About the job

Job summary

This is a National Role

Job description

The team

The Evidence Services Team 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 NCEA programme 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. Delivery of the England Ecosystem Survey.

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 - 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. 

Job description

This role will focus on Natural England’s contribution to the Defra funded Data Mobilisation and integration project theme.

You will work proactively with the Data Mobilisation team and with internal and some external stakeholders to understand their data needs and data holdings. The aim is to overcome barriers to data sharing to improve access to and effective use of evidence and assist NCEA projects to produce outputs under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

The role involves engaging with teams across Natural England, Defra Group, and biological recording infrastructure partners and data providers.

Key tasks and principal accountabilities:

• Seek to understand the short and long-term priorities for Natural England’s work and associated data mobilisation issues, to enable effective planning and problem-solving, working with NCEA leads across all projects and wider Defra
• Engage and work closely with our Natural England data services staff to ensure consistent practice and continuous improvement organization wide
• Contribute to elements of our NCEA programme of work for improving data quality and access to evidence with development of guidance, tools and training materials for effective data planning and management, data procurement, licensing
• Seek ways to improve effectiveness and drive efficiencies, collaborating with others across Natural England to put these in place
• Support delivery and planning of meetings and workshops to develop effective collaborative partnerships, working across the biological recording landscape in England e.g. National Biodiversity Network Trust, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Association of Local Environmental Records Centres along with national recording schemes and societies

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Work Delivery - Practitioner

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines
  
  
• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with regulations, policies and procedures.

Competence 2

Professional competency

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment - Practitioner

• Understand and explain the outcomes that we seek and how these fit in with local and national issues
  
  
• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes

Competence 3

Professional competency

Technical Knowledge and Skills

Essential:

• Experience of, or ability to swiftly build an excellent understanding of the range of evidence used in Natural England and the business context within which it is used.
  
  
• Experience of, or ability to swiftly build an excellent knowledge of Intellectual Property Rights and data licensing.
  
  
• Experience of, or ability to swiftly build an understanding of procurement processes and partnership working agreements.
  
  
• Strong IT skills - use of PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, Excel.
  

Desirable:

• Experience of biological survey or a biological/ecological background.

Competence 4

Professional competency

Personal Effectiveness - Basic

• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together.
  
  
• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience

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.