We’re proud to promote a safe, inclusive, flexible and supportive culture at the Environment Agency, as a life-enhancing place to work, creating better places for people and wildlife.
If you are an enthusiastic and passionate freshwater ecologist, a strong team player who can achieve results and adopt changing priorities quickly, we think you will find this a really fulfilling role.
The core work is aquatic ecological surveying, species identification and analysing data to assess the changing environment. During the Winter, we mainly analyse samples of aquatic macroinvertebrates to mixed taxon level (including some to species) using microscopes. In the Summer, we work together in the field undertaking ecological field surveys of aquatic plants and freshwater habitat, macroinvertebrates, algae and fish communities.
We also monitor physio-chemical telemetry, record and interpret a range of data sets and write compelling reports on the ecological status of water bodies to inform and influence partners, protecting the environment through advice, regulation and enforcement.
There are many opportunities to build expertise, and we will provide you with specialised technical training. Our induction, development, and team-working will help you gain proficiency within the organisation and build on the strengths you bring to our team.
We are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We welcome flexible working patterns for all our vacancies. We develop our people, set clear objectives and commit to an inclusive, safe, fair and empowering culture.
The team are dispersed across three offices in the West Midlands and there will some travel required between offices. There will be a requirement to attend pollution incidents to assess for ecological impact and carry out routine field work across the area.
The team
We are an area-wide team assessing the environment across the West Midlands. We focus on teamwork, inclusion, safety, planning and adapting to changing priorities.
Our officers help develop and schedule our monitoring programme, conduct surveys, analyse and report on quality-controlled data. We investigate environmental issues, and our data underpins decision-making and delivery of statutory responsibilities.
Experience/skills required
Essential:
- An ecological technical degree, equivalent degree, or sufficient relevant freshwater ecology experience.
- Accessing rivers means a valid driving licence, bankside mobility and swimming capability are genuine occupational requirements.
- Expected behaviours include self-development, taking initiative and being organised, adapting to focus on current priorities, and effective teamwork.
Desirable:
- A foundation in freshwater species identification, microscopy, using dichotomous keys.
- Familiarity with field survey methodologies for macroinvertebrates, plants, fish and habitat in freshwater.
- Conducting ecological surveys and operating telemetry.
- Populating databases, data interpretation and reporting.
- An understanding of water chemistry within the freshwater environment.
- data interpretation and reporting skills, and an interest in statistical analysis and data visualisation..
Training is provided to achieve accreditation in river habitat survey, freshwater macroinvertebrate and plant identification as these capabilities are essential.