The Organisation
Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment?
If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature.
The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:
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Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive.
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Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change.
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Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods.
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Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature, and
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Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing.
We are the Government’s Adviser for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.
Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england
Job description
Job Summary
An exciting opportunity to join an expanding work area as a Data and Digital Projects Officer, enabling better use of systems in Natural England’s Wildlife Licensing Service.
The Team
The Reform Team is one of six in Natural England’s Wildlife Licensing Service (NEWLS), with a focus on streamlining and improving processes for wildlife licensing. We do this through two streams: Data and Systems and Continuous Improvement.
Our work is critical for our Wildlife Licensing Service as we bring about innovation through reforms to deliver better processes, more efficient casework handling, and better use of our data. Through this, we unlock opportunities and ultimately achieve better outcomes.
Over the next 5 years we aim to deliver an ambitious programme of wildlife licensing reform. This will allow us to move our focus onto work that better helps nature recovery at a landscape scale, as defined in Natural England's Action Plan.
The Reform Team will enable further advancement of key work with data and systems for NEWLS, aligning with wider Digital Transformation and other initiatives to reform licensing casework. The reforms delivered will enhance our customer service, improve user experience, and enable NEWLS to contribute to the 25 Year Environment Plan, helping strategic projects for nature’s recovery.
The Role
This role is within the Data and Systems stream and involves being a part of reform activities through data projects and the maintenance and development of our systems.
Responsibilities include:
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Development and maintenance of systems including our SharePoint-based systems and other solutions such as PowerApps.
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Building team capability for data and systems skills and helping wider Digital Transformation in Natural England.
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Leading on business intelligence and management information work including data analysis, delivering improvements to regular reporting, and information request data handling.
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Contributing to delivery of projects including development of operational support tools, digital transformation collaboration, and improvements to records management.
We are looking for candidates who can develop skills and confidence across systems quickly, who are confident working both autonomously and inside a close-knit team and can proactively engage with customers and system users.
Benefits
Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.
Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days to volunteer.
You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us.
You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events.
Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated.
We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan.
Locations
Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Full time staff are expected to attend their associated office for a minimum of one day a week.
Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.
National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area.
NEWLS is a national team and therefore these roles can be associated with any Natural England office.
View a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations
How to Apply
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.
If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview.
This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:
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Technical Skills and Knowledge
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Personal Effectiveness
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Work Delivery
When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your doing so.
Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.
Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.
Recruitment Framework
Competencies
Competence 1
Professional competency
Technical Skills and Knowledge (STAR format is not required for this competency, but please give evidence of your skills and knowledge)
Description
- Experience with SharePoint and PowerApps development, or similar applications. (Essential)
- Knowledge and experience of using Excel or other software to analyse and present data. (Essential)
- Experience engaging customers through user research to seek and analyse feedback. (Desirable)
- Awareness of continuous improvement process and project management techniques. (Desirable)
Competence 2
Professional competency
Personal Effectiveness
Description
- Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and inspire others to act. (Practitioner)
- Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective. (Practitioner)
Competence 3
Professional competency
Work Delivery
Description
- Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines. (Practitioner)
- Handle data responsibly, understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies and procedures. (Practitioner)