Project Officer Innovative Coastal Flood Resilience

Grade 6 £30,024 - £32,061. Fixed term contract until 31 March 2027. Are you an innovative thinker with a flair for communication and a love for our coastline? Join the Our Future Coast team and help communities along the North West Coastline. Our Future Coast is a pioneering, DEFRA-funded £6m programme designed to boost coastal resilience across the North West using nature-based solutions and natural buffer strips. We are driving innovative, community-led, and environmentally sustainable approaches to flood risk management and are looking for an exceptional Project Officer to help deliver it.

As Project Officer, you will play a vital role in delivering this high-profile programme, with full leadership of Work Package 6 Dissemination. You will coordinate and manage activities across multiple teams, external partners, authorities, and coastal communities to ensure the programme's work is shared widely, with flair and maximum impact. You will lead the creation of digital platforms, manage social media and public-facing communication, coordinate stakeholder engagement, and ensure the programme outputs are accessible and impactful. This is a unique opportunity to influence coastal resilience at a regional scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of a project website including interactive mapping tools.
• Create and maintain an open-access case study bank for coastal practitioners.
• Organise dissemination events in collaboration with the programme team.
• Produce high-quality digital content and coordinate broader project communications with the communications team.
• Lead on social media content creation and management of social media pages maintaining a professional presence for the project online.
• Coordinate external partners, work groups, adjacent authorities, and community groups to deliver high quality dissemination products and events.
• Prepare reports for the Programme Board, Environment Agency, and DEFRA.

Skills and Experience

• Strong project management skills with experience delivering projects.
• Excellent influencing, negotiation, and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to build strong collaborative networks and working relationships externally and internally.
• Ability to work independently and inspire others.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a team and meet deadlines.

Desirable Attributes

• Understanding of government agencies, RMAs, and the coastal management sector.
• Knowledge of innovative natural flood management approaches.
• Experience working within local government procurement and procedures.
• GIS experience, including web-based mapping tools, ESRI based.

This role requires a commitment to upholding the council's values of professionalism, innovation, collaboration, and customer focus. The successful candidate will be expected to attend occasional out-of-hours meetings and events, including weekends where required.

What’s in it for you?

• Flexi time and the option to work remotely part of the week as agreed with your line manager.
• Generous annual leave allowance. A minimum of 24 days (pro rata) in addition to all bank holidays, rising to 26 days after four years and 29 days after five years local government service.
• Future development face to face and virtual courses in line with your developmental goals.
• Employee wellbeing support.
• Free parking on site.
• A local government pension scheme, with generous employer contribution.
• The opportunity to work for the local community and make a difference.

Closing date: 15 February 2026