About the job

Job summary

This position is based Nationally

Job description

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

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

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.

About the Team

The Chief Scientist Directorate (CSD) provides scientific and evidence leadership services and support to help Natural England operate as an evidence-led organisation. The Data Science Services (DSS) Team, within the Analysis Team of CSD, provides access to evidence through the provision and management of data and digital systems, and through application of data science, statistics and geospatial analysis to maintain and expand our evidence base.

This role will be responsible for the design and implementation of numerous complex data flows to connect operational systems, data for analytics and business systems. The role will support the development and delivery of projects across Natural England, including technical leadership, capability building, and development of analytical processes (spatial and non-spatial).

The post holder will:

· Resolve problems that involve detailed investigation and analysis and the exercise of judgment in making recommendations or determining appropriate action.

· Apply project management principles and tools to ensure delivery of high-quality outcomes to internal and external customers.

· Liaise with colleagues/customers/stakeholders to scope analysis requirements and design provision accordingly.

· Provide functional and technical leadership and capability building of colleagues; working to develop their skills and experience.

· Manage work requests and delivery planning, co-ordinate work delivery teams and set best practice and standards.

· Build accessible data for analysis.

· Lead re-engineering of manual data flows to enable scaling and repeatable use.

· Recognise and share opportunities to reuse existing data flows between teams.

· Be responsible for the build of data-streaming systems.

· Optimise code to ensure processes perform optimally.

· Apply knowledge of systems integration to your work.

· Work with others to make sure that the organisation’s systems are designed in accordance with the appropriate data architecture.

· Champion data engineering across the organisation.

The successful candidate will work closely with and draw on the knowledge and experience of the Digital and Data Principal Advisers, as well as the Senior advisers within the team. This is a challenging and rewarding role that provides great opportunities to develop the full range of key capabilities in support of your personal development.

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 the 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.

Next Steps

If we receive a significant number of applications, we reserve the right to evaluate application on the first two competencies only.

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 4 competencies as set out in the Job Description.

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 to which successful candidates are most suited, wherever possible.

Competencies

Competence 1 - Professional competency

Detail 

Technical Skills and Knowledge

Description 

· Experience working with a range of large scale spatial and non-spatial data types in both structured and unstructured formats (Essential)
· Knowledge of data models and bringing together multiple data sources into models for analysis(Essential)
· Ability to design, code, test, correct and document moderate-to-complex programs and scripts from agreed specifications. (Essential))
· Experience identifying problems and implementing appropriate solutions.(Essential)
· Experience in a relevant field (e.g. environmental science, ecology, geology, historic environment, climate change) (Desirable)
· Technical background in data science and multi-layered data sets (spatial and non-spatial) (Desirable)

Competence 2 - Professional competency

Detail 

Leading and Managing People

Description 

· Encourage, inspire, and support people to be ambitious, creative and innovative, and to reflect, celebrate and learn lessons from their work (Practitioner)
· Facilitate and support the personal development of people in your team, enabling them to share expertise and continuously learn (Practitioner)
· Lead by example, engage, and support staff through change (Practitioner)

Competence 3 - Professional competency

Detail 

Personal Effectiveness

Description 

Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and Natural England and inspire others to act (Practitioner)
· Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together (Practitioner)
· Apply new technology to improve the way we deliver our work (Practitioner

Competence 4 - Professional competency

Detail 

Work delivery

Description.

Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures (Expert)
· Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Expert))

Contact and additional information (Recruiters Name, Email and Phone Number) 

Jamie Leeman - email: jamie.leeman@naturalengland.org.uk, phone: 0207 714 0939

Chris Healey - chris.healey@naturalengland.org.uk, phone 07721 669092

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,098, Natural England contributes £9,782 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

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.