Senior Advisor Digital and Data - 20682

Defra’s Resources and Waste Strategy identified legislative reforms to waste regulation to help us drive towards a circular economy. This is a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to make a seismic shift in waste and resource management. It currently includes projects such as a new deposit return scheme for containers and digital waste tracking to record over 200 million tonnes of waste movements annually.

We are looking for experienced senior data and digital advisors to join our exciting, fast paced Waste Regulatory Reform Programme. These reforms will include changes to the data we collect and manage and the digital systems being developed to accommodate these changes. We need people who will work collaboratively (internally and externally) to help specify and articulate our needs and are comfortable working with policy leads, and digital solution architects. We are seeking people who are passionate about the waste data transformation.

There may be flexibility within the four roles regarding the reforms to be supported, and collectively the team will be expected to work together so that we have a strategic and interconnected understanding of data/digital waste reforms as a whole. This includes the need to review and develop our existing digital implementation roadmap.

These roles all sit in the waste reforms digital team. You will be expected to work flexibly between projects and work areas depending on your skills and experience and our waste reform priorities at any one time. We anticipate at least two of the fours posts are likely to cover the Waste Tracking Service and Extended Producer Responsibility respectively – depending on the relevant funding being confirmed in early 2022.

These roles are focussed on waste regulatory data and digital systems.

Essential:
•Experience of project/programme way of working;
•Some experience of working with data and digital developments
•Excellent project management and leadership skills;
•Able to work across teams within and outside of the Environment Agency
•Ability to build and maintain relationships with colleagues and partners in dispersed networks;
•Skilled at persuading and influencing outcomes through understanding others’ needs and adapting your approach;
•Able to anticipate and manage risk;
•Enthusiastic, well-organised, and tenacious to keep moving at pace and deliver quickly;
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to explain complex subjects to a varied audience;
•Track record of achieving results and experience of planning, managing, and delivering to deadlines;
•Able to work flexibly and independently, ‘owning’ your role, initiating tasks, and organising a complex workload;

Desirable:
•Experience of managing or developing digital systems;
•Broad knowledge and understanding of waste regulation;

These roles are in nationally dispersed project teams. We are currently primarily working from home. When restrictions allow a return to the office, locations are flexible, and may require travel to meetings, most often in Sheffield, Birmingham, London, and Bristol.

Please contact Diana Bradford (07795 497011) for an informal discussion about the post.

Interviews will be conducted remotely and are likely to take place during February 2022.

The candidate pack and role profile should be read along with the advert in order to understand the experience and skills needed. We do not assess CVs.

We’re looking for applicants who believe that having a truly diverse, representative and engaged workforce is fundamental to protect the environment and effectively serve the communities we live in.

It is your answers given to these questions that will be used for interview selection. More information on how to answer competency questions can be found in section 5 of the candidate pack. It is strongly recommended that you read this before answering.

Describe a time when you have had to lead changes to data management and/or digital systems.
• How did you identify what you needed to achieve?
• What plans did you put in place to deliver them?
• What problems did you face and how did you address these?

Describe a time when you have had to deliver a quality new or improved product within challenging time and/or budget constraints.
• How did you identify what your priorities should be?
• What was the outcome and is there anything you would do differently next time?

Giving a specific example, describe how you have successfully delivered a major project
• How did you plan and prioritise the work?
• How did you overcome any obstacles to delivery?
• What did you learn?

Using one or more examples describe your approach to conveying complex information to a variety of both technical and non-technical audiences.
• How did you work out what to communicate, and how to do it?
• Did you get any feedback and if so how have you used this since?