Principal Ecological Consultant - South East in Guildford

Our core purpose is to enable nature and business to thrive together. Our brand mission is to be chosen by clients as their preferred specialists and regarded by people in our industry as the company to work for. We aim to be the most innovative, pragmatic and fast-growing environmental consultancy in the UK. With offices across the UK, our experts are committed to delivering exceptional outcomes to our clients across a range of environmental services and ecological contracting.

Our services include but are not limited to: terrestrial ecology, freshwater ecology, hydrology, arboricultural services, geographic information systems (GIS) and mapping, environmental impact assessments.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Ecologist to join our team enhancing our offering to clients and building on our success. This position will be based out of our Guildford office. In this role you will be instrumental in driving your team's financial success by preparing compelling tenders, efficiently managing projects, and fostering strong relationships with clients and potential clients. An integral part of your role will also be to provide technical support, coaching and leadership to the Guildford team. Your contributions will also support the company's vision and values by delivering high-quality work, completing tasks within specified timelines, and consistently upholding the company's standards of excellence.

Suitable candidates will have strong commercial project management skills, and will also be technically competent, with an in-depth knowledge of ecology, legislation, and survey techniques. Outputs are expected to be high quality, on time and within budget. As with all consultancy work, you will need to be a professional with the ability to communicate effectively and to maintain positive client relationships. This is a permanent position, with a working split between our office, home and on-site work. We'll consider candidates on either full-time or part-time/flexible working patterns.

Some of the duties include:

• Line management responsibility, overseeing and guiding a small team of Senior Ecological Consultants, Ecological Consultants and Assistant Ecologists.
• Technical coaching, mentoring and support to those around you.
• Lead and manage large, complex projects, ensuring seamless execution from start to finish.
• Handle technically challenging tasks, including EPSL applications, EcIA chapters, and Habitats Regulations Assessments.
• Deliver high-quality reports and outputs for clients, consistently meeting or exceeding project deadlines and budget constraints.
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with clients, ensuring continued trust and satisfaction.
• Document relevant professional experience and leverage it to advance toward obtaining protected species licenses.
• Take ownership for the quality of survey work by providing leadership and direction to the field team.
• Maintain active membership with CIEEM.

Salary: From £44,000 per annum, dependent on skillset.

Requirements: To be considered you will be an experienced Principal Ecological Consultant with an ecological or related subject degree. You will be technically competent, with an in-depth knowledge of ecology, legislation and survey techniques with advanced field skills in one or more specialist areas as well as holding protected species licences. You will also hold a clean, valid UK driving licence and have your own car/access to a car which will be insured for business use. We would be especially interested in hearing from applicants with ornithological skills, botany skills and/or the ability to act as Named Ecologist on bat mitigation licences. However, none of these are essential. All applicants must be based in the UK with the Right to Work in the UK.

Working at Thomson: At Thomson, we strive to be the very best at what we do, both in the eyes of our clients and our colleagues. We believe in One Thomson; we draw on and value every individual's unique skills and experience to come together and support each other in delivering an exceptional service. Our people are our greatest asset. We want Thomson to be a great place to work, where everyone feels supported to be the best they can be. We are proud of our friendly, supportive, 'nothing is too much trouble' culture. We live and breathe our RISE (Respect, Integrity, Support, Excellence) values. Your opinions matter to us; we are constantly evolving. We promote a healthy work-life balance to ensure we have an engaged, productive and happy team. We are flexible and committed and welcome new challenges. We recognise the importance in training and developing our team as well as offering a competitive pay and reward package. Involving ourselves in our local communities is important to us and we are proud of our continued achievements in fund raising for charity. We work hard but have fun too. We are passionate about career development so we make sure we nurture talent. Our people benefit from access to a diverse range of industry-accredited external training, as well as in-house training opportunities led by our specialists. The variety of projects we deliver across the breadth of environmental services encourages cross-team working and collaboration. We can offer you the opportunity to contribute to and lead on high-profile, once in a life-time projects.

You'll enjoy all the benefits we have to offer which include: 25 days annual leave, healthcare cash plan, enhanced stakeholder pension scheme, life insurance, discounted gym membership, paid professional memberships, clothing allowance, outstanding performance rewards, long service awards, free parking and regular local and company social events.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: As an equal opportunities employer, Thomson is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, gender reassignment, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.