4166 - Marine Lead Adviser

This is a rewarding role with fantastic opportunities to secure positive environmental outcomes for the marine environment.

We are looking for someone with a passion for nature’s recovery and an understanding of the potential impacts of developments on the natural environment, and who is driven to work with colleagues, stakeholders and our customers to find solutions and secure positive outcomes for all 

Key tasks: 

• Provision of advice on Habitats Regulations Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments. Providing statutory advice on Marine Protected Area (MPA) site assessments – to a range of regulators, involving sustainable development advice (e.g. offshore wind and aggregates; as well as advice on fisheries)
• Contribute to the production of formal conservation advice packages for our MPA work
• Carry out MPA feature condition assessments as part of our statutory duty and to inform advice
• Identification and completion of priority marine monitoring (may include field work)
• Responding to post-consent consultations on discharge of Development Consent Orders and marine licence conditions
• Building partnerships with customers and stakeholders to resolve complex planning issues and in order to support nature recovery
• Take ownership of casework, coordinating the provision of advice from across Natural England, building expertise to deliver quality-assured and robust advice on major projects.
• Take a leading role on the conservation and recovery of the marine environment through the provision of advice, monitoring and working partners. 

Some roles may have a sole focus on marine casework, fisheries, aggregate extraction or our MPA (Marine Protected Area). There may also be coastal work and cross over with terrestrial work areas. 

The roles may involve working outside and regular travel including site visits. 

How to Apply 

We will 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 

A maximum of 250 words is allowed for your response to each competency. The Candidate Information Pack has lots of useful information – read it before you begin completing the application form. Please note STAR format is not required for the ‘Technical Skills and Knowledge’ competency. 

If we have a significant number of applications, we may decide to sift on the first two competencies which are 'Putting People at the Heart of the Environment' and 'Creating Resilient Landscapes and Seas'. Candidates who are invited for interview will be assessed on all four competencies. 

As this is a large recruitment campaign, the expected timeline may be extended. Candidates should expect to hear if they have been invited to interview by mid August. Unfortunately, due to the size of this recruitment we are unable to provide feedback to candidates.

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 advisor 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.

See more about the work of Natural England at: 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 we will accommodate 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.

Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means that our staff will work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. By default, 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 geographic area.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

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