Assistant Ecologist - Fixed Term Contract - East Anglia in Ipswich

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:

• Terrestrial ecology
• Freshwater ecology
• Hydrology
• Marine laboratory
• Arboricultural services
• Geographic information systems (GIS) and mapping
• Environmental impact assessments

We have an exciting fixed‑term contract opportunity for an Assistant Ecologist to support our terrestrial ecology team in East Anglia. This is a great opportunity to learn professional survey and mitigation techniques, in a range of species and habitats, and to gain experience of working in a busy independent environmental consultancy. We would like to hear from hardworking graduates and those looking to enter the industry with a degree in ecology, environmental science, zoology or another related field and who have a passion to work as an Ecologist.

Salary: £26,090 per annum

Requirements:

• Have a degree in ecology or a related field, or suitable relevant experience.
• Be living in the UK with the right to work in the UK.
• Have a valid driving licence and a car that can be insured for business use.
• Be able to start full time from May until the end of October 2026.
• Be located within 1 hour's commute from one of our East Anglia (Ipswich) offices.
• Have the ability and willingness to travel and stay away at survey sites in various locations around the UK.
• Have confidence to work independently, and as part of a team.
• Be self‑motivated with the ability to learn quickly.

It would be advantageous if you also had the following:

• Previous experience undertaking ecological surveys in the UK.
• A protected species licence e.g. GCN, bat or dormouse.
• Membership to the Chartered Institute of Ecological and Environmental Management (CIEEM).
• A Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Card.
• First Aid at Work certification.

All applicants must be based in the UK with the right to work in the UK.

At Thomson, we strive to be the very best at what we do, both in the eyes of our customers 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 fundraising 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.