Senior Natural Scientist

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink. The Defra group is dedicated to having a diverse workforce which represents people in our communities and an inclusive culture where everyone feels they belong within the organisation and can speak up to challenge. We want everyone to be able to contribute to the success of our organisation, regardless of background.

Environmental Land Management (ELM) is a large and fast-paced division comprising policy, delivery and evidence teams working together to develop the agri-environment schemes. Staff are geographically dispersed with a mixture of office and home-working arrangements in place. A range of technologies are used to connect between members as part of our day to day working.

The Environmental Land Management schemes form a core part of Defras Farming Directorate (FD) through rewarding farmers and land managers for environmentally beneficial activities. Our schemes pay farmers and land managers for providing environmental benefits such as clean air, clean and plentiful water, thriving plants and wildlife, reduction in and protection from environmental hazards; beauty, heritage and engagement with the environment; and mitigation of, and adaptation to climate change.

We have two exciting and challenging Higher Scientific Officer roles within the Environmental Land Management Strategic Science and Modelling team which sits within the wider Environmental Land Management Evidence and Analysis team. We are multi-disciplinary, comprising of natural scientists, data scientists, behavioural scientists and other analytic professions. This role will complement, expand and develop our policy-facing natural science capacity.

We are inclusive:

We recruit by merit based on fair and open competition, we embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity, and we are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. There is a disability confident scheme (DCS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible and recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.

We are seeking Higher Scientific Officers, with excellent technical ability, project management skills, and ability to communicate science, to support with delivering high quality evidence to support the development of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes in England. The post holders will join a team of natural scientists responsible for supporting both strategic policy development and delivery through the provision of robust scientific evidence and analysis. As part of these roles, the post holders will work closely with natural scientists, social scientists, data scientists, modellers and economists within the Environmental Land Management team as well as experts across the Defra family.

The post holders will be responsible for identifying and addressing priority evidence needs, leading analytical projects, and providing rapid, high-quality analysis to support policy development and delivery.

The following responsibilities apply to the role:

• Identify policy needs through liaising with policy and analyst colleagues.
• Procure and manage science contracts to answer important policy questions, ensuring projects deliver robust and impactful findings and achieve value for money.
• Promote and disseminate research/evidence and analysis to policy colleagues, reflecting confidence in the interpretation.
• Provide evidence-based responses and recommendations within area of expertise within short time frames.
• Carry out rapid analysis to respond to reactive policy requests.
• Maintain up to date knowledge within area of expertise, explore and promote innovative research approaches.
• Work closely with multi-disciplinary colleagues, including policy, natural science, social research, economic, and data science colleagues on Environmental Land Management scheme development.
• Ensure relevant legal, ethical, procurement, and quality assurance practice followed, and ensure quality of results and methodological rigour.

Essential criteria:

• Hold an Undergraduate degree in a relevant scientific discipline or have equivalent workplace experience.
• Scientific knowledge in land use and land management, agriculture, or the natural environment.
• Have experience of developing and leading projects with a focus on evidence collation or analysis to inform decision making for the development of policy.
• Ability to manage a complex portfolio of work and manage your work flexibly to adapt as priorities change, often at short notice.
• Experience disseminating complex research findings to diverse and non-specialist audiences, using effective interpersonal, verbal, and written skills.
• Experience of partnership working, negotiating, and attention to detail to balance conflicting priorities or needs.