Senior Specialist Officer, Operations Service Lead
| Posting date: | 19 June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 06 July 2025 |
| Location: | Flexible |
| Company: | Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 203476 |
Summary
Team / Directorate: South Wales Central / Operations
Starting salary: £52,268 rising to £57,726 per annum through annual increments being paid each year (pro rata for part time applicants)
Contract type: Permanent
Work pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week (Part time, annualised hours, compressed hours or term time working considered - discussions at interview stage welcome)
Post number: 203476
The role
This is an exciting new senior role, providing critical support to the Head of Service for Flood Risk in leading and coordinating our flood risk management work across the entire Operations Directorate.
If you're an experienced flood risk professional looking to shape the way we protect communities and the environment across Wales, this is your opportunity to make real, lasting impact. You'll bring your expertise and insight to improve how we plan, resource, and deliver our flood risk services - helping teams work more effectively and ensuring the best outcomes for the people we serve.
You'll work at the heart of a dynamic network of colleagues across Operations, EPP, and Enabling Services, driving collaboration and consistency across the whole flood risk lifecycle - from strategic planning and prioritisation to delivery, performance monitoring, and risk management.
We're looking for someone with proven credibility, strong communication skills, and a deep understanding of flood risk management - someone who can turn knowledge into action, and passion into progress. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.
As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the NRW office at the above location and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. Any regular face to face meetings or training will be planned in advance.
To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact David Letellier at David.letellier@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk.
Interviews will take place on Microsoft Teams.
Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.
What you will do
Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills
In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method .
You will be a recognised expert with extensive operational and/or policy experience across the relevant service area, and a good level of understanding of the wider business of NRW including how the service impacts and interacts across the whole business. Extensive knowledge of the external stakeholders interacting with and impacted by the service area, and existing credibility and established relationships with a range of relevant stakeholders. A high level of financial, project management, risk management and performance management skills to enable you to lead the operational input, response to and oversight of the service plan delivery and business planning processes. Excellent internal and external communication skills to convey complex technical and business information to broad audiences, and to create an effective dialogue on these issues. The ability to interpret and analyse large amounts of highly complex data and information, to inform effective decisions and interventions across the service planning and delivery. The ability to act independently taking complex high impact decisions across potentially conflicting priorities with limited input from line management.
Welsh language level requirements
Please note if you do not meet the A1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.
Benefits
This role will offer a range of benefits, including:
See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.
Please keep reading
We're passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
We are committed to equal opportunities and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.
We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.
We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards . Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.
Starting salary: £52,268 rising to £57,726 per annum through annual increments being paid each year (pro rata for part time applicants)
Contract type: Permanent
Work pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week (Part time, annualised hours, compressed hours or term time working considered - discussions at interview stage welcome)
Post number: 203476
The role
This is an exciting new senior role, providing critical support to the Head of Service for Flood Risk in leading and coordinating our flood risk management work across the entire Operations Directorate.
If you're an experienced flood risk professional looking to shape the way we protect communities and the environment across Wales, this is your opportunity to make real, lasting impact. You'll bring your expertise and insight to improve how we plan, resource, and deliver our flood risk services - helping teams work more effectively and ensuring the best outcomes for the people we serve.
You'll work at the heart of a dynamic network of colleagues across Operations, EPP, and Enabling Services, driving collaboration and consistency across the whole flood risk lifecycle - from strategic planning and prioritisation to delivery, performance monitoring, and risk management.
We're looking for someone with proven credibility, strong communication skills, and a deep understanding of flood risk management - someone who can turn knowledge into action, and passion into progress. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.
As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the NRW office at the above location and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. Any regular face to face meetings or training will be planned in advance.
To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact David Letellier at David.letellier@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk.
Interviews will take place on Microsoft Teams.
Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.
What you will do
- You will lead the lead the operational input, response and oversight to the service plan, SLA and business planning processes.
- You will develop a high level (Operations wide), prioritised work programme for the service area to achieve consistency in Place and Team plans to ensure the key targets and measures in the Service Plan are delivered.
- You will work closely with operational managers and team leaders to coordinate service delivery and monitor performance in line with priorities and resource allocation.
- You will lead on identifying potential service delivery issues, and coordinate the development and implementation of corrective interventions or service level adjustments. This work will have extensive impact on the workplans and priorities of large groups of other operational staff, in addition to the environmental and stakeholder impact.
- You will lead the operational workforce planning across the service area and work with colleagues to develop and implement technical development plans.
- You will have a key role in identifying and responding to important emerging business risks and opportunities.
- Provide a clear, focussed link to the EPP Business Lead roles and act as an effective bridge between EPP and Operations. This will include providing a clear link between Corporate, Business Board, and Place business planning.
- You will ensure effective communications between operational teams, Business Boards and their subgroups, and you will work closely with other service and business leads to ensure effective linkages across the business and service areas.
- Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
- Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post
- Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
- Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.
- Required to take part in incident response activities.
Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills
In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method .
You will be a recognised expert with extensive operational and/or policy experience across the relevant service area, and a good level of understanding of the wider business of NRW including how the service impacts and interacts across the whole business. Extensive knowledge of the external stakeholders interacting with and impacted by the service area, and existing credibility and established relationships with a range of relevant stakeholders. A high level of financial, project management, risk management and performance management skills to enable you to lead the operational input, response to and oversight of the service plan delivery and business planning processes. Excellent internal and external communication skills to convey complex technical and business information to broad audiences, and to create an effective dialogue on these issues. The ability to interpret and analyse large amounts of highly complex data and information, to inform effective decisions and interventions across the service planning and delivery. The ability to act independently taking complex high impact decisions across potentially conflicting priorities with limited input from line management.
Welsh language level requirements
- Essential: A1 - Entry level (able to use and understand simple, basic phrases and greetings, no conversational Welsh)
Please note if you do not meet the A1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.
Benefits
This role will offer a range of benefits, including:
- Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
- 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
- generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
- commitment to professional development
- health and wellbeing benefits and support
- weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose
See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.
Please keep reading
We're passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
We are committed to equal opportunities and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.
We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.
We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards . Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.