3687 - Natural England Senior Adviser

We have a wide variety of roles on offer. We are looking for people who have a combination of technical skills and behaviours and are specialists in their fields.

These are leading roles in which you’ll work with partners to progress sustainable development and nature recovery in England and contribute at a senior level to the running of the organisation. You’ll make sure nature gets the best deal possible by leading reform and business improvement of planning and licensing work, including delivering biodiversity net gain or work with Nature Recovery Partnerships. And you’ll develop ambitious partnership plans for places with nature at their heart. It’s a fantastic opportunity to use your previous experience to bring people and nature together.

A driving licence is highly desirable as many roles will require travel for site visits or partnership meetings that may not be accessible by public transport.

We are looking for people who can demonstrate their skills and experience in relation to at least one of the work areas identified in the Technical Skills and Knowledge section below:

In addition candidates should demonstrate one or more of the specific skills below:

• Ecological knowledge of one or more habitats or species groups (please specify) on land and/ or at sea. Experience in field survey, including species identification and data analysis and interpretation. Providing data and evidence to colleagues and stakeholders.
  
  
• Working with farmers and landowners to advise on how they manage their land in a sustainable way for the benefit of the natural environment, developing agri-environment policy and guidance.
  
  
• Working on high-profile and/ or contentious planning cases, implementing Net Gain and ensuring the best outcome for nature in development.
  
  
• England’s wider biodiversity commitments including knowledge of relevant European Directives, associated UK/England Regulations, including the legislation relating to protected species and Sites of Special Scientific Interest
  
  
• Experience in connecting people with nature, advising policymakers and stakeholders on the positive effects access to nature can have on health and wellbeing for all communities. Knowledge of how to engage people and partnerships to foster nature recovery and instil sustainability
  
  
• Experience of gathering and analysing business intelligence, improving delivery across an organisation, leading on projects to provide delivery reports to Senior Leaders to enable decision-making

Some roles on offer can only be done from specific offices. This includes Area Team roles where you would be expected to be based in the team’s geographic area. Some National Team roles can be done from any NE office while some National Teams have ‘hubs’ where you would be expected to join the rest of the team in a specific office including at Worcester and Crewe offices.

You can view a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations

Please specify your location preferences in the appropriate field on the application form.

How to apply

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. STAR stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency. There is no requirement to use the STAR format in your response to the ‘Technical Skills and Knowledge’ competency. Please ensure you read the Candidate Information Pack before you begin your application.

Next steps 

If we receive a significant number of applications we may choose to sift applications on the first two competencies of Technical Skills and Knowledge and Personal Effectiveness.

If you are invited to interview you will be asked to give examples for all four competencies. 

As this is a large recruitment campaign, timescales may be longer than usually expected, candidates being invited to interview will be contacted by email before end of December 2021.

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 successful candidates are most suited to wherever possible

Everything’s better with nature. You included.

At Natural England, we love what we do. We’re here to make sure people and nature can thrive. A healthy natural environment is fundamental to our wellbeing, prosperity and happiness – that’s why we collaborate with scientists, lawyers, project managers and experts to implement environmental policy and shape decisions.

As the Government’s statutory advisor for the natural environment, we work with a wide range of partners, and customers on a huge range of projects, from influencing construction and development, advising farmers and landowners how they can manage their land in a sustainable way, monitoring and protecting habitats on land and at sea, improving ways to connect people with nature and establishing nature recovery networks. Across the country, we’re helping nature to support people and our planet. 

See more about the work of Natural England at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Natural England staff are inclusive, motivated and ambitious to achieve results for our environment, for everyone. We welcome and encourage applications from all communities and we operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role.

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.

From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Where appropriate there will be offers of training under our apprenticeship schemes.