desirable but not essential.
• Understanding of issues facing the marine environment and experience in marine environmental protection.
• Understanding of relevant marine legislation and conservation designations that apply to the marine environment.
• Experience in the collection, critical analysis, interpretation, and presentation of evidence using quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Experience in the determination of appropriate secondary impact zones from marine aggregate dredging operations, for example sediment flux and plume deposition.
• Knowledge and experience of marine licensing and consenting process through scoping, EIA, HRA and post-consent.
• Awareness or familiarity with numerical modelling packages and interpreting outputs would be beneficial.
• Ability to convey technical information to non-specialists.

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. 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.

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:

• Technical skills and knowledge
• Personal effectiveness
• Putting people at the heart of the environment
• Work delivery

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.

Competencies

 

Competence 1   

Professional competency

 

Detail  

Technical skills and knowledge (STAR format answers not required)

 

Description   

• An excellent knowledge of marine physical processes. To include survey techniques and relevant data analysis. (Expert)
  • A clear understanding of the science and evidence base of marine processes, how to apply evidence to provide advice on impacts of marine industry developments on the marine environment and, how to identify evidence gaps. (Practitioner)
  • Knowledge of policies, legislative frameworks, and drivers for the marine environment, combined with an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the marine industries field. (Practitioner)

 

Competence 2   

Professional competency

 

Detail   

Personal effectiveness

 

Description   

• Test and challenge others in a constructive and evidence-based way providing scientific scrutiny, challenge and assurance to casework and other delivery that is practical and, where appropriate, cross-disciplinary (Expert)
  • Research, produce and contribute to specialist products such as articles, think pieces, peer reviewed papers, reports and conference presentations for general and technical readerships, both internal and external (Expert)

 

Competence 3   

Professional competency

 

Detail   

Putting people at the heart of the environment

 

Description   

• Build relationships and effective networks both externally and internally to bring in fresh perspectives, approaches and evidence to raise the profile of both your individual specialist work and that of Natural England (Expert)
  • Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England (Practitioner)

 

Competence 4  

Professional competency

 

Detail   

Work delivery

 

Description   

• Identify priority evidence needs and seek ways to meet them (e.g. through funding or partnerships) (Practitioner)
  • Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Expert)

Please refer to Job Description

Alongside your salary of £33,736, Natural England contributes
£9,142 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 average employer contribution of 27%

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).

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Job contact :

• Name : Nicola George
• Email : nicola.george@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone : 01206 825776

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@gov.sscl.com