County Ecologist - West Sussex County Council : Job Details

The Opportunity

Salary: £38,626 to £45,718 per annum

Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week

Location: County Hall, Chichester and hybrid working

Interview date: 02 April 2025

As the organisation's County Ecologist, you will provide professional expertise on ecology. You will represent the County Council at relevant meetings and be an authoritative advocate for the ecology and biodiversity of West Sussex. Additionally, you will take on the important responsibility of advising other business units on the implications of their work, while overseeing and directly providing specialist advice to the County Council regarding its own developments and its vital statutory planning role as the County Planning Authority and Highway Authority. You will supervise the work of other specialists and provide mentoring and professional support as required, nurturing a shared commitment to fostering a vibrant ecological future.

You will need to be able to travel independently to various sites, some in remote locations, attend external meetings and work in other locations around the county. The role may periodically require some limited physical demands and stamina, including climbing ladders and working in hazardous or confined spaces when inspecting buildings on site visits. Occasionally, you may be inspecting dilapidated buildings where due care and attention to the environmental conditions and hazards are needed.

What are we looking for?

As the successful County Ecologist, you will be able to demonstrate a "can do" attitude, with a passion for providing an excellent ecological service. Additionally, you will be able to demonstrate the following:

• A strong team player with excellent customer service skills, able to communicate effectively, working with customers and communities to find solutions to problems.
• You will be able to demonstrate integrity, openness and an awareness of others.
• A strategic thinker with a flexible approach, able to anticipate problems and make informed decisions, particularly in relation to the professional preservation implications of planning applications.
• The ability to organise your own workload and provide support and supervision to other professionals where appropriate.
• You will be comfortable working over a range of activities in a busy environment, for example visiting sites, producing complex drawings, writing detailed reports, and managing conflicting demands and time pressures from deadlines linked to planning applications.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide an great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 27 to 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is EIE01371.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Don Baker (Team Manager - Environment & Heritage) at . For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.