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
• 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

Job Introduction

This is an exciting opportunity to become part of a small, multi-disciplinary team developing evidence and advice to support decisions for marine nature recovery. We work closely with different specialist disciplines, such as ecology, economics and evaluation to provide practical, evidence-based tools and advice that makes a difference to decision-making on the ground, improving England’s marine environment for people and nature. This role will involve applying your technical knowledge, experience and critical thinking to complex problems and finding solutions collaboratively with other internal teams and external partners. Our approach incorporates natural capital thinking and an important part of the work is to understand the wide and diverse values people hold for the marine environment.

Initially, this role will support delivery of Natural England’s contribution to the Defra-funded marine natural capital and ecosystem assessment (mNCEA). The mNCEA began in 2021 with a pilot year and has since developed into a full 3-year programme running from April 2022 until the end of March 2025. The overarching aim is to deliver evidence, tools and guidance on the extent and condition of marine natural capital assets, the ecosystem services they provide and the trade-offs that are necessary in realising the natural capital benefits of most importance to society. We are also working with Defra and specialists in Environment Agency (EA), Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), to develop and deliver the mNCEA programme. The role will also support our wider work on fisheries and marine recovery.

This role is based within the Science Directorate of the Chief Scientist’s Directorate in Natural England. This Directorate is responsible for Natural England’s Science, Evidence and Evaluation Strategy and supports its implementation to ensure Natural England is an evidence-led organisation.

Job description 1 

Role Responsibility

We are seeking someone with a background in social science, with marine experience and, ideally, some existing knowledge of the natural capital and/or ecosystems approach, who works well with people from different scientific disciplines, and with external stakeholders, to develop integrated approaches and solutions. The successful candidate will be able to support specific topics within Natural England’s mNCEA and wider marine work. This will include:-

• Taking a leading role in developing social science methods and tools, and collecting new primary data, to support practical application of the natural capital approach to place-based marine planning and prioritisation;
• Taking a leading role in identifying key research and knowledge gaps within marine/fisheries social science researchto support wider work within NE 
• Providing advice and guidance on social science methods and techniques; supporting others to use and understand these to maximise the robustness of research delivered across NE; and helping colleagues to apply research recommendations
• Applying and evaluating an interdisciplinary approach to working with other mNCEA specialists to bring together a range of data and perspectives from different disciplines
• Commissioning and managing work with contractors and maintaining relationships with academic collaborators
• Supporting others in, and where necessary leading, engagement with stakeholders for co-development of solutions
• Working closely with partner organisations also contributing to mNCEA and NE’s wider marine programmes (MMO, EA, JNCC, Cefas)

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

The cross-cutting nature of the role means there is significant scope for personal development and developing areas of personal interest. The post holder will be provided with support in the role by Senior and Principal Specialists working on the mNCEA and across NE’s wider marine and social science teams. We also have a strong informal and formal training offer.

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 & Knowledge
• Putting people at the heart of the environment
• Personal Effectiveness
• 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.

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency

Competencies

Competence   1

Professional competency

Detail  

Technical Knowledge & Skills

Description  

• A good undergraduate or postgraduate degree in social science. Applicants that do not hold a relevant degree should specify experience and outputs that demonstrate that they have an equivalent level of knowledge.
  • Demonstrable specialist knowledge of social science research, including within interdisciplinary teams, at expert level with at least two years of post-graduate work experience in designing, delivering and analysing robust research in the context of a decision-making and policy landscape (quantitative and/or qualitative)
  • Experience of marine/coastal projects.
  • Good understanding of the perceptions, motivations, and values that connect people to their environment and/or how they interact with environmental management and decision-making.
  • The ability to work in a multidisciplinary way with colleagues across natural science, economics and evaluation.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to present complex ideas simply, to a wide range of audiences.
  • Strong analytical skills and experience of employing these in the application of projects.
  
  You do not need to use STAR for this competency.

Competence 2  

Professional competency

Detail  

Personal Effectiveness

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 (Practitioner).
  • Test and challenge others in a constructive and evidence-based way providing scientific scrutiny, challenge and assurance so that the guidance you provide is practical and, where appropriate, cross-disciplinary (expert)
  • Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (Expert).

Competence 3  

Professional competency

Detail  

Work Delivery

Description  

(Practitioner)
• Manage and deliver work on multiple projects with multiple teams to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Expert)
• Ensure the overall robustness, quality and impact of our evidence and analysis within your specialism (Expert)
• Understand evaluation and apply it to your work at an appropriate scale in order to identify the impact of our evidence or interventions and opportunities for improvement (Practitioner).

Competence 4  

Professional competency

Detail  

Putting people at the heart of the environment

Description  

• Build relationships and effective networks both externally and internally to bring in fresh perspectives, approaches and evidence to raise the profile of both your individual specialist work and that of Natural England (expert)
  • Work proactively and collaboratively with stakeholders and partners to identify and secure opportunities to deliver gains for people and nature (practitioner)
  • Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims (practitioner)
  • Test and challenge others in a constructive and evidence-based way providing scientific scrutiny, challenge and assurance so that the guidance you provide is practical and, where appropriate, cross-disciplinary (expert)

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.