33695 - Water Quality G5 Senior Permitting Officer
| Posting date: | 16 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £43,198 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 15 April 2026 |
| Location: | Exeter |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 5 days per week |
| Company: | Environment Agency |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 33695 |
Summary
As a Senior Permitting Officer within our Water Quality regime, you’ll determine complex applications and deliver pre-application advice for water quality environmental permits.
You’ll play a crucial role in safeguarding the environment, proactively managing a range of permit applications for a wide range of activities including ground and surface water discharges, chemicals, including hazardous and sanitary pollutants, types of sewage connections, and habitats, delivering high quality and risk-based environmental permitting decisions to tight deadlines. You’ll support other Permitting Officers across Permitting using your strong coaching and mentoring skills, collaborate with professionals from various disciplines and engage with permit applicants, ranging from multinational companies and water & sewerage companies, to individual householders.
Your work directly contributes to creating a more sustainable and safer environment for all, ensuring compliance with EA processes and regulatory obligations. You will therefore need a passion for developing and supporting people and bringing others with you as well as strong knowledge/experience in the sector.
In addition to the essential criteria in the experience/skills section below, you will also possess:
- Confidence in providing direction as a technical leader.
- The ability to work collaboratively across teams, the wider business, and with stakeholders and partners.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills and experience of communicating technical topics to a non-technical audience.
- The ability to build strong relationships with customers and be capable of handling difficult conversations, displaying confidence in making risk-based decisions providing justifiable reasoning behind your choices.
- The ability to plan and prioritise work, respond to tight deadlines to ensure tasks are achieved.
- Proficiency in IT including experience with data management, information processing and tools such as MS Word and MS Excel and job specific digital platforms such as GIS and modelling tools.
The team
Water Quality Permitting has eight teams across England, made up of officers with varied expertise who assess applications for activities that may affect water quality and habitats. In a senior technical role, you’ll handle the most complex cases while coaching colleagues to support permit delivery. Our teams are friendly, committed, and strive for an inclusive, flexible workplace where everyone has equal opportunities to contribute, grow in their careers, and realise their potential fully.
Experience/skills required
Essential:
You will need strong experience of either environmental permitting OR able to demonstrate technical competency in at least one of the following areas:
- Water regulation (Environmental Permitting Regulations, Water Resources Act, Water Industry Act)
- Modelling of sanitary or hazardous pollutants
- Wastewater treatment and/or wastewater engineering
Additionally, we would expect successful candidates to:
- Have knowledge of water quality issues and policies surrounding them.
- Experience in coaching/mentoring others in a technical discipline.
- Be confident challenging, questioning and influencing a range of internal and external stakeholders.
Desirable:
Ideally you will hold a degree (or equivalent) in a science/environmental subject and knowledge/understanding of the Habitats Directive, Habitats Regulations and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Regulatory and operational experience of water industry processes is also desirable. We value a passion for the environment and a strong desire to protect it by regulating harmful activities.
You’ll play a crucial role in safeguarding the environment, proactively managing a range of permit applications for a wide range of activities including ground and surface water discharges, chemicals, including hazardous and sanitary pollutants, types of sewage connections, and habitats, delivering high quality and risk-based environmental permitting decisions to tight deadlines. You’ll support other Permitting Officers across Permitting using your strong coaching and mentoring skills, collaborate with professionals from various disciplines and engage with permit applicants, ranging from multinational companies and water & sewerage companies, to individual householders.
Your work directly contributes to creating a more sustainable and safer environment for all, ensuring compliance with EA processes and regulatory obligations. You will therefore need a passion for developing and supporting people and bringing others with you as well as strong knowledge/experience in the sector.
In addition to the essential criteria in the experience/skills section below, you will also possess:
- Confidence in providing direction as a technical leader.
- The ability to work collaboratively across teams, the wider business, and with stakeholders and partners.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills and experience of communicating technical topics to a non-technical audience.
- The ability to build strong relationships with customers and be capable of handling difficult conversations, displaying confidence in making risk-based decisions providing justifiable reasoning behind your choices.
- The ability to plan and prioritise work, respond to tight deadlines to ensure tasks are achieved.
- Proficiency in IT including experience with data management, information processing and tools such as MS Word and MS Excel and job specific digital platforms such as GIS and modelling tools.
The team
Water Quality Permitting has eight teams across England, made up of officers with varied expertise who assess applications for activities that may affect water quality and habitats. In a senior technical role, you’ll handle the most complex cases while coaching colleagues to support permit delivery. Our teams are friendly, committed, and strive for an inclusive, flexible workplace where everyone has equal opportunities to contribute, grow in their careers, and realise their potential fully.
Experience/skills required
Essential:
You will need strong experience of either environmental permitting OR able to demonstrate technical competency in at least one of the following areas:
- Water regulation (Environmental Permitting Regulations, Water Resources Act, Water Industry Act)
- Modelling of sanitary or hazardous pollutants
- Wastewater treatment and/or wastewater engineering
Additionally, we would expect successful candidates to:
- Have knowledge of water quality issues and policies surrounding them.
- Experience in coaching/mentoring others in a technical discipline.
- Be confident challenging, questioning and influencing a range of internal and external stakeholders.
Desirable:
Ideally you will hold a degree (or equivalent) in a science/environmental subject and knowledge/understanding of the Habitats Directive, Habitats Regulations and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Regulatory and operational experience of water industry processes is also desirable. We value a passion for the environment and a strong desire to protect it by regulating harmful activities.