Senior Permitting Officer (Water Quality)

Senior Permitting Officer

£41,617.00

Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Nottingham, Sheffield, Warrington.

Permanent & Fixed Term available, Full or Part Time.

Staff Grade: 5

About Us:

Join our dedicated Water Quality regime within Permitting as we work to determine the necessary environmental permits for activities that have the potential to pollute, creating a cleaner, safer and healthier environment. Permitting is the foundation of regulation, crucial to the economy, people, and wildlife. Water Quality teams determine applications where discharge activity might affect water quality and surrounding habitats. This includes surface and groundwater discharges, groundwater spreading, dewatering activities and the necessary improvement schemes of water and sewerage companies. We determine often complex applications, carrying out rigorous checks in process such as habitats risk assessments, modelling, consultations, pre-applications and more.

What will you do:

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 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 of the sector.

Why Choose Us:

Impactful Work: By joining the Environment Agency (EA), you become part of a collective effort to protect and improve the environment in England. Our work addresses national-level issues, ranging from industry regulation to flood defenses, land contamination, water quality, fisheries, and conservation. Your work directly contributes to creating a more sustainable and safer environment for all.

Team Environment: The EA's diverse scope of work necessitates a multi-skilled workforce. Working with us means being part of a team that promotes sustainable growth, tackles climate change, and secures a better future for everyone. Collaboration and interaction allow for a rich and diverse working environment, fostering personal and professional growth.

Varied and Impactful Responsibilities: As a Senior Permitting Officer,  you’ll experience highly varied and challenging work that is essential to the protection of people, wildlife, and the natural environment. This role offers continuous learning opportunities and the chance to deepen your expertise in water and environmental permitting.

Creating a Safer Environment: The work of Senior Permitting Officers at the EA plays a key role in creating a more sustainable and safer environment. By assessing applications for environmental permits, you actively contribute to the protection of local communities and natural resources. Additionally, you will develop relationships with a wide range of partners and support vital functions, such as flooding and environmental response. This holistic approach ensures that our work extends beyond permitting, enabling comprehensive environmental management and regulation.

Incident Response: Responding to incidents is a central part of what we do. You will be required to have an incident role and make yourself available to respond to incidents or provide business continuity support during an incident. This may attract additional payment and full training, and alternative working arrangements will be available to support you with your incident role.  

What do you need:

Essential:

You’ll 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/humanities subject and knowledge/understanding of the Habitats Directive, Habitats Regulations and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

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.
• 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.

What is in it for you:

You will benefit from a culture that embraces difference and is inclusive where you will feel supported and trusted to do the right thing. We will invest in you and allow you to grow and shape your career. What is more, you will have access to our great benefits package including:

• A competitive salary of £41,617.00.
• A generous pension scheme.
• 27 days holiday + 8 bank holidays.
• Maternity, paternity, and adoption leave scheme.
• Great career opportunities.
• A range of flexible working options plus many more!

As an organisation we strive to reflect the communities we serve, to achieve this we welcome applications from all backgrounds regardless of race, sexual orientation, and religion. We also welcome applications for part-time hours.   

Apply now and embark on a rewarding and fulfilling career journey with the Environment Agency.

Closing date for applications is Tuesday 27^th May 2025. 

Interview Dates: W/C 9^th June 2025, 16^th June 2025, 23^rd June 2025