Job title: 1006-435/1006-436/1006-437 National Operations Officer – Onshore Energy | Grade: D | Hours: 35 | Vacancy type: Permanent | Salary £38,616 (Pay award pending effect from 01 April 2025) | Location: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling & Inverness (other locations will be considered). Home/hybrid working possible | Closing date: Midnight 2 December 2025 | Internal Interviews: 15th December 2025 | External Interviews: 12th January 2026

Job Purpose Summary

NatureScot is Scotland’s Nature Agency. We work with partners from across Scotland’s public, private and environment sectors to address the climate and nature emergencies, by protecting and restoring nature and inspiring others to value our natural world.

These are three important new permanent roles, sitting within NatureScot’s National Operations teams, and involving considerable cross-team and external work. The post-holders will coordinate work on supporting and delivering NatureScot’s responses to consultations on casework related to the delivery of onshore energy requirements. The roles involve working closely with Supporting Good Development (SGD) team, Operations colleagues and specialist advisers within other activity teams to provide casework advice, identify and share good practice. The postholders will work flexibly at both the Area and national level across Scotland in response to workload demand to help ensure a coordinated and consistent approach to our service. The energy generation and transmission work will involve onshore wind, transmission lines, pump storage hydro, solar, battery energy, hydrogen, grid connections.

This work is high profile and fast-paced, and we are seeking three experienced and resilient individuals with proven influencing skills; agile in approach with good team working skills and experience in delivering high quality outputs.These new posts are in an exciting area of work with the ability to influence positive outcomes for nature, influencing how the energy sector in particular can help deliver for nature and helping to shape our corporate approach to this sector.

The main duties and responsibilities are:

Act as Case Officer for renewable energy proposals, coordinating inputs from colleagues to produce clear, focussed and influential responses to consultations.
Undertaking site visits for onshore renewable proposals where required.
Public Inquiry Coordination.
Building and maintaining working relationships and networks across different Advisory and Operational Teams.
Liaising with external stakeholders including developers, environmental consultants, Local Planning Authorities and Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit.

Alongside the focus on onshore energy casework the post holder will have some flexibility to work on a range of projects and initiatives in collaboration with colleagues.

Applicants must be able to travel across Scotland to attend meetings and site visits as required – this may involve occasional overnight stays away from home or the coordination of Inquiries or Hearings around Scotland.

Skills required (please refer to these in your supporting statement)

An understanding of the planning system and NatureScot’s statutory role in planning casework, other statutory regulatory regimes including DPEA appeals processes, and Scottish Government's energy policy, with a focus on renewables policy.
Knowledge and experience of NatureScot’s role in relation to protected areas and landscapes, including Habitats Regulations Appraisal.
An understanding of nature-based solutions and their benefits, with an ability to communicate how local nature-based solutions could be identified, developed and delivered through strategy, partnership and place-based working.
Creativity and versatility in approach to work, able to be flexible and adapt to changing priorities with a proven ability to embrace new ideas and progress independently with new areas of work.
Good verbal communication, influencing and engagement skills, demonstrating an ability to take forward NatureScot’s aims and ambitions into external arenas.
Clear written skills and a proven ability to coordinate contributions from a range of interests into coherent advice to customers.
A demonstrable ability to prioritise work in the face of competing workloads and demands; and good organisational skills that enable setting realistic work priorities and ensure deadlines are met.
A team player that demonstrates empathy and understanding of the views and positions of others, while also showing commitment to overall team performance and the organisational objectives of NatureScot.
Relevant experience of working with public bodies, non-governmental organisations and private sector businesses and representatives.

Prerequisites Required:

To undertake a Disclosure Scotland application.
Although Gaelic language is not a prerequisite it is a desirable skill in support of our commitment to our Gaelic Language Plan.
Applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK and resident in Scotland for the duration of the job contract

Working for NatureScot – what we offer you

NatureScot offers some great benefits to reward and support you whilst you are working for us. Our benefits package includes the civil service pension scheme, a generous holiday leave allowance plus flexi time, and employee discount scheme. Visit the NatureScot website for further details including below:

An environment with flexible working options.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% (7.35% employee contributions) https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/joining-the-pension-scheme/benefits-of-the-pension-scheme/
41.5 days of annual leave, including 5 fixed public holidays on St Andrews Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and 2nd January.
Equivalent of 2 days paid volunteering leave.
A focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme.
Job satisfaction from contributing proactively to the twinned nature and climate crisis.
Death in service benefits.
Cycle to work and electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.
Access to an employee discounts scheme.
Learning and development tailored to your role.
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.

Application Process

Application is by CV and Supporting Statement. Please ensure you attach these documents when submitting your application.

Before applying for this post:

Internal applicants should read the Self Service Guide (eRDMS A3155575). If you have previously applied for a vacancy with NatureScot you must remove the supporting statement from your profile, before uploading a new version.
External applicants should read the Online Job Application Guide.

If you have previously applied for a vacancy with NatureScot you must remove the supporting statement from your profile, before uploading a new version.

Interviews

These will be arranged as a Microsoft Teams call. External candidates will be invited to interview if we are unable to recruit internally.

NatureScot’s Net Zero commitment

Whether working at home or in an office, or travelling to meetings and site visits, as a NatureScot you will contribute to our Net Zero plan, for example through positive carbon travel choices.

For information regarding the post please contact:

Debbie Skinner, Energy Casework Manager. Please feel free to contact me for a chat about the role in advance of an application.

Email: Debbie.skinner@nature.scot

Nature is vital to all of us, so it is vital that we are an organisation for all of Scotland. The more diverse NatureScot is, the better we will be in connecting everyone with nature. We particularly encourage applications from people from Minority Ethnic (ME) backgrounds and people with a disability.

NatureScot

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National Operations Officer - Onshore Energy