About the job

Job summary

This position is based Nationally

Job description

The team 

Natural England is the the Government’s statutory advisor for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan. This describes an ambitious vision, bringing 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 

At Natural England, we love what we do. We’re here to make sure people and nature can thrive. A healthy natural environment is fundamental to our wellbeing, prosperity and happiness – that’s why we collaborate with scientists, lawyers, project managers and experts to implement environmental policy and shape decisions.

We work with a wide range of partners, stakeholders and customers on a huge range of projects, from influencing construction, advising farmers and landowners how they can manage their land in a sustainable way for the benefit of the environment, gathering and analysing environmental data, and carrying out vital statutory duties. Across the country, we’re helping nature to support people and our planet.

The Natural Capital and Ecosystems Assessment (NCEA) is a new Defra Group evidence programme which aims to deliver high quality national and local evidence to assess the state and condition of biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural capital assets across our terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments.

This role is based within a small team focussed on mapping and geospatial analysis of wildlife rich habitats. The team works collaboratively across a range of related projects including: update and improvement of the Priority Habitats Inventory, update of Natural England’s National Habitat Network Mapping, development of a National Habitat Potential Mapping product and mapping new habitats such as Floodplain Wetland Mosaic.

The post holder will lead on one or more of these projects, and collaborate on others, working closely with NCEA colleagues and NE’s habitat specialists to develop and deliver a range of spatial data products to meet the needs of programmes across NE, the wider Defra family and our partners.

Key tasks include:

• Acting as the project lead for one or more projects undertaken by the team, responsible for work planning, engagement, delivery and reporting to NCEA and Defra colleagues.
• Leading and collaborating in the design and development of innovative tools and approaches to geospatial data analysis, update and management.
• Leading on the management and update of key habitat datasets, including functional management of lead adviser colleagues working on these.
• Engaging with Natural England’s habitat specialists and other stakeholders to ensure the team’s work is aligned with organisational thinking and focussed on organisational outcomes.
• Work closely with NCEA leads on related projects such as Living England, England Peat Map, England Ecosystem Assessment, Ancient Woodland Inventory to ensure effective alignment and integration between these related work areas.
• Working closely with NCEA Data Mobilisation team and Data Science Services colleagues to ensure data management and publication is in accordance with data licencing and data management procedures.
• Work closely with Natural England and Defra leads on related programmes such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies, agri-environment schemes and environmental monitoring and targeting, to provide analysis and reporting and ensure the team’s work aligns with the needs of these programmes.

Recruitment Framework

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Leading and Managing People ( Practitioner)

Description

• Encourage, inspire and support people to be ambitious, creative and innovative, and to reflect, celebrate and learn lessons from their work.

• Set clear plans and expectations for your team, explain reasons behind decisions, be clear on the outcomes to be achieved, and make things happen by sharing and delegating work to the right people.

Competence 2

Professional competency

Personal Effectiveness (Practitioner)

Description

• Proactively communicate and present your data, evidence and analyses in ways that meet people’s needs so they can understand its implications and use it effectively to deliver positive outcomes for the environment.

• Apply new technology to improve the way we deliver our work.

Competence 3

Professional competency

Work Delivery (Practitioner)

Description

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines.

• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance and comply with delegations, policies and procedures.

• Apply the relevant methodologies and tools for collecting and collating data / evidence including metadata.

Competence 4

Professional competency

Technical knowledge and skills

Description

(NB: STAR format not required for these skills)
Essential:
• Expert level experience of Geographic Information Systems (e.g. ArcGIS, QGIS, etc.) for data manipulation, geospatial analysis and mapping.
• Understanding of habitat data and classification approaches in a UK context.
• Experience of building relationships and working effectively with partners and stakeholders to achieve joint outcomes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills including experience of developing guidance and training materials.
Desirable:
• Experience of using FME and/or PostGres-PostGIS for geospatial data management and analysis.
• Understanding of the ecology of UK BAP Priority Habitats and their UK policy context.
• Experience of functionally managing others to deliver joint outcomes.

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.