Job description  

You will be joining Natural England at an exciting time with ambitious government commitments to halt biodiversity decline, restore nature and safeguard our environment for future generations.

You will lead and contribute to wide ranging work areas associated with biodiversity net gain, Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment and 25 Year Environment Plan (25 YEP), including development and delivery of metrics and tools to support policy development, investment decisions and infrastructure delivery.

Metrics, indicators and targets are pivotal to achieving impact from our science, evidence and evaluation in driving government’s plans for nature recovery. 

We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic professional to be part of an exciting growing team of experts. If this sounds like you – apply now!

The Role 

Specialist roles underpin Natural England’s position as a science-based organisation. The roles are highly varied, both building the evidence base and applying it to make a real difference to the natural environment.

Biodiversity net gain is an increasing priority work area within Natural England and amongst our partners and stakeholders, especially in the area of infrastructure and housing development. The Biodiversity Metric 3.0 was developed using our specialist expertise and is scheduled to be published during the summer 2021.

This is a senior role, and you will provide expert, evidence-based and practical advice around the policies, principles and application of net gain, including the use of the biodiversity net gain metric and associated calculation tools.

The role involves working closely with colleagues in Natural England, Defra Group, potentially other Government Departments and industry, local authorities and environmental NGO stakeholders.

This is a national role with regular travel to London and elsewhere (Covid dependent).

Key tasks

This is an evolving work area and specific responsibilities will develop and change over time. The post holder will need to maintain a flexible and adaptable attitude and approach. Initial broad work areas are described below:

Provide strategic and technical leadership around the future development and testing of Biodiversity Metric tools including Biodiversity Metric 3.0, Small Sites Metrics and other associated excel based tools, within Natural England and with key partners and stakeholders

Test and develop key guidance documents for internal and external audiences, including those that relate to the principles and policies of net gain along with the application of Biodiversity Metric 3.0 and the calculation tool.

Working with internal and external partners; contribute strategic, technical and evidence-based specialist advice and support to:

• Develop the requirement for a robust monitoring and evaluation framework for net gain tools fit for purpose when policy emerges
• Develop framework for net gain and build net gain capability by developing and delivering training packages and mentoring.eg NE, NGO’s developers
• Contribute to the provision of advice around the principles and application of Biodiversity Metric 3.0 across a range of development sectors
• Provide technical support to emerging areas of related Natural England priority work such as wider environmental net gain, environmental benefits from nature tool (ecometric) and 25 YEP metrics

Provide technical support for Parliamentary Questions, Minister briefings and MP queries (e.g. constituent letters)

The team  

The Specialist Services and Programmes team (SSP) is part of the Chief Scientist’s Directorate in Natural England. This Directorate is responsible for Natural England’s Science, Evidence and Evaluation Strategy and support its implementation to ensure Natural England is an evidence-led organisation. The SSP team leads on the development and application of natural, economic and social science and evidence to drive and enable the achievement of environmental outcomes both within Natural England and externally. Our Chief Scientist Directorate is a great place to work with some of the country’s leading environmental scientists and we offer strong support for flexible working and for personal development.

Metrics, indicators and targets (MIT) are pivotal to achieving impact from our science, evidence and evaluation in driving nature recovery.  Policy developments such as net gain, and the 25 YEP aspiration of wider environmental net gains alongside the evolution of the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) and the drive to re-engineer financial investment to become nature-positive as set out in the Dasgupta Review, are increasing attention in this area. Natural England is ramping up its focus in MIT to support policy development, investment decisions and infrastructure delivery.  We are also increasing our focus on the research and innovation necessary to develop, test and deploy new and more meaningful MIT, as suggested within the 25 YEP Indicators Framework.