Environmental and Consenting Specialist

**Job Purpose**:
Great Britain's electricity system is undergoing an ambitious, exciting and vital transformation. Together with industry, we are creating a cleaner, greener system, one that protects the planet and serves generations to come.

This role can be based from Wokingham or Warwick or Glasgow, and we continue to offer hybrid working from office and home. We are open to full time and part time applicants, as well as flexible working arrangements.

**About us**:
As Great Britain’s electricity system operator (ESO), we sit at the heart of the electricity system, using our outstanding engineering and commercial expertise to balance electricity supply and demand. Ultimately, we keep the electricity flowing directly to where it’s needed, second by second.

**Becoming the National Energy System Operator**

In Summer of 2024, the ESO will transition to becoming the National Energy System Operator, or NESO for short. Previously denoted as the Future System Operator (or FSO), the new National Energy System Operator will be the independent body responsible for planning Great Britain’s electricity and gas networks and operating the electricity system.

The ESO, including all of its existing roles, will be at the heart of the new National Energy System Operator. As NESO, we will build on our existing roles, capabilities, and ways of working significantly to create an organisation the energy system and its users’ need. Our new capabilities will enable us to look across vectors, including electricity, natural gas and hydrogen, and crucially consider the trade-offs between them.

The organisation will be set up as a public corporation with its own Board of independent directors, with complete operational independence from government, the regulator and any and all commercial interest. As the ESO are today, NESO will be licenced and regulated by Ofgem through price control agreements and obligated to identify optimal solutions to system operations and planning in the most sustainable, affordable and secure way for all.

The time to deliver is now. As part of our team, you won’t just be touching the lives of almost everyone in Great Britain - you’ll be shaping the way we use and consume energy for generations to come.

**Key Accountabilities**:

- Developing the assessment methodology for assessing the environmental and community impact of offshore wind farm connections and lead the appraisal of environmental and community considerations for various design options being considered within the HND.
- Provide environmental and consenting expertise and knowledge to the project design options being develop under the HND to minimise environmental and community impact and ensure design proposals are consent able and deliverable.
- Manage specialist consultants responsible for delivering the cable corridor routeing and subsequent environmental and community appraisals, ensuring their work is delivered accurately and on time.
- Work with key external stakeholders including transmission owners, government and Statutory Bodies to present and gain feedback on HND design options
- Support the appraisal of various design options against the terms of reference within the HND to provide a final design recommendation
- Articulating the rationale for the final design recommendation within technical reports and in meetings with interested stakeholders
- Work with the design teams to integrate environment and community considerations into network designs, ensuring we have a network design which achieves better environment and community outcomes.
- Awareness raising of environmental and community considerations in network design and other activities of the business.
- Identifying areas of continual improvement for the appraisal and consideration of environment and community in network planning.

**About you**:
What we do isn’t just important - it’s essential. That’s why we look to recruit experts in their field. In this case, we’re looking for someone who:

- Knowledge of environmental legislation, planning processes, consenting regimes and environmental assessment processes
- Knowledge of strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats regulation assessments.
- Experience of manging complex projects and managing consultants to deliver desired outcomes
- A willingness to contribute, adapt and learn within a busy fast-moving team
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a proven ability to communicate complex technical information
- Proven ability to build high quality relationships both internally and externally and using those to achieve the required outcomes.

**What you'll get**:
A competitive salary between £51,000 - £61,000 per annum - dependent on experience and capability. As well as your base salary, you will receive a bonus based on company performance, 26 days annual leave as standard and a competitive contributory pension scheme where we will double match your contribution to a maximum comp