Flood and Water Technical Advisor

**Details**:
**Reference number**:
189456

**Salary**:
£49,861

**Grade**:
Grade 7

**Contract type**:
Permanent

**Business area**:
DFE - Operations Group

**Type of role**:
Engineering
Environment and Sustainability
Planning
Science
Surveying

**Working pattern**:
Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

**Number of posts**:
1

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Location

Coventry CV1 2WT, Darlington DL1 5QE, Manchester M1 2WD, Sheffield S1 2FJ

About the job

**Summary**:
The Department for Education is responsible for education, children’s services, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills in England, and equalities. We work to achieve a highly educated society in which opportunity is equal for all, no matter what their background or family circumstances.

**Commercial Directorate**
The commercial function within the Department for Education ensures that all commercial and procurement activity supports the Department’s priorities and delivers outstanding value for money. It exists to proactively develop commercial solutions for the wider education sector that reduce waste in procurement and release funds for the front line. The function manages many high profile and complex contracts and grants as well as running a highly successful Risk Protection Arrangement for academies and the Schools Water Strategy to help mitigate flood risk and improve water efficiency.

We are looking for a motivated, driven, and conscientious water professional to advise on specific projects, who has the sustainability knowledge and experience to improve the quality of the environment for schools and the school grounds.

**Job description**:
As a Flood and Water Technical Advisor you will be the departments expert in your respective field of sustainability in Green Infrastructure for flood and water management in reducing flood risk at school sites. You will work within a core team of experts to contribute towards the development of standards through applied research. You will be asked to advise on flood mapping to improve understanding and provide technical and design support for the Schools Commercial team, LocatED, DfE Capital school building programmes, and other funding programmes to achieve healthy and productive educational settings, designed to be safe, secure and long lasting whilst ensuring value for money outcomes. As the expert in your field, you will play a vital role in delivering against the government’s commitment to climate change. You will give relevant advice and guidance using your expertise and contribute to programme delivery, specification updates, research, business of state function and reporting to internal stakeholders.

**Responsibilities**:
From a flood and water management perspective the successful post holder will be expected to:

- Carry out technical and design reviews, including technical specification to support commercial arrangements, including post evaluations of completed projects.
- Provide technical input for water resilience activity to support commercial installations of SUDs, PFR or flood mitigation and protection, for school sites.
- Actively engage with technical and non-technical colleagues across DfE and government departments and built environment professional bodies to develop and transfer technical and design quality knowledge and school building standards across programmes, and share lessons learned.
- Provide knowledge capacity building, including - training and communicating with project teams, technical advisors and contractors on meeting technical water standards for educational buildings and grounds.
- Provide advice and support to DfE teams on flood related queries, for example flood map understanding.
- Complex projects flood support, for example relocations and input into funding and grant solutions to schools such as school rebuilding programme.
- Work across government to promote best practice and engage with the wider sector to deliver on climate change responsibilities of buildings and sites, including input into National Adaptation Plan, Climate Change Risk Assessment reporting.
- Effectively support the process and use of evidence, as well as gathering and investigating data from ‘Buildings in Use’ assessments including Building Performance Evaluations.

A relevant construction related or relevant professional or technical qualification to degree or post graduate level (e.g. Building Surveying, Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Hydrology, Chartered Institution of Water & Environmental Management (CIWEM) etc.).

**Essential Criteria**
- Knowledge of sustainable design principles, environmental and construction strategies that deliver healthy environments and the link between indoor and outdoor environments.
- Ability to engage with people at all levels on technical standards as well as design quality, with effective and informed communication within the context of the mechanisms used in central government.
- Experience of delivering de