Marine Senior Officer - Sussex and Kent - ( Ref : 6690 ) in Ashford

Job Summary

This position is based at Ashford or Worthing.

Job Description

Sussex & Kent area team are looking for a Marine Senior Officer to lead our marine nature recovery work, who will play an important strategic leadership role, working to reduce key pressures to enable nature recovery at sea.

As a Senior Officer you will fulfil a key leadership role and will be expected to be a role model for Natural England’s ways of working and help drive the changes needed to deliver Natural England’s Strategy. The role holder will have experience of statutory marine delivery work, and knowledge of current European and UK policies and legislative frameworks for the marine environment and have a drive to work in collaboration internally and with external partners.

The role requires strong organisational and communication skills, and experience of motivating, supporting, or developing others and experience of working with partners. Regular travel across Sussex and Kent is required to meet colleagues, visit sites, and engage with stakeholders, with patterns varying depending on project needs.

The role will sit within our Resilient Landscapes and Seas team alongside our Protected Sites colleagues and is an exciting opportunity to deliver a real difference for marine nature recovery.

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

• Demonstrate expertise in the delivery of marine statutory casework
• Lead a small team to support effective casework handling and delivery of evidence-based advice in a timely manner
• Lead your team to deliver Marine Protected Area cycle work, which includes marine monitoring, condition assessment, conservation advice and designations.
• Lead NE’s fisheries work with Sussex IFCA and provide a supporting role for Kent & Essex IFCA. This includes coordinating committee attendance and leading NE’s statutory consultation responses.
• Support internal collaborative working between terrestrial, coastal and marine colleagues, sharing learning and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Oversee and proactively engage with key partners to ensure effective communications and excellent stakeholder relationships.
• Develop capability and capacity of your team through mentoring, coaching and contributing to relevant learning and development opportunities
• Participate in the relevant internal networks to ensure that marine delivery targets are met; exchanging information and best practice; and identifying more effective ways of working by collating lessons learnt.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Relevant degree or equivalent qualification and experience.
• Strong knowledge of ecology processes and biodiversity relevant to UK waters and coast particularly in Sussex and Kent.
• Strong experience of applied knowledge and evidence of providing expert advice to customers and stakeholders, ideally relevant to marine and terrestrial protected sites e.g. for designation, monitoring or delivering marine casework.
• Strong knowledge of current European and domestic policies, legislative frameworks and drivers for the marine environment and coastal zone combined with a practical understanding of UK Marine Protected Areas and the roles and responsibilities of key marine and coastal stakeholders.
• Effective communication and collaboration abilities to identify and implement opportunities to improve ways of working and support internal and external relationships.
• Experience of supporting team members knowledge and building experience to aid staff to deliver on key strategic objectives.
• Technical expertise relevant to Marine Protected Areas, in particular around monitoring, regulations and designations.
• Understanding of statutory fisheries work.
• Knowledge of Sussex and Kent marine habitats and Marine Protected Areas and other Designated Sites.

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

Competencies

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process.

Technical Skills and Knowledge:

• An expert in marine environmental policy, issues and potential solutions. (Essential)
• Proven skills in creating and building networks/partnerships in the marine context. (Essential)
• Ability to effectively influence senior decision-makers in the public, private and third sectors. (Essential)
• Can analyse and communicate complex systems thinking in accessible formats to a range of audiences. (Essential)
• Technical expertise relevant to Marine Protected Areas, in particular around monitoring, regulations and designations. (Desirable)
• Understanding of statutory fisheries work. (Desirable)
• Knowledge of Sussex and Kent marine habitats and Marine Protected Areas and other Designated Sites. (Desirable)

Personal Effectiveness

• Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence. (Expert
• Proactively communicate and present your data, evidence and analysis in ways that meet people’s needs so they can understand its implications and use it effectively to deliver positive outcomes for the environment. (Practitioner)

Putting People at the heart of the environment

• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims. (Practitioner)
• Understand the importance of people accessing and engaging with the natural environment, and how to balance their needs with nature conservation objectives. (Practitioner)

Work Delivery

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines. (Expert)
• Identify priority evidence needs and seek ways to meet them (e.g. through funding or partnerships). (Practitioner)

As with all roles in NE, these roles require office attendance of a minimum of 20% of the working time – one day per week for those who work full time, subject to any reasonable adjustments and/or existing contractual homeworking.