Job Summary
This position is based Nationally
Job Description
Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment?
If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature.
The Priority Work Natural England Is Delivering Includes
Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive.
- Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change.
- Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods.
- Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature, and
- Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing.
We are the Government’s Adviser for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.
Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england
The Chief Scientist Directorate (CSD) provides scientific and evidence leadership services and support to help Natural England operate as an evidence-led organisation. The Data Science Services (DSS) Team, within the Analysis Team of CSD, provides access to evidence through the provision and management of data and digital systems, and through provision of analytical services.
Job Description
Role Description
The Senior Adviser Will Work Closely With Others Across The Organisation To Identify Strategic Opportunities For Improvement, Development, Innovation And Integration Of Our Evidence Services, And Drive Progress, In Order To
- anticipate and meet the evidence needs of the organisation, and
- optimise effective application of our services and use of alternative options or self-service, such that Natural England is consistently led by the best available evidence.
The Role Will
- Identify opportunities for strategic approaches to our evidence work which maximise efficiency and effectiveness, including opportunities for standardising and automating ‘business as usual’ and improving self-service tools and resources. experience of anticipating evidence needs and identifying opportunities for innovative approaches to meet those needs.
- Work collaboratively to build and maintain an understanding of the organisation’s evidence needs and priorities; anticipate and support development of future evidence needs and engage others with this direction.
- Provide leadership around service development, innovation and integration, in particular across analytical and data services. Application of leadership skills to achieve team engagement in delivery of new projects
- Horizon Scan’ for new approaches and work with the other parts of the team to innovate and integrate new techniques and technology into our workflows and service offer.
- Identify where data science and earth observation approaches can be applied (including in our monitoring programmes) and where other skillsets can be integrated to increase efficiency or effectiveness.
- Work closely with a range of people across the organisation and develop external partnerships to maximise the benefit of our services and evaluate the impact of our services, including access to and appropriate use of evidence.
- Work closely with other senior advisers and other leaders to ensure appropriate ownership and delivery monitoring of all development projects initiated, and appropriate evaluation of projects.
- Identify and develop commercial and collaborative opportunities, including developing funding bids and business cases.
- Act to promote, lead and support professionalism, engagement and capability building.
Benefits
Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.
Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days to volunteer.
You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us.
You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events.
Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated.
We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan.
Locations
Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Full time staff are expected to attend their associated office for a minimum of one day a week.
Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.
National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area.
View a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations
How To Apply
We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.
If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview.
This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:
- Technical skills and knowledge
- Personal effectiveness
- Work delivery
When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your doing so.
Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.
Please select just 4 of the listed Technical Skills and Knowledge points to demonstrate your competency.
Competencies
Competence 1
Professional competency
Detail
Technical skills and knowledge
Description
Essential
- Strong background in data science
- Good understanding of a range of analytical techniques and monitoring approaches which are / could be applied to benefit Natural England’s work
Highly desirable
- Experience in a relevant field (e.g. environmental science, ecology, geology, historic environment, climate change)
- Technical background in either data science (including spatial analysis) or remote sensing / earth observation (preferably all)
- Experience in continuous improvement programmes including enterprise architecture-based approaches
Competence 2
Professional competency
Detail
Personal Effectiveness
Description
- Use horizon scanning skills to identify emerging evidence requirements and methods that could address them (Expert)
- Apply new technology to improve the way we deliver our work
- Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and organisation and inspire others to act
Competence 3
Professional competency
Detail
Leading and Managing People
Description
- Set clear plans and expectations for your team, explain reasons behind decisions, be clear on the outcomes to be achieved, and make things happen by sharing and delegating work to the right people
- Lead by example, engage and support your team through change
- Encourage, inspire, and support people to be ambitious, creative and innovative, and to reflect, celebrate and learn lessons from their work
Competence 4
Professional competency
Detail
Work Delivery
Description
- Identify and apply the most appropriate data and methodologies for your analysis, utilising reproducible analytical pipelines and data science approaches where appropriate
- Apply the relevant methodologies and tools for collecting and collating data / evidence including metadata
- Understand evaluation and apply it to your work at an appropriate scale in order to identify the impact of our evidence or interventions and opportunities for improvement
Person specification
Benefits
Please refer to Job Description
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Please Refer To Job Description
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.