Senior Ecological Consultant

Senior Ecological Consultant

Location: Chelmsford, County Hall

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full Time, 37 hours per week

Salary: F rom GBP28,500 to GBP36,000

The Role

The purpose of this job is to develop and deliver professional, high quality, profitable and timely ecology and biodiversity services and products to clients.

Responsible to the Principal Ecological Consultant and working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will deliver a range of client focused ecology and biodiversity services, and assist the Natural Environment Manager in delivering a specified annual sales target.

The post holder will assist the Principal Ecological Consultant in coaching consultants within their specialism and have personal responsibility for commercial accounts, ensuring contracts and projects are delivered on time, to budget and to specification, managing risks and ensuring appropriate resource is secured to deliver effectively.

Key areas of work will be the provision of ecological advice to Local Planning Authority officers in relation to Minerals and Waste, Highways, Schools, Residential and Commercial development dealt with by Essex County Council and our District and Borough partners. In addition, you will carry out field surveys for legally protected species, for LPA and private sector clients, which will include some early mornings and late evenings.

You will also be expected to contribute to a wide range of other client focused ecology and biodiversity services, to support the commercial viability of Place Services.

Role specific accountabilities

• Work alongside the Principal Ecological Consultant, Account Managers and other ecological consultants to ensure effective contract management to time, budget and specification
• Utilising specialist ecology and biodiversity knowledge and networks to develop relationships and win new work, deliver existing contracts and enhance customer service
• Establish and maintain good working relationships with internal and external customers to help ensure successful business outcomes
• Identify opportunities that deliver profitable services, and make suggestions to improve quality service
• Help create a positive team culture by providing support and ideas to encourage joined up and effective working
• Actively keep updated within your specialism to contribute to profitable opportunities
• Actively develop commercial acumen and constantly strive to build on skills to strengthen the position of the business
• Continually look for ways to improve your own performance by seeking feedback from customers, peers and managers

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Educated to degree level or equivalent in ecology or related discipline with a minimum of three years' industry experience
• Full CIEEM membership or eligible for this
• Has and maintains extensive knowledge of legislation and planning policy and good practice relating to ecology and biodiversity
• Has a broad understanding of current ecology and biodiversity research priorities and uses this to assess significance, win new work and deliver profitable services
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Strong client account management and networking skills
• Able to prioritise work whilst maintaining focus on key projects or activities, within defined timescales
• Has a good and developing understanding of commercial practices to contribute to the success of the wider team
• Experience of dealing effectively and confidently with clients even when faced with difficult situations
• Experience of having to proactively deal with difficult situations with little supervision

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees, including:

• A local government pension scheme (LGPS), a career average scheme with employee and employer contributions
• Annual leave entitlement of up to 29 days per year (depending upon grade and length of service)
• Purchase of additional annual leave (up to agreed limits)
• Flexible working arrangements (for most roles but depending upon service requirements)
• Discounted shopping through a dedicated Reward Portal (including discounts at major supermarkets)
• Training and development and payment of professional fees (approved professions only)
• Relocation package (up to GBP8,000) where agreed
• Employee assistance programme provided in-house (wellbeing and counselling provision)
• Childcare vouchers, through salary sacrifice

Please note ECC regularly reviews its reward and benefits

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.