Sussex Bay Participation Lead - 12 months fixed term contract Post No: TBC Salary: Starting from £51,106 to £54,453 per annum Grade: Grade 9 Hours: 37 Hours per week Place of work: a combination of home and in-office space. Office space: Newhaven Marine Workshops, Brighton co-working spaces, Worthing Town Hall, Shoreham Centre. Needs to be in Sussex Bay at least 3 days a week. Closing date: 20th February 2025 Interviews: TBC Sussex Bay is a nature first, regional project of hope. One hundred miles of coastline, from Camber Sands to Selsey Bill for over one million residents. We’ve reached a hugely exciting point in the development of Sussex Bay, a generational vision for integrated seascape restoration across Sussex intertidal rivers, coast and sea - ‘the blue mirror to the South Downs’. With huge potential for seascape scale nature recovery across a large area, we see a future where nature, people and the local economy are thriving together. We launched in June 2024 following five years of preceding collaboration and are working at pace. There are three work packages: we are home to the UKs Blue Natural Capital Lab as we develop a £50M fund for nature led recovery by 2050, co-producing a blueprint for seascape recovery and engaging communities around our work and that is where this role comes in. We are recruiting our first ever Sussex Bay Participation Lead. As the Sussex Bay Participation Lead, you will act as the professional lead for participation and engagement for Sussex Bay, hosted by Adur & Worthing Councils amongst the coastal local authorities and immersed within an existing network of at least 450 organisations and will lead on how Sussex Bay develops regional participation. An opportunity to create and deliver with partners digital participation at scale and in-person connections together. In this role, you will spend part of your time co-producing and writing our new participation strategy, working with digital leads to develop our digital footprint to complement our in-person work, and being visible, out and about, working amongst communities, presenting, organising events and collaborating to ensure that we bring in a diverse range of perspectives as we co-produce our blueprint for long term seascape recovery. We’re thinking through theories of change and we’ll welcome your ideas too. We’ll also need your expertise to submit high integrity external funding bids as we take steps now to embed participation practices around our work into the longer terms. You’ll work in a kind and supportive small team, collaborating with the Seascape Research Recovery Lead to enable communities to engage in the developing blueprint for seascape recovery, and support the Head of Sussex Bay with the strategic direction of the project. Being hosted by Adur & Worthing Councils and working across the coastal authorities, you’ll also be collaborating with Officers and Elected Members, as well as working with businesses and a range of communities and organisations in innovative and creative ways. Sussex Bay is core funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, a UK-based organisation that funds projects to improve the natural world, promote social justice, and strengthen communities. Funding for the Participation Lead is provided by the USA based philanthropic NOVO foundation, in place to support initiatives that promote a holistic, interconnected and healing vision for humanity. Sussex Bay is a location partner for the government’s innovation agency and is currently working with small and medium sized enterprises nationally to develop projects in Sussex Bay that connect people with nature. The vision for Sussex Bay is a thriving blue ecosystem, in which nature, people and the local economy can thrive. We want to create safe spaces and places to enable all to participate and to help shape their vision. This role ensures that our efforts are aligned with building inclusive, participative, and resilient communities, locally, regionally and nationally. If you’d like to learn more about the role, please contact the Head of Sussex Bay, Dean Spears, to arrange an informal chat via faye.luffadur-worthing.gov.uk. We look forward to receiving your CV At Adur & Worthing, we are committed to supporting care leavers, in accordance with the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the Children and Social Work Act 2017. To that end, we operate a guaranteed interview scheme for anyone meeting the essential criteria of the role they are applying for. In order to be considered for this, you will need to be a care leaver under the age of 25 at the time of application. Please confirm that you are a care leaver within your CV. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of applicants declaring a disability, that meet the essential criteria for this position, will be offered an interview. Staff are our most important asset and we therefore have a benefit package which reflects our continuing commitment to our employees. This includes: Generous leave entitlement; a minimum of 26 days Bank Holiday entitlement Local Government Pension Training & development Occupational Health Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Employee resource groups/networks Buddy Support Programme Flexible working options We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. Staff work in a supportive and safe environment, recognising their responsibility to value and respect each other’s contributions. Standards of conduct must be of the highest level to ensure that no-one is harassed, bullied or victimised. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, staff engagement forums and are keen to hear from applicants from a variety of different backgrounds.