Senior / Principal Ecologist (Manchester based)

Hybrid working (remote and in office attendance)

Location: Manchester

Permanent, full time or part-time

Up to £50,000k (Full Time Equivalent) dependent on experience

Lanpro is a market-leading and award-winning multi-disciplinary consultancy specialising in Planning, Design and the Environment. Our project portfolio is diverse, representing projects at all scales across a variety of sectors including residential, historic sites and estates, renewable energy, and mixed-use commercial developments.

We are offering an exciting opportunity for you to become an integral member of our small and growing ecology team, working closely with our Ecology Lead for the Northern Region. This role will suit you if you are self-motivated, enjoy site surveys, are excited by a dynamic role and working in a happy, nurturing and supportive team.

We are looking for Senior and Principal Ecologists across our Manchester, York and Edinburgh offices. We welcome applicants from both consultancy or non-consultancy backgrounds, who have either academic or vocational qualifications.

About Lanpro:

Lanpro is different! We thrive by creating a friendly, supportive and nurturing environment with a small team culture. We are entrepreneurial and collaborative, encouraging innovation and prioritising your professional development to offer you a fast growing, unique and rewarding ecosphere in which to develop your career.

As a valued employee of Lanpro, you can expect to feel nurtured and supported. We offer the following great benefits as standard:

• Non contractual growth bonus scheme
• Enhanced Annual Leave entitlement - 25 days plus bank holidays.
• Loyalty Leave (Continuous Service accrued Annual Leave up to 5 days)
• Hybrid Flexible Working Environment
• Centrally based City Offices (Manchester, York, Edinburgh)
• Vitality Health Care - Private Medical Scheme
• Company Pension
• Death in Service cover
• BUPA Cash Plan
• Protected Continuous Professional Development structure (Department/individual & Company wide)
• Access to Atlas Learning and Development (E-Learning portal)
• Professional Body Membership
• Career Progression Framework and Development
• Discounted Gym Membership
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Discounts and perks - Amazon Prime, Odeon, Apple, Café Nero
• Employee Assistance Program - including Financial and Mental Health support from external experts on our private medical services.

As a Senior or Principal Ecologist at Lanpro, you will play a pivotal role within our small and growing Ecology team to deliver ecology and biodiversity surveys and assessments. This will include site surveys, data processing and reporting. You will also have the opportunity to gain experience of the whole project lifecycle, support and mentor junior team members and develop your client-facing skills.

You will have a passion for Ecology and we welcome applicants who are either generalists or pursuing specialist areas of interest. You will have a sound understanding of relevant legislation and policy including an understanding of the implications of the Environment Act 2021. You will have sound experience of UK Hab surveys and working with the statutory biodiversity metric. You should be proactive in keeping yourself up to date with the latest professional development.

The role will suit you if you are an ambitious and enthusiastic team player. As we are a growing team, there are huge opportunities for your professional development, at a pace that suits you and rewards your hard work. Your continuous professional development will be encouraged, and we will fully support you to develop a tailored training programme that suits your interests alongside the needs of the business. This will include company sponsored internal and external training, conferences and events.

As part of the Principal Ecologist role, your key responsibilities will be:

• Provide technical support to our design teams and project managers with ecology and biodiversity deliverables.
• Lead habitat and species surveys.
• Carry out a range of desk-based tasks including desk studies, consultations, research, data management and analysis, Preliminary Ecological Assessment (PEA), UKHab reports and Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIA) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) assessments.
• Prepare scope of works and fee proposals.
• Compile key health and safety documents (e.g. risk assessments).
• Helping with the day-to-day efficient running of the team and taking on some wider responsibilities, e.g. booking equipment, work planning, team events, etc.
• Liaison with clients, stakeholders and regulatory bodies.
• Mentoring and management of junior team members.

Qualifications and experience:

• A minimum of four years relevant UK experience.
• Driving license preferred.
• CIEEM membership preferred.

Essential skills and attributes:

• Team player
• Excellent communication skills.
• Able to undertake site work, including staying away from home if required (with expenses paid by the company).
• Confident and motivated to work both alone and leading surveys.
• Naturally well organised, good at prioritising and meeting deadlines.
• Good attitude to health, safety and wellbeing.
• Strong report writing and data analysis skills.
• Ability to quality assure colleagues' work providing constructive feedback.
• Good experience of project management.
• Excellent commercial awareness and application.
• Effective delegation skills.
• Ability to support and mentor junior team members.
• Good working knowledge of relevant legislation and policy.

Desirable knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Protected Species Licences and or specialist skills (e.g. Level 1 or 2 bat licence, GCN survey licence, ornithologist, FISC)
• Experience of Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA)
• Experience of GIS packages (e.g. QGIS)
• Experience of bat sound analysis (e.g. Kaleidoscope)