Senior Scientific Officer , Water Quality
| Posting date: | 02 December 2024 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £41,220 to £49,020 per year |
| Additional salary information: | National salary: £41,220 - £45,400 London salary: £44,500 - £49,020 For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’. |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 20 December 2024 |
| Location: | Bristol |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 379189/1 |
Summary
Our Directorate sets policy for managing water, including the water utility industry, improving the quality of our rivers and lakes, and managing the risk of flooding. The Directorate also manages emergencies such as drought, water supply interruption, major floods and contamination incidents. We are a friendly and inclusive team and we welcome and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are happy to accommodate flexible working arrangements for successful candidates.
As part of the Joint Water Evidence Programme, you will work in close collaboration with fellow team members, the Environment Agency, other Defra group bodies and the Welsh Government/Natural Resources Wales. You will build relationships with policymakers to understand their research needs and to proactively grow our evidence base and portfolio of projects. This will include designing and managing natural science, social and economic research, and commissioning and managing projects with our external professional partners. You will also work closely with academics to ensure that policy makers use the best research when developing future policy.
You will be encouraged to take up opportunities for on-the-job learning and development.
Providing high quality scientific advice, analysis and insight to support the work of the Floods, Water and Contamination Directorate.
You will:
- Lead on developing our evidence base to help policy teams develop robust policy pathways to meet our Environment Act targets for water quality, including monitoring and reporting.
- Work with policy teams to develop a strong understanding of their requirements and how evidence and analysis can inform decision-making, helping them to consider and prioritise their strategic multi-disciplinary evidence needs and their shorter-term tactical needs.
- Undertake robust multidisciplinary analysis, working closely with economists, operational researchers and social scientists.
- Be able to keep abreast of dependencies and potential impacts of the work area.
- Liaise with other scientists and analysts from across Defra group and elsewhere.
- Think creatively to address emerging issues.
- Publish, disseminate and interpret research findings for policy teams.
- Designing, commissioning and effectively managing external contracts, including evaluation of tenders. Helping manage the broader programme of research projects, including working with colleagues on project and financial management.
- Assessing the best way to meet evidence needs and collating or developing in-house evidence where required. This may include more substantive pieces as well as working at pace to deliver commissions to tight deadlines.
- Promoting evidence-based policy making, helping to embed this within the culture of the Directorate and building positive and effective relationships across Defra group and externally with stakeholders.
Whilst the post holder will have responsibility for a particular area of work, they will be expected to work flexibly and adapt to deliver additional work requests as they arise, drawing on their specific expertise. There may be line management opportunities associated with this post.
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