Senior Officer - Local Nature Recovery Strategy Spatial Data Leadership - ( Ref : 6829 )

With LNRS publication nearing completion, Natural England is focused on supporting delivery and embedding LNRS priorities into local decision-making and delivery.

This key leadership role within the Defra Group LNRS Project will lead the Data and Evidence Workstream, overseeing the development and implementation of a national LNRS mapping product and promoting its use across Defra Group organisations and Responsible Authorities.

LNRS is at a pivotal moment. We've moved from strategy into delivery, and the team is now building real momentum in supporting Area Teams and driving outcomes on the ground.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of something that is growing, evolving and making a real difference. We're looking for energetic, passionate and influential people who can help shape the next phase of LNRS delivery.

If you want to be at the heart of making LNRS a success, we'd love to hear from you.

Working within the National Delivery Team, you will provide strategic direction, lead collaboration across organisations, and help ensure effective delivery of LNRS objectives.

The role requires strong data literacy, policy understanding, stakeholder engagement and leadership skills, alongside the ability to support operational delivery and build effective partnerships to drive nature recovery at scale.

The postholder will work closely with project colleagues, Defra Group partners and Responsible Authorities, contributing flexibly to shared objectives and successful programme delivery.

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

• Develop and manage the workstream delivery plan.
• Engage across LNRS workstreams to identify current and future data and evidence needs.
• Contribute to Defra Group activity addressing data licensing challenges.
• Establish trusted and influential relationships with key stakeholders across Natural England, Defra and partner organisations, ensuring that critical information is shared swiftly and accurately, and that emerging risks, issues and opportunities are identified, managed and escalated appropriately.

National LNRS Mapping Product

• Lead stakeholder engagement to agree and review user requirements for a national LNRS mapping product.
• Oversee delivery, including milestones, risks, dependencies and issue resolution.
• Ensure coordinated delivery across the Data and Evidence Workstream.
• Promote adoption and effective use of the mapping product across Responsible Authorities, Defra Group organisations and partners.

Workstream Priorities

• Identify and prioritise future data and evidence requirements across Defra policy and delivery teams, ALBs and the wider LNRS project.

Data and Evidence Oversight

• Contribute to nature recovery data standardisation initiatives.
• Identify and address LNRS data licensing requirements through Defra Group engagement.
• Oversee management of the national LNRS mapping portal and viewer.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Understanding of LNRS policy.
• Understanding of the data and evidence related context, issues and dependencies within which the workstream and project are operating.
• Ability to think strategically and see the big picture and encourage strategic thought within the workstream.
• A degree of GIS literacy and ability to advise on GIS based tasks – knowledge of data issues that can arise from large scale projects.

Ability and confidence to lead others.

Strong communication skills, able to engage well with internal and external stakeholders.

Personal Effectiveness

• Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and Natural England and inspire others to act. (Practitioner)
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together. (Practitioner)
• Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective. (Practitioner)
• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience. (Practitioner)
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together. (Practitioner)

Work Delivery

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Expert).
• See the big picture so you can set your team’s work within the context of the organisation’s vision, mission and aims, and help them understand how their work relates to and supports this (Practitioner).
• Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures. (Practitioner)

Competence 3

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment

• Listen to and understand diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England. (Practitioner).
• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims. (Practitioner)

Technical Skills and Knowledge (Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.)

• Strong understanding of government environmental targets and commitments, including the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), and experience of applying these within a professional context to inform delivery, prioritisation, monitoring and reporting. (Essential)
• Good knowledge of LNRSs and how they are developed, implemented and used to support nature recovery and wider environmental objectives. (Essential)
• Experience of working within, or in partnership with, government departments, public bodies or arm's-length organisations, with an understanding of how policy, evidence and operational delivery interact to achieve government objectives. (Desirable)
• Able to communicate complex spatial information through maps, dashboards, reports and statistical outputs for a range of audiences. (Desirable)
• Up to date with developments in GIS, digital mapping and spatial data technologies, using innovation to improve delivery and decision-making. (Desirable)

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