Senior Quantitative Analyst (Nature Recovery)
Job Type: Permanent
Region: Scotland
Vicinity: Edinburgh
Salary: £49,401 - £59,152
Salary Description: New entrants are expected to start on the minimum pay band
Start Date: confirmed following successful pre‑employment checks which can take several weeks
Recruiter: Environmental Standards Scotland
Job Ref: 466579
Closing Date: 06/07/2026
About us
Environmental Standards Scotland’s (ESS) role is to monitor, investigate and secure public authorities’ compliance with environmental law in Scotland. We also scrutinise the effectiveness of environmental law and policy in Scotland and how it is implemented and applied. In our investigative and analytical reports, we may also identify instances where we consider there to be gaps in environmental protection legislation.
ESS is an independent non‑ministerial office, accountable to the Scottish Parliament and overseen by a non‑executive board. It is part of the Scottish Administration and its employees are civil servants. Full details are available on the ESS website.
Our Strategy 2026-2031 sets out how we will work as an organisation to deliver our vision that ‘by holding public authorities to account, we will ensure that Scotland’s people and nature benefit from a high‑quality, healthy environment through improved compliance with and better implementation of effective environmental law’.
ESS’ role is expanding to take on two new roles:
- scrutinising the Scottish Government’s delivery against the new statutory biodiversity and nature restoration targets which will be set under the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026
- scrutinising local authorities’ reporting against climate change duties as set out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009
- To deliver these duties and to manage this significant organisational change, ESS will be recruiting new posts over the next twelve months to establish a new team within the organisation to lead the development of work to deliver these roles, alongside related corporate services requirements.
Job description
We are recruiting a Senior Quantitative Analyst to support the development of our new scrutiny function for the statutory biodiversity and nature restoration targets which will be set under the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026.
This post will be managed by the new Principal Scrutiny Officer (nature recovery) and will play a crucial role in development of a new area of work for ESS. Professional guidance and support will be provided by the Head of Data and Quantitative Analysis.
Key responsibilities
The post holder will support the new Principal Scrutiny Officer and the Head of Data and Quantitative Analysis by:
- developing our organisational understanding of proposed indicators and the data underpinning them for the biodiversity and nature restoration targets to be set under the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026
- support the new Principal Scrutiny Officer (Nature Recovery) to build effective relationships with analysts and statisticians in public authorities and NGOs within the new department’s remit, to ensure that ESS is abreast of, and able to access, the latest data and evidence
- undertake policy-facing statistical work, including ad hoc analysis and interpretation of Scottish environmental data, independent analysis of progress towards the biodiversity and nature restoration targets and preparing briefing for senior officials and the ESS’ Chair and Board
- work with the existing data team (C1 Head of Data and Quantitative Analysis and B3 Senior Analyst) to embed good analytical practices across the organisation, including strong processes for quality assurance, data management and intelligent transparency
- be an active advocate for ESS’ Voluntary Application of the Code of Practice for Statistics by guiding others in appropriate practices for preparing, managing and using data
- engage with stakeholders and share statistical and analytical techniques to increase understanding and trust in ESS’ scrutiny work
- identify opportunities to develop statistical insights and reports that support wider organisational objectives
Application
Further information on the job role and interview process can be found here.
