Senior Ecologist

McCarthy Keville O’Sullivan (MKO) is a specialist environmental and planning consultancy, based in Galway City. The company employs over 70 people across its seven internal teams, which offer services in the fields of Ornithology, Ecology, Environmental, Planning, Estates & Project Management, Land Solutions and Research.

We deliver challenging and complex projects on behalf of our clients and our range of nationwide expertise and multi-disciplinary service offering add real value to their projects. Full details of the company’s services are outlined on the company website, www.mkoireland.ie

The company is seeking to recruit a Senior Ecologist to deliver challenging projects within the company’s Ecology Team and meet the growing demand for the company’s services. The successful candidate will be working on projects across the renewable energy, transport, water and infrastructure sectors, in addition to a range of private sector developments.

The position available will offer the successful candidate the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects utilising the various skills they may have acquired through formal training, personal interest and previous work experience.

The role offers an exciting opportunity for an ambitious professional to live in and work from Galway, Ireland’s third largest city, on projects all across the country, for a fast-growing, successful and busy consultancy.

The key responsibilities of the role will include:

• Scoping, planning and undertaking ecological surveys in the terrestrial, freshwater or marine environments;
• Project managing ecological surveys, ecological impact assessments and other ecology projects from inception to completion, including interaction with project stakeholders, clients and other project team members;
• Preparing written ecological reports, impact assessments, management plans, etc. as the output of field survey effort, including mapping, data collation, etc.;
• Preparing of scope of work and fee proposal documents for new projects;
• Delivering fit-for-purpose project outputs within set deadlines;
• Managing project budgets to ensure scope of work is completed in allocated time, variances are highlighted and project invoices issued;
• Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients and project stakeholders;
• Reviewing outputs from other Ecology team members, and providing a guidance and mentoring for more junior team members;
• Prioritising assigned workload while balancing client expectations, available resources and project deadlines;
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The key requirements of the post will be:

• A third-level qualification in ecology, botany, or natural sciences, or other related fields that give the candidate the necessary skills to fulfil the role;
• A minimum of 8 years’ post-graduate experience in fulfilling similar functions, ideally in a similar consultancy role;
• A broad range of ecological experience on large-scale projects in key sectors;
• Excellent report writing skills and proven project management abilities;
• A specialism in one field of ecology with a broader working knowledge of other inter-related fields;
• An excellent understanding of the EU Habitats and EIA Directives in so far as they relate to project-based ecological impact assessments being undertaken by an ecological consultancy;
• Demonstrable ability to manage the busy and varied ecological workload of a team of ecologists;
• A Full driving licence

Candidates interested in the available position should apply by emailing an up to date Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter/Email to info@mkoireland.ie by 29^th May 2020.