About the job

Job summary

This is a Nationally based role

Job description

The team 

Lead Adviser Engagement and Impact - England Ecosystem Survey

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

About the Team

The Evidence Services Directorate provides scientific and evidence leadership, services, and support to help Natural England operate as an evidence-led organisation. The Team is responsible for delivering Natural England’s part of the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA).

The NCEA is a transformative programme to understand the extent, condition and change over time of environmental assets across England's land and water environments, supporting the government’s ambition to improve the environment within a generation. Data will come from Earth Observation, professional field data collection, citizen science and partner data sets.

Natural England’s Terrestrial NCEA delivery is organised into projects:

1. Mapping and Earth Observation – Spatial data and maps on natural capital to inform national and local decision making and delivery.
2. England Peat Map – Mapping the extent and condition of England’s peatlands.
3. Field data collection – Data on habitats, soils, landscapes, and species to understand the condition of natural capital assets.
4. Citizen science – Working with citizens and community science to fill gaps, provide local and landscape scale information and engaging the public.
5. Data mobilisation and integration and reporting – Making NCEA, partner and volunteer data available for analysis, integration, and use, producing high quality evidence products by analysing and integrating NCEA data.
6. Programme management – Managing Natural England’s NCEA programme.

Additional information

Specific responsibilities will develop and change over time, and the post holder will need to maintain a flexible and adaptable attitude and approach.

This role will require occasional travel throughout England and overnight stays will be required.  Natural England will reimburse all costs incurred when travelling on organisational business – including travel, accommodation, and subsistence.

The successful candidate will be required to show flexibility in managing and adapting to other work should team priorities or resources change.

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 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.

Natural England is undertaking a review of its current Staff Framework to ensure that it continues to be fit for purpose for the future and able to deliver its ambitions as an organisation. It will enable us to attract, retain, and grow our people to deliver our ambitious mission to build partnerships for nature recovery and provide enriching careers for our people. Role responsibilities will not change as a result of the review but all roles will be assessed against the new Staff Framework and will be aligned to one of the new 3 Job Families (Shaping, Enabling and Delivering).”

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:

The Role

The England Ecosystem Survey (EES) is part of the Field Data Collection work package of the NCEA and will use professional survey as a tool to provide high quality data to assess the state and condition of biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural capital assets within England’s habitats and landscapes addressing data gaps, including soils. The England Ecosystem Survey is entering its second year of data collection and we are looking for an Engagement and Impact lead to help share initial findings with a range of stakeholders.

Job description 

You will be expected to:   

• Lead on the communications and engagement with a range of internal and external stakeholders and data users for the England Ecosystem Survey.
• Develop data visualisations and case studies of how England Ecosystem Survey data is being used to inform policy and wider environmental applications and identify new opportunities for innovation.
• Lead on communicating field survey findings with landowners.
• Lead on impact reporting across a range of communications channels.
• Lead the production of engagement material in a range of media (e.g. leaflets, infographics, video), including managing external contracts for production of resources where necessary.

Competencies

Competence 1 

Professional competency

Detail 

Technical skills and knowledge (not required to be in STAR format)

Description 

• Experience communicating ecological survey techniques and findings to a non-technical audience (Essential)
  
• Experience of engaging effectively with a range of stakeholders and tailoring communication styles to each (Essential)
  
• Understand and use digital channels (web; social media) to promote key messages – (Essential)
  
• Science communication training and experience or knowledge of enabling the understanding, use and impact of science (Desirable)
  
• Experience of using insight to identify target audiences and partners and to inform communication objectives, messages and solutions (Desirable)
  
• Knowledge of data governance, licensing, and management (Desirable)

Competence 2 

Professional competency

Detail 

Work delivery (Practitioner)

Description 

• See the big picture so you can set your team’s work within the context of the organisation’s vision, mission and aims, and help them understand how their work relates to and supports this. (Practitioner)
  
• Understand and apply relevant policy, legislation, governance frameworks and strategies to your work. (Practitioner)

Competence 3 

Professional competency

Detail 

Personal Effectiveness (Practitioner)

Description 

• Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence. (Practitioner)
  
• Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective (Practitioner)

Competence 4 

Professional competency

Detail 

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment (Practitioner)

Description 

• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England (Practitioner)
  
• Understand and explain the outcomes that we seek and how these fit in with local and national issues (Practitioner)

 

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £29,318, Natural England contributes £7,945 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.