Drought Specialist

Number of jobs available- 1
- Region- East of England
- City/Town- Brampton, Ipswich
- Grade- Staff Grade 5
- Post Type- Permanent
- Working Pattern- Full Time
- Role Type- Environment & Sustainability
- Salary Minimum- £37,462
- Job description- It's a great time to work for the Environment Agency as we the tackle the climate and nature emergency. As part of our Integrated Environment Planning team, you will be at the heart of ensuring the area is resilient and ready to respond to droughts to safeguard the environment and water supplies.
You'll build our drought resilience, across East Anglia Area and South-East Hub, working with colleagues to plan and deliver drought response improvements, ensuring we have effective drought plans, and our staff are ready and able to respond.
As part of the national drought communities of practice you will help deliver lessons learnt from recent droughts, develop guidance, develop, and deliver training to internal and external partners.
Your role will include:

- Acting as a drought specialist to deliver drought management, planning, preparedness, and effective response.
- Providing support to key incident roles helping us meet the demands of improving our incident preparedness.
- Shaping approaches to drought planning - providing advice and support to area, pan-area and national teams.
- Supporting area and national operations input during drought, being agile to meet the business need.
- Guiding and advising others on drought matters, specialising in agriculture issues.
- Maintaining links with national drought teams on behalf of East Anglia Area.
- Identifying external engagement opportunities across the area and hub.
- Participating in, and leading, projects to deliver learning from recent drought and planning for drought.

Responding to incidents is a central part of what we do. You will be required to have an incident role and make yourself available to respond to incidents or provide business continuity support during an incident. This may attract an additional payment and full training and alternative working arrangements will be available to support you with your incident role.
The team- The Integrated Environment Planning team includes specialists in catchment planning, water quality and water resources.
We work with area and national teams to commission, analyse and share data, producing plans that inform and drive East Anglia Area’s priorities.
We provide technical leadership in drought incidents, protecting the environment and managing water availability through the abstraction licensing system that we manage.
Our team leads engagement with water companies, abstractors, NFU, NGOs and local stakeholders during drought.
- Experience/skills required- Your excellent interpersonal and project management skills will be complimented by your ability to achieve results, solve problems, and communicate drought issues in a clear and concise manner to a range of audiences.
Essential:

- Communication, presentation and networking.
- Drafting and updating operational plans.
- Self-motivated and able to work on your own initiative as part of a dispersed team and a national community of drought specialists.
- Good judgement, problem solving and decision-making skills.
- Well organised, with the ability to handle multiple priorities and deliver to tight timescales.

It would be helpful if you had:

- An understanding of our drought and water resources frameworks, which highlight the challenges we face in East Anglia and across the South-East.
- Ability to work with a range of colleagues and teams from areas, pan-area and national seeking a joined up and consistent approach.
- A full UK driving licence as there may be some travelling between offices
- Contact and additional information- In East Anglia we want to create a diverse workplace where people are respected, valued and listened to. We’re all different, and by embracing Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) we can become an equal opportunity employer where jointly we all grow and learn together.
It is our ambition to champion diversity through building a workforce as diverse as the communities we serve.
The role will be based at our Brampton or Ipswich offices. We will accommodate working from home, but you'll be required to attend your base location on a regular basis.
This is a full-time post although requests for other work patterns will be considered.