Senior Development Advisor in Cardiff

The role is for an experienced planning professional with the technical expertise and ambition to shape sustainable development across Wales. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is seeking a Senior Planning Advisor to take on a lead role in our Development Planning Advice Service (DPAS). This role offers the chance to influence major development proposals across Wales, including infrastructure, housing, transport, and agriculture, ensuring environmental priorities are at the heart of decision-making.

In this role, you will take ownership of complex and high-profile casework, providing authoritative advice to Planning Authorities, Welsh Government, and developers. Your work will span a wide range of environmental topics such as conservation sites, European Protected Species, flood risk, water quality, air quality, contaminated land, and landscape. You will work closely with technical specialists across NRW to deliver robust, evidence-based guidance that supports sustainable outcomes. Your expertise will directly influence how development takes place in Wales, ensuring it aligns with national priorities for climate, biodiversity, and natural resource management.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone with substantial experience in planning, environmental management, or ecological consultancy. You will bring strong communication and analytical skills, a collaborative mindset, and the confidence to influence at a strategic level, helping to improve the economic, social, environmental, and cultural well-being of Wales. In this role, you will lead on nationally significant work and contribute to the continued growth and quality of a highly regarded environmental planning service.

As an organisation, we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the NRW office in Cardiff, and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed upon appointment. Any regular face-to-face meetings or training will be planned in advance.

About Us: Our Development Planning Advice Service provides expert and influential environmental advice to Planning Authorities and Welsh Government, helping them make well-informed decisions about development across Wales. By working proactively with partners and customers, the Service plays a key role in supporting sustainable development, guiding proposals towards the most appropriate locations and ensuring environmental considerations are embedded from the outset.

What You Will Do:

• Oversee and provide assurance of advice to Local Development Plans and other sub-regional strategies and plans, including the advice on strategic environmental assessment of such plans.
• Produce advice to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects or complex, high-risk development proposals ensuring NRW advice is robust, evidence-based, and delivered to deadline.
• Contribute professional judgement and assistance to decision-making in respect of strategic and complex individual development proposals and plans managed by other team members.
• Assure information prepared in relation to challenges against NRW development planning advice.
• Attend appeals and inquiries.
• Provide operational input to the development of NRW policy, process, and guidance.
• Ensure that NRW Policy, process, and guidance is consistently applied within the team.
• Development of effective customer relationships (internal and external).
• Influence local development projects and strategies early in their evolution.
• Be responsible for the technical development of team members.
• Provide functional advice and experience to multifunctional place planning such as Area Statements.
• Contribute to the development of the team work plan.
• Manage and deliver continuous improvement projects for the Service.
• Maintain auditable records of actions and outcomes to justify and demonstrate that all legal and procedural requirements have been met.
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post.
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post.
• Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Required to take part in incident response activities.
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge, and skills:

• Excellent knowledge and substantial experience of environmental assessment and development planning processes.
• Excellent understanding and significant experience of the development sector.
• Experience of community liaison and public engagement activities in relation to major projects.
• Ability to communicate and negotiate effectively with stakeholders at senior management levels.
• Good written and spoken communication skills and an ability to represent both the technical and strategic aspects of Development Planning work to non-specialists, both within NRW and externally, in a concise and effective way.
• Ability to analyse complex information and situations, solve problems, and make sound judgements.
• Ability to coach and mentor others effectively.
• Ability to manage projects and lead virtual task groups.
• Strong and effective self-management and organisational skills.

Welsh language level requirements: Essential: Level A1 - Entry level. Please note if you do not meet the A1 requirement, i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Additional Information For Applicants: Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date. This role meets the criteria for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route. Natural Resources Wales welcomes applications from non-UK citizens who are eligible to apply under this route, subject to confirmation by the Home Office.

Benefits: This role will offer a range of benefits, including: Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97%, 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days, generous leave entitlements for all your life needs, commitment to professional development, health and wellbeing benefits and support, weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose.

We are passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We are committed to equal opportunities, and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on a variety of topics, stay current in their field, and continue to learn as their career progresses. We are a bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards. Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop, and use their Welsh language skills.