Senior Scientific Officer

Are you passionate about using evidence to improve peoples lives and the environment?

Can you work independently to lead scientific projects, communicate complex findings clearly to stakeholders, and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment?

Do you have the strong environmental and/or water science and organisational skills needed to deliver high-quality evidence and develop expertise in the water sector?

If so, wed love to hear from you!

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic scientist for our Water Quality Research Team. This is a particularly exciting time to join the Defra group and play your part in meeting the Governments goals for reducing water pollution. Working with us will provide significant opportunities to develop your own skills and future career. This is a great opportunity to have a high profile, impactful role.

Your personal qualities will be as important as your professional experience; and we welcome applications from all backgrounds. You must be passionate about using evidence to deliver better outcomes for our communities. You will play an active role in working creatively and collaboratively with others to deliver excellent outcomes.

If you believe you have the skills and qualities we are looking for, then we would like to hear from you. The Defra group is dedicated to promoting equality and valuing diversity. We are committed to ensuring that every talented and hard-working person has the opportunity to rise to the top, whatever their background and whoever they are.

The Floods and Water (F&W) Directorate within Defra is currently undertaking a large programme of regulatory reform for Water as well as holding responsibility for ambitious, legally binding targets to improve the water environment. These include targets to address diffuse agricultural pollution and the overall health of the water environment. Alongside this, F&W looks after a range of activities relating to water or the water environment that relate to public and environmental health. These activities include the recreational use of bathing waters, anti-microbial and anti-fungal resistance and the spreading of biosolids to land.

Each of these challenges are highly technical, complex and interlinked and therefore require a strong scientific evidence base to drive meaningful, sustainable progress towards improving the water environment. This role is critical to the planning and delivery of a programme of scientific research that will be required. The specific areas of responsibility will be responsive to priorities and deadlines and will include support on high priority areas such as:

• Diffuse agricultural pollution
• Public health
• Overall health of the water environment

• Diffuse agricultural pollution

Diffuse pollution from agricultural entering surface waters is a significant source of contamination in waterways. In particular, the presence of excess nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the water system can create considerable water pollution challenges. As such, Defra holds responsibility for meeting a legally binding target to reduce total nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture into the water environment by at least 40% by 2038, compared to a 2018 baseline. Working alongside colleagues from a range of professions, this role will contribute to the delivery of a multi-year programme of research aiming to build evidence to better understand our progress towards the target as well as to support the development of policies that will reduce this form of diffuse pollution.

• Public health

Water impacts public health in a large variety of ways ranging from using water for recreation to the impact of waste from water treatment. Working alongside a range of colleagues from across F&W, other government departments and the Environment Agency, this role will contribute to developing the evidence base relating to bathing water regulations, anti-microbial and anti-fungal resistance and the spreading of biosolids to land.

• Overall health of the water environment

The F&W Directorate is responsible for large scale reforms to the water system, making changes based on recommendations from the Independent Water Commission. As part of this we are considering the best ways to represent and drive change to the overall health of the water environment. This ranges from considering target development to understand the cause-effect relationship between systemic changes and the impact on the water environment over time. This role will contribute to the development and delivery of a multi-year programme of research and development aiming to understand the most effective means of improving the quality of the water environment.

In this post you will:

• Lead the design, procurement, delivery, management, publication and dissemination of evidence projects as part of a multi‑year programme of water quality research. This includes managing commissioned projects and oversight of supplier performance and financial budgets.
• Lead internal evidence gathering activities, including evidence reviews, data analysis and synthesis of complex evidence.
• Ensure appropriate quality assurance and governance is applied across all research outputs, providing confidence in robustness and reliability.
• Provide robust evidence to inform Defras water policy, targets and regulatory reform, working across Defra and Arms Length Bodies.
• Provide authoritative scientific leadership on water quality issues, including interpretation of water quality monitoring, modelling and complex datasets.
• Be highly collaborative, working closely with other analytical, evidence and policy teams in Defra, other Whitehall departments, Arms Length Bodies and academia.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex research and analysis into meaningful advice, informing and influencing policy or delivery decisions. Advise on risks, gaps and trade‑offs inherent in the evidence base.
• Balance multiple objectives, prioritising your time accordingly, managing expectations where necessary and be willing to work flexibly across priorities.
• You will be an environmental scientist / researcher with experience delivering environmental evidence and R&D projects/programmes. You will be experienced in developing approaches to answering complex questions, delivering R&D, and delivering high quality scientific advice, sometimes to demanding timelines, balancing robustness and pragmatism where necessary.
• You will meet the behaviours, skills and experience requirements at SEO level (see Success Profile - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles/success-profiles-civil-service-behaviours) and for the Government Science and Engineering profession. (Government science and engineering: career framework - GOV.UK).
• You will display excellent interpersonal skills, with the credibility to influence and challenge effectively. You will bring excellent verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to present complex technical analysis to a diverse, often non-specialist, audience. With exceptional collaboration skills, you will confidently engage to build constructive relationships within your own team and with colleagues across the Department and externally.