Lead Nature Recovery Officer

**Are you passionate about nature recovery in the local area?**

An exceptional opportunity to join West Oxfordshire District Council as Lead Nature Recovery Officer. You will lead on biodiversity-focused land management and enhancement projects providing high quality and robust ecological advice to facilitate nature recovery and enhancement across the district and on Council owned land, and thereby delivering on the Council’s climate change and nature priorities.

This permanent role offers the flexibility of working within the offices at Witney and agile working, allowing you that extra freedom and work life balance.

**Are you interested in taking the next stage in your career in environmental conservation? Or are you already a Nature Recovery Officer, who is experienced in providing sound environmental guidance? If so, we would love to hear from you.**

Our environmental service is fundamental to the success of the Council’s ambition for a sustainable future.. From high BNG requirements in the Salt Cross Garden Village to funding local nature recovery demonstrators, improving community access at Deer Park South and modifying Ubico’s maintenance regimes to encourage rewilding, our focus is to enable communities in West Oxfordshire to thrive, creating sustainable places for people to live, work, learn and enjoy.

We want our future generations to blossom too and are serious about tackling the climate and environmental emergencies. Now is a fantastic time to be joining us. We want to successfully deliver our Council priorities and shape our environment for the benefit of the local area and beyond.

We are seeking a highly competent Nature Recovery Lead to play a pivotal role in providing sound ecological advice. You will be a nature-conservation specialist in the Council’s climate team, spearheading biodiversity-focused land management and enhancement projects in the Council’s new Nature Recovery Plan, as well as some climate related workstreams.

You will work with a variety of different stakeholders to facilitate nature recovery and enhancement=through an innovative and practical solutions-based approach. You will also represent the Council in external collaborations and consultations, secure external funding for projects, report on the biodiversity budget to Central Government, and improve environmental policies to ensure positive sustainable outcomes.

**You will need**
- A qualification in your area of expertise, equivalent to a degree in Biology, Zoology, Ecology or Conservation or relevant experience of five years
- Experience of working flexibly as part of a team and collaborating with colleagues and stakeholders
- Ability to remain calm and confident when dealing with challenging customers and environments
- Ability to resolve complex issues by negotiation
- Deliver commitments and take ownership of own caseload, reshaping of plans to deliver required outcomes

For more information about this role please see the Job Description/Person Specification.

**What can we do for you**
- Agile working allowing a mix of home and office working
- Flexible working arrangements (depending on the role)
- 27 days paid annual leave (pro rata if you are working part time) plus bank holidays and an extra two volunteering days off a year for you to support a charity of your choice
- Health cash plan giving you cash back on health, dental and eye care
- Pension scheme with a good employer contribution of 5% of your earnings
- Employee Assistance Programme 24/7, providing positive, preventative and supportive advice and counselling to deal with everyday events and issues
- Cycle to work scheme
- Salary sacrifice car lease scheme with huge tax and NI savings to be made on electric cars
- Access to digital financial advice (covering your pension scheme, mortgages and other finances)
- Generous sickness cover above statutory entitlements
- Additional income protection, covering 50% of your salary for potentially a further five years if you are unable to work due to sickness or injury
- Life assurance, currently four times your annual salary
- These are just a handful of the benefits that you can enjoy when you join us

Our organisation is committed to safeguarding the welfare of vulnerable adults, young people and children. Safer recruitment practices are applied to all job vacancies