29874 - Biodiversity Technical Officer

We have an exciting opportunity for a Biodiversity Technical Officer to join our Nuclear New Build (NNB) Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Team. The successful candidate will work across the multiple projects that sit under the NNB programme, including Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, and future NNB projects. This is an excellent opportunity to help contribute to the UK's net zero target and our responses to the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. As the Biodiversity Technical Officer, you will work with and support technical specialists to provide advice and guidance to nuclear developers before they apply for environmental permits to construct and operate the stations. You will help to assess their permit applications under the Habitats Regulations, using your skills to interpret and present the supporting evidence and data, bringing together and formatting our HRA decision reports. The post would be suited to anyone with an interested and knowledge in environmental protection, the Habitats Regulations, biodiversity, ecology and environmental impacts on the environment. The team We are the Nuclear New Build (NNB) Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Team, we deliver an important service to ensure that European sites are protected when issuing environmental permits for construction and operation of new nuclear power stations, under our duties as competent authority under the Habitats Regulations. We are a small friendly, nationally dispersed team of based in the Nature Recovery department of the Environment & Business (E&B) Directorate.

You are likely to have a background in ecology or assessing environmental impacts on protected habitats and species, with an ability to analyse and present data clearly. While some Habitats Regulations knowledge is expected, this is a development role, and you will be fully supported by a team of specialists. You will need:

• knowledge of the impact that activities such as water discharges, water abstractions, or aerial emissions have on terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecology and how these impacts could be mitigated
• a good grasp of presenting and interpreting data using GIS and Office365 tools such as Word and Excel
• good communication, relationship-building, and team-working skills
• good work planning skills, including the ability to handle multiple priorities and deliver to tight timescales
  
  The Environment Agency are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We don't just talk about diversity; we seek it, embrace it, and live it, for the benefit of our staff, our communities and our environment.