Strategic Ecologist – Network Rail Greater London & Anglia region

Hours: 37.5 hours flexible in how worked

Salary: £33,440 - £44,172.48 plus excellent benefits package

Location base: Hybrid working - primarily remote/home working, plus 3-4 days per month at Network Rail Eastern Region offices/sites

Role coverage: Anglia and Greater London

Contract:  Fixed-Term, initially 1 year, due to extend to October 2025, potential follow-on fixed term or fully employed opportunities

We are looking for a senior consultant ecologist, with a significant level of applied experience, who can bring their strategic vision and ambition for positive change to make a real impact for nature on one of the UK’s largest transport networks.  The role will steer and implement biodiversity improvements throughout Network Rail Eastern Region’s 6,042 route miles.  

This job offers the opportunity to work in a friendly, collaborative atmosphere, combining the Wildlife Trust Consultancies and Network Rail teams, working together to engage with key internal and external stakeholders and deliver radical improvements to biodiversity on the region’s many and varied trackside habitats.  The successful applicant will also have the opportunity to work with innovative new technologies, including data gathering tools, tech and GIS, to organise ecological information.

Day to day, the Strategic Ecologists will work under the guidance of the Wildlife Trust Consultancies Project Manager, leading in the production of core project deliverables, with the support of Operational Ecologists.  Initially in the first year, they will collaborate to ensure best-practice, consistency and practical feasibility of deliverables across the routes.  The Strategic Ecologists will use their strong ecological knowledge to lead the production of the project team’s outputs, including;

• Biodiversity Inventory for the lineside estate

• Biodiversity Action Plans with overarching objectives for Routes

• Habitat Management Plans to guide how the objectives will be put into practice

• Pilot development of implementation for future stages, including monitoring programmes

• Supporting stakeholder engagement throughout the region

• Supporting integration of plans into day-to-day working practices and standards

Background

The Wildlife Trust Consultancies (WTCs) have been engaged by Network Rail to deliver an extensive Biodiversity Plan throughout their Eastern Region, which runs from London to the Scottish borders.  

The work forms part of the implementation of Network Rail’s National Biodiversity Action Plan and associated commitments;

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/sustainability/biodiversity-on-britains-railway

East Midlands Environmental Consultants (EMEC) are leading the project, supported by 5 WTC’s, of which Future Nature (FN) is one, responsible for the Greater London & Anglia route.   

Working for the Wildlife Trust Consultancies

Let’s be honest, not all ecological consultancies are the same.  At the WTC’s, we want to do the very best for nature, and ALL our profits are reinvested back into our respective Wildlife Trusts, to support conservation efforts directly on the ground, in countryside and communities, rural and urban.  

We also want to do the best for our employees.  We prioritise your work-home life balance by offering flexible working arrangements, and we commit to supporting you professionally through our Personal Development programme.

Benefits of working with us:

• Generous annual leave entitlement with paid birthday leave, wellbeing days, urgent personal business leave and generous occupational sick pay
• Flexible working to achieve work-life balance
• Salary exchange pension with 7% employer contribution
• Learning & Development Programme for all
• Wellbeing initiatives including qualified Mental Health First Aiders, YuLife benefit package - access to our EAP, providing you with immediate and confidential help for any work, health, or life matters; 3x life assurance, online GP access prescription service, a variety of discounts
• Salary sacrifice Cycle scheme & Electric Vehicle scheme
• A multi-disciplinary business, with opportunities to work on a wide range of projects, developing your experience and skills.
• Opportunity to work on a huge range of projects, from high profile schemes with nationally significant clients, through to smaller scale conservation-focused projects.
• A close-knit, friendly, and supportive team, including support from your host WTC and Wildlife Trust.
• Family-friendly organisation with incredibly strong work ethic and shared goals for wildlife and people.

Read the job description attached and take a look at our incredible benefits package.

If you are interested in applying, please email your CV and covering letter to opportunities@futurenaturewtc.co.uk.  Applications will be considered for interview on a rolling basis, so we would advise applying as early as possible. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role.

We value diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We want every candidate to have the best chance of success as part of this process. In order to do this, we know that some candidates will need reasonable adjustments. Contact us on opportunities@futurenaturewtc.co.uk if there are any reasonable adjustments we can provide during the recruitment process.

We want our people to be as diverse as nature, so we particularly encourage applications from people who are underserved within the communities in which we operate. This includes people from visible ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities (including those who are neurodivergent), the LGBTQ+ community, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and younger people. We are committed to creating an organisation that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.