Major Casework Offshore Wind Senior Adviser (Ref: 5305)
Natural England
Closing date: Friday 22nd September 2023
Reference number: 307364
Salary: £33,736
Location: East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber
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.
• 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.
Job description
The UK Government has committed to delivering 40gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. Even with the UK as a world leader in the delivery of offshore wind projects, this challenging target amounts to one turbine installed every day for a decade. New technologies and targets around floating turbines make this a dynamic and fulfilling area to work. This exciting role will form part of an Area team working on offshore wind projects.
As Senior Responsible Officer for Offshore Wind projects, the role holder will be responsible for maintaining an overview of the co-ordination and delivery of Natural England’s advice on marine sustainable development including (but not exclusively) offshore wind and shall include direct delivery of complex pieces of work.
The role holder will work with the existing Senior Advisers/Specialists to contribute to wider networks and liaise with national teams and other Area Teams. As a Senior Adviser you will fulfil a key leadership role and will be expected to be a role model for Natural England’s ways of working and help drive the changes needed to meet government’s green energy targets. The role-holder shall provide functional leadership to the Case Officers and have oversight of a number of Offshore Wind projects.
Key Tasks and Principal Accountabilities
• Demonstrate expertise in the delivery of major casework at a local level, maintaining an overview of their portfolio.
• Identify and prioritise issues that arise both in individual cases, and across cases so that consistent solutions are found.
• Work with project teams to support the delivery of timely and evidence-based advice, working with lead advisers, national specialists and principal advisers, and attend meetings and hearings as appropriate.
• Quality assure and support marine sustainable development casework delivery as set out in our non-financial scheme of delegation.
• Oversee, and as required, proactively engage with key partners and customers to ensure effective communications and excellent stakeholder relationships.
• Working with partners to identify and deliver projects which improve the condition and quality of the marine and coastal environment. This will include identifying and pursuing funding opportunities.
• Develop capability and capacity of case leads through mentoring and coaching and contribute to relevant learning and development opportunities especially in the delivery of Natural England’s advice of Nationally Significant Infrastructure projects (NSIPs).
• Provide guidance and support in the resolution of specific case issues/thematic areas.
• Work with case leads to identify risks associated with the delivery of our advice and ensure they are escalated appropriately.
• Support lead advisers in agreeing the delivery of Natural England’s discretionary Advice Service for major developments/NSIPs.
• Participate in relevant internal networks to ensure marine delivery targets which support major casework are met; exchange information and best practice; and identify more effective ways of working through collating lessons learnt.
