Senior Clwyd Catchment Officer in Wales

The role involves joining the North East People and Places Team to shape the future of the Clwyd Opportunity Catchment across Flintshire, Wrexham and Denbighshire. This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role for someone who enjoys turning ambition into action and making a visible difference on the ground. You'll work across a rich and varied catchment, from urban areas and bathing waters to agricultural landscapes, flood-affected communities and nationally important habitats.

By promoting integrated catchment management and developing capital projects, you'll help deliver real benefits for water quality, biodiversity, climate resilience and local communities. As Senior Officer, you'll collaborate closely with colleagues, the Opportunity Catchment Group, the Clwyd Forum and key partners including Welsh Water and the River Trust. You'll also lead the delivery of the Nature and Climate Emergency Fund - Clwyd Catchment project, using your project, contract and financial management skills to achieve high-impact outcomes.

Driving is essential to this role, requiring site visits and contractor management across the North East; therefore, you must hold a full and current UK driving license. The organisation supports flexible working, 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: This role sits within the Operations Directorate in North East Wales, within the North East People and Places Team, a collaborative and diverse group united by a commitment to protecting and enhancing our natural environment and local places. The team includes specialists across partnership working, biodiversity and conservation, protected sites, fisheries, flood risk and incident management, and Area Statements and Public Service Boards. Working strategically and practically, the team helps shape positive outcomes for communities and future generations.

What you will do:

• Lead for the place on the NaCE funded Clwyd Catchment project linking where possible to the wider team's remit of Area Statement, well-being, PSB coordination, outward funding, conservation and designated sites planning, recreation & access, fisheries, water, providing technical expertise and advice to the team and Head of Place.
• Mentor others in the team to broaden their understanding of your specialism so the team develops a multidisciplinary understanding of environmental issues.
• Work with the team to develop innovative solutions to environmental issues, integrating multiple aspects of planning within the place.
• Identify gaps in the evidence base and work with SPE to prioritise and commission research.
• Help to facilitate join-up of PSB objectives with Area Statements and the place plan, working across boundaries as appropriate.
• Work co-productively with teams in the place and external stakeholders providing technical expertise to influence and develop priorities, projects and plans for delivery by others including through outward funding, focused in the Clwyd Catchment.
• Develop, deliver and monitor the NaCE funded Clwyd Catchment programme, through sound financial judgement, good contract management and project management skills.
• Work with the full spectrum of stakeholders and partners, seizing opportunities and driving the integrated catchment management agenda forward.
• Network with other People & Places teams across Wales providing an agreed service level of technical knowledge and input to other teams.
• 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:

In your application and interview, you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method:

• Strong engagement, influencing, negotiation, and communication skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships with colleagues, partners and senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to develop innovative solutions to complex problems and to interpret and synthesise multiple sources of complex information to support sound decision-making.
• Significant knowledge of environmental legislation relevant to the place remit.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality outcomes.
• You will have specialist knowledge of one or more technical areas of the team's remit: Fisheries strategic planning, Conservation of Protected sites & landscapes, National Nature Reserves planning, Water resource management, WFD & catchment planning, Flood risk management.

Welsh Language level requirements:

Essential: Level A1 - Entry level Welsh language levels. 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.

Benefits:

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme).
• 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're 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.

Unless otherwise stated in the 'Role' section of this advert, Natural Resources Wales is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position. Although we hold a Skilled Worker visa sponsorship licence, it applies only to specific roles that meet both the eligibility criteria and salary requirements set out by the UK Government under the Skilled Worker visa route.

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.