About the job

Job summary

This is a National Role

Job description

The team

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

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.

The roles sit within Project NE3 - Field Data Collection and Soils. The England Ecosystem Survey work package uses 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 to address data gaps, including soils.

Job description

Role 1: Survey Project Support - Description

The role will provide project support to the England Ecosystem Survey (EES) by assisting the development of and implementation of new field data collection methods and processes. This will involve reviewing the processes used in the first delivery year (2023-2024) and identifying lessons learnt and improvements to implement in subsequent survey years. You will be part of a project team delivering several aspects linked directly to the work package associated with mobile field data collection across a number of ecological habitats. The post holder will provide support around all elements of data capture and assist in the development of new data capture and storage systems for EES. The role will also include an element of engagement internally and externally with key partners and provide integration between the soils element of the project and the wider NCEA field data collection elements.     

Key tasks include:

The post holder will support Senior and Principal Advisers in the development and delivery of the field data collection aspect of the England Ecosystem Survey (EES) by:

• Supporting the design and logistics of survey planning, including habitat classification, updating field manuals, providing guidance and development of mobile field survey technology.
• Contributing towards the development and improvement of survey methodology and explore opportunities for improvements, enhancements and/or innovations in the field data collection process.
• Assisting with access permissions processes and seek ways to optimise them.
• Liaising with landowners, public and staff regarding survey, access and site safety.
• External communication and stakeholder engagement
• Supporting the development of new data capture and storage systems for EES
• Supporting data analysis and presentation

Role 2: Survey Logistics - Description

The role will provide project support to the England Ecosystem Survey (EES) by managing all aspects of field survey equipment. The post holder will use their knowledge of field survey work to plan, track and manage equipment; and lead the procurement of new equipment when necessary. The role will also include collaboration and coordination with multiple stakeholders within the team, external contractors, managers, and others across Natural England.     

Key tasks include:

• Create, populate, and manage an inventory of field survey equipment – take ownership of this and ensure other team members understand their responsibilities in relation to field equipment.
• Manage the storage of all field survey equipment, including securing suitable storage locations.
• Control the movement of equipment for the project, including working with field survey coordinators to distribute to field survey teams.
• Take responsibility for the audit of equipment on completion of the field survey season and specifying requirements for replacement and additional equipment.

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.

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. 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. 

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency. Please ensure you read the Candidate Information Pack before you begin completing the application form.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Technical skills

• A degree in Environmental Science or Ecology and/or conservation or equivalent qualification and relevant experience (essential)
  
  
• Experience of the use, management and development of mobile field survey technology and data collection applications (essential)
  
  
• Knowledge of UK Priority Habitats and associated indicator species (essential)
  
  
• Knowledge and experience of planning and conducting vegetation surveys, including use of habitat classification systems such as National Vegetation Classification (NVC) and UK Habitat Classification (UKHab) (desirable)
  
  
• Knowledge of freshwater and aquatic habitats and an awareness and understanding of eDNA application, or a willingness to learn (desirable)
  
  
• Applied experience of GIS and field data collection techniques and software (desirable)
  
  
• Skills and experience in coding applications, such as R and Python, and data analysis skills, or a willingness to learn (desirable)
  
  
• Experience of the use and development of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems (desirable)
  
  
• Ability to manage procurement processes in compliance with NE policy, or a willingness to learn (Role 2 only)

Competence 2

Professional competency

Work Delivery

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

Competence 3

Professional competency

Personal Effectiveness

• Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (Practitioner)
  
  
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together (Practitioner)

Competence 4

Professional competency

Putting People at the Heart

• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England (Practitioner)
  
  
• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims (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.