Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience

Key Accountabilities:

• Provide expert ecological support & advice across a range of Trust business activities in the region to ensure compliance with environmental regulatory requirements & corporate environmental standards.
• Liaise with colleagues involved in specifying, commissioning and delivering works to ensure relevant environmental processes are understood and being implemented.
• Liaise with external regulators & stakeholders at local and regional level to protect and promote Trust interests in relation to environmental management.
• Facilitate implementation of the Trust’s Environmental Management System, monitoring & reporting on compliance with regulatory requirements & corporate environmental standards. Sharing experiences with the wider business.
• Contribute to the development of the Trust’s Environmental Management System & corporate environmental standards, in consultation with other Trust colleagues.
• Record all environmental incidents and work with environmental team colleagues to respond to and manage the actions/issues including the liaison with regulators.
• Help maintain environmental awareness and competency levels across the delivery teams.
• Contribute to delivering local and national publicity, feature articles for websites and events as well as assisting the wider environment team deliver increased levels of volunteering. 
• Comply with Canal & River Trust’s Health & Safety policy and defined standards. Undertake risk assessments, report incidents, accidents and near misses.
• Provide a point of contact for basic technical queries internally and externally. Respond as appropriate by providing advice and reference to relevant information sources or escalate to senior team members.
• Using SAP and GIS systems, ensure all relevant information and analysis is input in a timely and accurate manner.
• Undertake preliminary studies/investigations, making site visits and working outside as appropriate.

Skills & Experience

We are looking for someone with a strong understanding of Ecology and with relevant experience. You may be a graduate member or working towards your associate membership of CIEEM or an equivalent body (CIWEM or SocEnv) Additionally we require the successful candidate to offer the following skills:

Essential:

• Degree or equivalent experience in related discipline. 
• Comprehensive practical understanding of current environmental legislation.
• Experience of a wide range of priority species survey techniques, with at least one protected species licence.
• Competency in wide range of habitat assessments including woodland, scrub, grassland and freshwater.
• Valid UK driving licence – essential; you will need to be able to move across the region regularly to deliver your work successfully. 
• Experience of working efficiently within a business environment, delivering ecological support and advice To technical and non-technical clients. 
• Good standard of effective written and verbal communication skills with a proven ability to present technical information to non-technical audiences.
• Proficient in the use of a personal computer and business applications software eg MS Office.
• Sound knowledge of health and safety good practice & procedure. 

Desirable: 

• Mitigation, development and advanced protected species licence holder for at least one or more species.
• Specialist knowledge and field survey competency in a particular biological group.
• Freshwater botanical skills. 
• Practical experience/understanding of protecting, managing and enhancing statutory protected sites and county wildlife sites. 
• Comfortable in conducting media and comms as a way of improving stakeholder and community engagement. 
• Ability to lead community and  citizen science events.

In addition to the specialist expertise and professional qualifications you bring, it is also essential that you have an ability to engage with a variety of stakeholders across the organisation and wider, and communicate effectively to protect and promote the Trusts’ waterways environment and ecology and enjoy working with volunteers and community groups