About Natural England
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
About The Team
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
Key Tasks/principal Accountabilities
The purpose of this role is to lead on the internal provision and external publication of Natural England’s geospatial data products, metadata cataloguing and systems administration. This will include but not be limited to leading on publication to the Defra Data Services Platform, ArcGIS Online and future server-side and portal environments. This role will combine use of desktop and online GIS with liaison with service managers and service providers to make sure that Natural England is able to publish and access data and evidence in line with Natural England’s strategic Shift 4. The Science, Evidence and Evaluation strategy explains how we will support the organisation’s goals working with the 4 strategic programmes and sets out how we will move from being an evidence-based organisation to being an evidence-led organisation.
Natural England Priority Shifts
The following 4 shifts form the organisation's plan for how we incorporate the established elements of our existing strategy into our work.
- Shift 1 – To visibly drive the Nature Recovery Network
- Shift 2 – To develop strategic plans for places
- Shift 3 – To tackle barriers to nature
- Shift 4 – To be evidence and evaluation led
Strategic Shift 4 - To be evidence and evaluation led
For Natural England to become an evidence-led organisation and for us to be able to lead, direct and support action for nature’s recovery – we need high quality, relevant and up to date data and evidence that is actively, appropriately and confidently applied, both internally and externally. Evidence helps to lead where we go and needs to be
central to our decision making, our delivery and to the advice we provide.
The Post Holder Will
- Coordinate and deliver spatial data products and web services to internal and external customers and service providers in line with data publication guidelines.
- Act as a first point of contact for Natural England’s data sharing platforms. Engage with data providers to ensure efficient pipelining of data into Natural England’s systems, liaising with Natural England’s data managers and service managers as required.
- Review and quality assure geospatial data and metadata prior to external publication and liaise with data licensing specialists to ensure all data products meet Natural England and UK government data standards.
- Work towards advancing knowledge as a metadata/cataloguing subject matter expert.
- Lead on maintaining and updating online guidance to describe the standards, requirements and workflows related to data management systems.
- Provide support and resilience to the Senior Data Manager and Lead Adviser colleagues working on data services systems improvement projects.
- Provide support and resilience to the core data provision service which the Data Services Team provides to our customers.
- Provide high level advice and guidance to complex data provision queries.
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.
This is a national team role so can be linked with any Natural England office.
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.
- Work Delivery.
- Personal Effectiveness.
- Putting People at the Heart of the Environment.
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.
Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.
Competencies
Competence 1
Professional competency
Detail
Technical skills and knowledge (not answered in the STAR format) please demonstrate competence in four of the skills from the list.
Description
Skills and knowledge
Essential
- Proficient in Excel (Intermediate/Advanced).
- Proficient in ArcGIS software (ArcMap & ArcCatalog, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise).
- A good knowledge of online data storage systems (on-premise and cloud), geospatial data, data formats and GIS API services.
- A good knowledge of metadata standards, cataloguing systems, and implementation of good practice.
Desirable
- Some knowledge of automation scripting and tools (e.g. FME, Python, Command line).
- A good knowledge of SharePoint Online, it’s capabilities and content.
- A basic knowledge of data licensing, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and data security.
Competence 2
Professional competency
Detail
Work Delivery (STAR)
Description
- Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures (Practitioner)
- Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Practitioner)
Competence 3
Professional competency
Detail
Personal Effectiveness
Description
- Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and organisation and inspire others to act (Practitioner)
- Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (Practitioner)
Competence 4
Professional competency
Detail
Putting People at the Heart of the Environment (STAR)
Description
- Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and your organisation (Practitioner)
- Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver your organisations vision, mission and aims (Practitioner)