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.