Marine Mammal Senior Specialist

**Reference number**:
182507

**Salary**:
£32,438

**Grade**:
Senior Executive Officer

Senior Specialist

**Contract type**:
Permanent

**Type of role**:
Operational Delivery

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

**Number of posts**:
1

Location

East Midlands (region), East of England (region), London (region), North East (region), North West (region), South East (region), South West (region), West Midlands (region), Yorkshire and the Humber (region)

About the job

**Summary**:
This position is based Nationally

**Job description**:
Natural England’s specialist services and programmes (SSP) team is a national team covering natural sciences, social sciences, and economics, including natural capital. Through our integrated business planning programme, we deploy specialist capability to support Natural England’s programmes and projects and provide advice to support delivery, particularly on complex, high-risk issues.

There is a strong opportunity to play a leading role in working across natural England’s sustainable development agenda to both shape decisions and future reforms.

Our Chief Scientist Directorate is a great place to work with some of the country’s leading environmental scientists and we offer strong support for flexible working and for personal development.

Job description

This Senior Specialist role will operate across Natural England’s Sustainable Development programme to provide specialist advice and analysis for regulatory casework, consultations, and strategic solutions.

Key tasks
- Interpreting evidence to provide expert, practical advice to case officers and senior staff to assess and mitigate environmental impacts, whilst seeking environmental enhancement.
- Providing clear and timely evidence-based advice in relation to the protection and monitoring of domestic and European protected sites in relation to development pressures.
- Providing specialist advice in relation to assessing the impacts of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects upon the natural environment; and working to find practical solutions and mitigate impacts.
- Providing science and evidence advice and products to ensure that regulatory reform and efficiency initiatives are informed and led by science.
- Assisting in providing discretionary chargeable advice for developers and licence applicants.
- Assisting in the development of guidelines or standing advice to help assess impacts or guide developers or licence applicants.
- Maintaining an up-to-date understanding of the relevant evidence base and regularly horizon scanning for emerging issues.
- Building and analysing the required evidence base, together with highlighting important gaps in our understanding.
- Maintaining a high degree of integrity and expertise at all times and through continued professional development, whilst helping to improve the capability of other staff.

Representing Natural England externally as a recognised expert and building relationships and links with key stakeholders and academic institutions.

Competencies

Competence 1 - Professional competency

Detail

Marine Mammal Ecology

Description
- An excellent understanding of marine mammal species and ecology, survey techniques and relevant data analysis within the English marine environment.
- An excellent understanding of the requirement for marine mammal advice in regards to marine sectors including: oil and gas, renewable energy, nuclear and fisheries.
- An excellent understanding of the evidence base in relation to the above, and how that evidence needs to be applied.
- An understanding of how marine pollution and climate change could be affecting marine mammals
- A clear understanding of the marine mammal evidence base and knowledge of the gaps to inform the management of Marine Protected Areas.
- Knowledge of policies, legislative frameworks and drivers for the marine environment combined with a detailed understanding of the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the marine field.
- A good understanding of broader English marine ecology and ecosystems.
- Maintains and demonstrates detailed knowledge and sound experience of own area of work and shares this with colleagues.

Competence 2 - Professional competency

Detail

Work Delivery

Description
- Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Expert)

Competence 3 - Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description
- Test and challenge others in a constructive and evidence-based way providing scientific scrutiny, challenge and assurance to casework and other delivery that is practical and, where appropriate, cross-disciplinary (Expert)
- Train, coach and mentor others to increase their capability to deliver the Science Evidence and Evaluation and People strategies and increase the organisation’s technical skill and capability (Practitioner)

Competence 4 - Professional competency

Detail

Putting people at the heart of the environment

Descri