4870 - Senior Specialist Fresh Water & Air - Targets & Indicators

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 & 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.

About Natural England

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. 

Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Job Description

In a major new step for nature recovery, a requirement for long-term legally binding targets for biodiversity, water and air became law under the Environment Act 2021. The statutory instruments have been set in October 2022 and your role will advise on the Secretary of State environmental improvement plan to meet these targets. Ongoing, the Secretary of State must prepare annual reports on the implementation of the current environmental improvement plan.

Strengthening the evidence base to support delivery of the Biodiversity, Water and Air targets, and to monitor and report on their progress is a priority for Defra and for Natural England’s support and advisory role. In this exciting opportunity, you will lead in evidence development, collaboration and advice to support implementation of the Statutory targets and indicators. You will acquire new skills and knowledge in policy development and novel targets and indicators methodology and will provide evidence and analysis to inform policy development. You will work cross-team and develop linkages between Natural England species and habitat specialists, and maintain strong working relationships with Defra teams. You will work collaboratively for the design of robust monitoring frameworks, data sources, specialist analysis of trends to guide delivery against these new targets and the 25 Year Environment Plan indicators that underlie them.

This is a Senior Specialist role, which involves managing relationships  with colleagues in Natural England, Defra Group, potentially other Government Departments, local authorities, and environmental Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) stakeholders.

Key Tasks

The balance of the key tasks for the role will vary and will depend on the needs and priorities at the time 

• Build strong partnerships to input to Defra’s evidence-led delivery for joined up coordination of Air and Freshwater evidence for biodiversity delivery; lead an evidence coordination group with cross-team representation from Defra policy teams, EA and NE.
• Work collaboratively with other specialists to support Natural England’s development of evidenced advice for the Environment Plan targets delivery and indicators monitoring.
• Collaborate with external partners and stakeholders, including through Memoranda of Agreement (MoA) and managing contractors to develop the required evidence.
• Support development of papers and advice to be presented to Defra led Advisory Panels, Programme Board and within Natural England, for the delivery of the Environment Act Statutory Instruments.
• Collaborate and proactively establish resource to engage with various internal specialists to develop/show our evidence to different Defra teams into the future

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 that our staff will 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 geographic 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 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

For an informal discussion or further information on this role or Natural England, please contact:

Team Leader: Rosalind Johnston 07385968535

Principal Specialist: Steve Panks 07799 583447

Please note, we may use a reserve list of candidates who pass at interview for any future opportunities that arise at the same grade in Natural England where similar skills are necessary.