Senior Hydrologist - Environment Bank in England

Position: Senior Hydrologist

Tenure: FT, Permanent

Salary: £competitive

Location: remote

Hours: 35 hrs per week

Closing date: 20.4.26

About us

At Environment Bank, we’re working together to help restore natural habitats across England. With thousands of acres of new habitat creation already underway, our projects are delivering biodiversity gains and helping vital ecosystems to recover and flourish. Our diverse team includes ecologists, land managers, habitat specialists, geospatial analysts, planning advisors, account managers, digital creatives, legal experts, and more. From our site managers to our sales and marketing teams, everyone at Environment Bank is a champion for our values, working towards our goal of reversing biodiversity loss. Environment Bank is a market-leading organisation in a sector that’s experiencing rapid growth. We’ve already built a highly skilled team of experts and we’re actively looking to expand our team in the coming months. We’re incredibly proud of all we achieved so far and we’re still growing. If you’d like to be part of a driven organisation that’s making a real difference, find your next role with the team at Environment Bank.

About the role

The role focuses on leading hydrological and geomorphological assessments for off-site Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Habitat Bank projects. The role will focus on nature-based solutions for water-dependant habitat including river restoration, floodplains, wetlands, ponds, and riparian habitats. The portfolio currently has approximately 20 sites which require hydrological input from de-culverting watercourses, managing riparian encroachment, creating and enhancing ditch networks, identifying locations for ponds and scrapes, or restoring coastal floodplain grazing marsh, with many more in the pipeline. The role will act as a senior technical authority, reporting into the Head of Design and working within a multidisciplinary team to produce high integrity Habitat Bank designs, while mentoring/line managing junior staff and contributing to best practice and strategic development.

Responsibilities

• Lead hydrological and hydromorphological inputs into Habitat Bank design.
• Oversee baseline assessments and interpretation of hydrological and geomorphological data to inform BNG habitat design.
• Develop, commission, or review hydrological and hydraulic modelling (e.g. floodplain, surface water, groundwater or catchment-scale models) to test habitat feasibility and inform design options.
• Collaborate with ecologists to provide senior oversight of habitat condition assessments and BNG calculations for water-dependent habitats using the Statutory Biodiversity Metric.
• Provide technical input to nature-based solutions for rivers, floodplains, wetlands, ponds, and riparian habitats.
• Provide expert advice on habitat feasibility, establishment risk, and long-term condition targets to inform design decisions.
• Identify and manage hydrological risks and constraints.
• Coordinate technical habitat drawings using GIS and/or CAD to feed into detailed design.
• Prepare habitat creation and enhancement specifications, including methods, materials, tolerances, and establishment requirements, to inform cost planning and budget forecasts.
• Support the preparation and review of Habitat Management Plans (HMPs) and Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans (HMMPs) for water-dependent BNG habitats.
• Provide senior technical input to water-based consenting including planning applications, flood risk activity permits, ordinary watercourse consents, drainage consents, water transfer licence.
• Collaborate closely with ecologists, woodland managers, land managers, buildability specialists and other stakeholders to ensure integrated and buildable designs.
• Provide technical mentoring/line manage, support, and quality assurance for junior and mid-level staff and oversee technical onboarding and management of specialist consultants where required.
• Contribute to internal guidance, standards, and best-practice development.
• Attend site visits to assess and determine the potential for habitat creation and enhancement proposals.
• Lead lessons learned on wetland design and delivery across the Environment Bank portfolio.
• Oversee River morphology assessments and monitoring for wetland.

Requirements

Essential:

• Strong technical expertise in hydrology, hydro morphology and/or fluvial geomorphology.
• Degree (or equivalent) in hydrology, geomorphology, environmental science, geography, or a related discipline.
• Chartered, or working towards, chartership with CIWEM, ICE or other similar relevant body.
• Professional experience delivering hydrological or hydro morphological assessments.
• Experience developing, commissioning, or interpreting hydrological and/or hydraulic models.
• Experience contributing toward nature-based projects involving rivers, wetlands, floodplains, or other water-dependent habitats.
• Ability to design and review water-led habitat creation and enhancement schemes.
• Experience developing technical specifications that inform procurement strategies, contractor tendering, and cost planning.
• Ability to interpret survey data, constraints information, and technical drawings and convert them into coherent ecological designs.
• Experience in consenting such as planning applications, flood risk activity permits, ordinary watercourse consents, drainage consents, water transfer licence.
• Excellent technical report writing and review skills.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Full UK clean driving license and willingness to travel.

Desirable:

• Proficiency in GIS and/or CAD software to develop and review technical habitat layouts (e.g. QGIS, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, or similar).
• Morph River Survey/River Condition Assessment trained.
• Understanding of Biodiversity Net Gain and the Statutory Biodiversity Metric specifically within the watercourse module (advantageous but not essential).