Senior/Principal Ecologist

Senior/Principal Ecologist (Salary = £30 – 38K + Excellent Annual Bonus) based in either Bentley, Farnham (Surrey) or Shaftesbury (Dorset).

We are looking for a confident and highly experienced Senior/Principal Ecologist to join our team of consultants in our offices in Farnham or Shaftesbury. The successful candidate will be expected to lead and inspire the team and must share our passion for ecology and conservation.

Job Role:

As Senior Ecologist your role will involve: overseeing regional projects, organising and carrying out ecological surveys, and producing a range of reports including protected species licence applications. Business management duties will include writing fee proposals and tenders, financial management, marketing and general office management.

The successful candidate will have responsibility for ensuring that advice and recommendations arising from surveys are communicated clearly to client both verbally and by means of written reports by all team members.

Candidates should be well-rounded technical ecologists and meet the following minimum requirements:

• At least 5 years professional consultancy experience;
• Demonstrable team and independent working skills;
• Managerial or mentorship experience;
• Minimum Level 1 class survey licence for bats.
• Able to demonstrate an excellent understanding of the consultants role and have proven commercial competency
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Associate or full membership of CIEEM
• Proven success of working in a busy team and managing team logistics
• Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines
• Ability to undertake all of the above whilst maintaining a sense of humour and positive team spirit
• Applicants will need to hold a UK driving licence, have their own vehicle and must be prepared to travel to different sites and to work ecology survey hours.

Additional skills that will be considered advantageous particularly and lend themselves to consideration for the Senior Ecologist role include:

• Mitigation licensing experience;
• Additional survey licences (particularly for great crested newts or dormice); and
• Experience of the planning system and associated technical processes such as Environmental Impact Assessments, Habitats Regulations Assessments and Biodiversity Net Gain Assessments.
• A valid CSCS card
• GIS skills

Above all, we’re looking for conservation-minded ecologists with a passion for wildlife and the environment.

What Can We Do For You?

A career at Darwin Ecology offers great opportunities for growth and professional development and we strive to ensure that our employees work in an environment that is supportive, fair, challenging and enjoyable. The role will provide an opportunity for an individual to demonstrate a broad range of ecological skills by undertaking specialist technical work, whilst working as part of a passionate, integrated, dynamic and friendly team.

In addition to a fair and representative salary, reflective of experience but with potential for relatively rapid increase, benefits to the team include:

• A generous profit-linked annual bonus scheme;
• Minimum 24 days annual leave increasing with time;
• Flexible working hours with work from home up to two days per week.
• Generous training budget; and
• Structured TOIL system.
• We are an equal opportunities employer and value diversity on our team.

Who Are We?

Darwin Ecology is a well-established ecological consultancy with a great reputation for providing professional, innovative and conservation-led schemes. The company thrives on a collaborative approach between our two main offices in Farnham and Shaftesbury, supported by our satellite teams in Cornwall and Bristol. Together we provide a broad range of expertise to enable bespoke solutions for our clients across the south and south west of England.

Our role as consultants is to assist our clients to realise their development ambitions through the planning process whilst also delivering our core ‘Integrated Conservation’ ethos. We find solutions to deliver this on every project through the protection, mitigation and enhancement of wildlife opportunities as part of the built environment.

Educating and enthusing people we work with to share our goals for a wilder future is an important part of working at Darwin. Our work covers a diverse range of small to medium sized projects across a range of sectors.

Why Are We Different?

A big part of Darwin Ecology’s ethos is a hands-on approach to mitigation and enhancement measures when it comes to the final stages of a project. We are passionate about designing bespoke solutions to any problems that arise on site and encourage our team to get creative and think outside the box when it comes to supporting our clients.

We aim to strengthen your existing ecological specialisms, whilst being supportive about exploring new passions and taking your career in new directions.

How To Get In Touch

To apply for either position, please submit a recent CV and cover letter to Mike Cummings (mike@darwin-ecology.co.uk) and Olatz Gartzia (olatz@darwin-ecology.co.uk). Applications will be reviewed on receipt and asked for interview where appropriate.

To find out more about us, please visit our website www.darwin-ecology.co.uk or contact info@darwin-ecology.co.uk with any queries.