Senior Ecologist & Principal Ecologist

~ Established in 1999, The Ecology Consultancy (TEC) is owned and managed by ecologists and now one of the largest and most successful dedicated consultancies in the country. We are passionate about what we do and pride ourselves on the quality of our work and our ability to influence design, benefit biodiversity and improve communities. ~

Our relaxed company character, investment in people and focus on business responsibility has seen continual annual growth, the past year being no different with staff numbers and turnover both increasing. We compete and succeed at all levels of the market, from managing the smallest local development to acting as lead consultants on nationally significant infrastructure projects including Crossrail 2, Thames Tideway Tunnel and continuing our management roles with HS2 and London Gateway Port. Recently we opened two new offices, and reviewed our management processes to improve their use specifically for ecologists.

We aim to provide a friendly and supportive working environment and encourage continuing personal development and career progression. We have invested heavily in our new employee-led, development, up-skilling and mentoring programme – The Orchard, which provides staff with a personalised roadmap for professional progression. The programme aims to enhance employee’s work based and personal skills through a diverse range of structured opportunities, including e-learning, job sharing and shadowing, volunteering, training, and conferences and seminars; as well as ensuring that the services we provide remain of the highest industry standard.

TEC and its staff also benefit from the strong relationship with our sister company Temple Group, specialists in EIA, noise, air, sustainability and planning. We have worked closely with Temple for over a decade and frequently share ideas, opportunities and resources.

Position Overview

TEC is committed to continued success in the coming years and is seeking experienced Senior/Principal Ecologists to share our journey.

While our core business continues to grow we are particularly looking to strengthen our existing and experienced Major Projects team, with a particular focus on HS2 and 2017 sees us securing significant ecological work across the entire HS2 route. Our lead role on various aspects of this project since its inception in 2009 continues to demand our expertise. Ideally the candidates will be based in the Midlands or London but other locations, including our Wakefield office, would also be considered.

The Senior Ecologist and Principal Ecologist will help TEC competently manage and successfully deliver our Major Project responsibilities. The role will require the management, or joint management, of client and stakeholder communication, surveys, habitat creation design and data management, all associated processes and a large team of staff and contractors. The focus will be in delivering high quality ecological consultancy services within budget and to deadline.

Responsibilities

Duties will include:

• Leadership – to take a shared responsibility for the team’s success, ensuring accountability for every task is understood at all grades. It is important to TEC that this is achieved in a productive and enjoyable atmosphere that reflects our values.
• Management – to oversee a busy and varied team of office-based and field staff, chair regular meetings (both internally and externally), manage and facilitate other regular communications, and drive team objectives including but not limited to setting utilisation targets, encouraging positive views of health and safety and organising regular social events.
• Communication – fulfilling the expectation of our Major Project clients by developing excellent relationships and providing personal and regular guidance, updates and support at all stages of the project. It is likely that you will represent the client in design or stakeholder meetings, liaise with other environmental disciplines and help the client with finance, contract and safety requirements. It may also be necessary to act as an interface with ecologists within the client’s team.
• Wellbeing, Health and Safety – supporting your team by encouraging a friendly and safe working environment, facilitating a proactive and positive safety conscious team, managing incident reporting and equipment use and monitoring staff hours and wellbeing during the busier periods.
• Finances – you will be responsible for administering the financial management systems provided by the client. This will include the provision of accurate budgets, development and attendance at regular dashboard meetings and ensuring the team are resilient and are being financially responsible.
• Technical – contributing to and providing expert advice during the planning and production of European Protected Species license documents, Environmental and Ecological Impact Assessment, Habitat Regulation Assessments, Mitigation design, technical scope and method documentation, GIS and data management and responses, as required by the client.
• Quality – with a high degree of client and public based scrutiny of the financial and technical components of the tasks, attention to detail and accuracy are key in order to ensure the delivery of contracts on time and within budget, as well as maintaining the high standards that TEC has established over the years.
• Field Work – to undertake site based work, as required, including site based quality and safety reviews of your own teams work as well as overseeing Ecological Clerk of Works and the site based vegetation and ground work contracts that we are responsible for.

Other Responsibilities

• Assisting with our core, non-Major Project work and the running of the office and the company overall, in co-operation with other staff. All Principal grade staff are expected to proactively contribute to our Management Board.
• Contributing to the marketing and business development of the company and delivering Continual Professional Development sessions (CPD) to existing and potential clients.
• Contributing to the Orchard by providing and attending development courses and acting as a mentor to other members of staff.

Qualifications

Expected Competencies

• Degree and / or post graduate qualification in relevant discipline
• Full member of CIEEM
• Experience in the ecological consultancy industry
• Experience of managing large scale infrastructure projects inclusive of financial management
• Knowledge of the statutory licensing process and the implementation of mitigation
• Ideally with technical expertise (e.g. habitats, protected species or project management)
• Extremely well organised with an ability to multitask
• Excellent oral and written communication and ability to proactively initiate tasks

What do we offer?

• Salary on a scale commensurate with experience – £27,000.00 – £46,000.00 pa;
• 25 days Annual leave;
• Access to our Company Share Scheme;
• Structured and generous career development the Orchard;
• Flextime, working from home and Time Off In Lieu
• Pension scheme
• And more and more…

To Apply

Please click below: "Apply" to email your applications for the senior ecologist and principal ecologist position to Jane Kendall.