Senior Ecologist

About the role:

We are seeking an experienced Senior Ecologist to join our friendly, established ecology team within LUC. This role will be based from our London office with the ability for hybrid working as part of the working week.

LUC’s ecology team is passionate about creating opportunities for wildlife and people to thrive together, through our broad range of projects and established client base. Through LUC’s Corporate Social Environmental Responsibility activities programme consultants have the opportunity to volunteer their time to exciting nature led projects and community engagement across the country.

With established teams in London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, we support a huge range of projects, at local and national levels. We’re enthusiastic about finding new ways to apply emerging ecological principals and methods to the most challenging of policy and development projects, and we have fun working together along the way.

LUC’s ecology team offers a wide range of exciting projects, providing team members with the opportunity to work on biodiversity led design schemes, often working closely with landscape managers and architects, for renewable energy, residential, commercial, research and development projects across a number of sectors, that consider ecological enhancement at a landscape scale. LUC partners with a number of businesses and government bodies to provide services that deliver research, technical advice, biodiversity net gain, habitats regulations assessment and ecosystem services assessment and ecological clerk of works roles.

Key elements of the role:

• Lead and take part in a breadth of field work such as Ecological Clerk of Works, protected species survey, protected species mitigation and translocation and biodiversity net gain condition assessment.
• Project management in line with LUC’s established procedures and protocols. Projects will range across a variety of scales, ecological discipline and client.
• Delivering projects such as BNG and HRA schemes and assessments, including both field and office elements.
• Supporting business development initiatives in line with the LUC Strategy.
• Contributing to tenders and pricing exercises.
• Managing and mentoring less experienced colleagues and contributing to team-wide training and development initiatives.
• Exploring innovation and opportunities to improve ecological practices such as technological developments and survey techniques.

LUC encourages professional development, supporting team members from graduate / qualifying membership status to chartered / fellow member of their chosen professional body. This not only includes the opportunity to work on an exciting range of dynamic projects but also training and development opportunities such as obtaining protected species licences and improving technical and non-technical skillsets through targeted training.

The role includes the opportunity to share and participate actively in the management and ownership of the business through the Employee Ownership Trust, which places full ownership of the company with the employees.

The role is based in our London office. We work in a hybrid model with people being in the office a minimum of two days per week.

A full-time role is based on 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday). However, LUC has a strong track record in flexible working and we have been recognised for our flexible working culture, so we are happy to discuss a range of flexible working options for this role including part time hours (minimum 30 hours per week) if desired.

Senior Ecologists start at £32,000 per annum (full time). Additional qualifications and/or experience will access salaries up to £37,500.

This is a great time to be joining LUC. Since its creation nearly 60 years ago, LUC has been driven by the belief that planning has a critical role to play in shaping the world around us for the better. This work has never been more critical or urgent.

About you:

The successful candidate will complement our existing enthusiastic and dedicated ecology team. You will share our commitment to high quality science and be motivated to help grow and develop our business, as an equal partner.

Experience and qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level or with equivalent level of skills and knowledge
• Appropriate professional qualification (e.g. CIEEM) at a relevant level.
• Demonstrable knowledge of a range of ecological taxa, survey methods and assessment types
• Experienced project manager with the ability to manage ecological consultancy projects (at any scale)
• A good understanding of undertaking biodiversity net gain (BNG) assessments, including field survey and desk based assessments
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and time, using initiative and excellent communication, report writing and numeracy skills
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, particularly Word and Excel

Desirable

• Current protected species licence(s) (particularly in relation to bats)
• Experience of undertaking or supporting habitat regulations assessments (HRA)
• Experience of stakeholder engagement and negotiation
• Experience of line management and team development
• Demonstrable work-winning and business development skills

Candidates must be eligible to live and work in the UK.

Please click here to apply with a CV and cover letter

LUC is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and we actively encourage applications from under-represented groups. We value the differences, needs and contributions a diverse workforce represents, and we strive to embed equality, diversity and inclusion in all our people related activities.