Senior Permitting Officer - 14413

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic individual to join National Permitting Service’s Installations team in Bristol as a Senior Permitting Officer (SPO).

You’ll be assessing applications for a range of complex environmental permits located across England, in line with Environment Agency processes and regulatory obligations.

You’ll pro-actively manage your own workload, delivering high quality environmental permitting decisions to tight deadlines. To achieve this, you’ll have excellent interpersonal skills to develop and maintain excellent working relationships with customers. You must be prepared to have difficult conversations with customers and be able to clearly explain your decisions. You’ll provide mentoring and coaching support to others. This will be an essential element of the SPO role.

In exchange for your hard work, you’ll have the opportunity to further develop your skills, expertise and career in this fast-paced environment, for example by getting involved in permit review programmes or supporting on business improvement projects.

We would like to hear from candidates who feel they have the right attributes to be successful in a permitting environment.

The National Permitting Service delivers the Environment Agency’s permitting and regulatory responsibilities, enabling businesses to operate whilst protecting and improving the environment.

You’ll be joining an established permitting team, who determine environmental permit applications for regulated industry. You will need to remain flexible to respond to changing demands.

• Degree (or equivalent) in a science or humanities subject
• Specialist technical knowledge of at least two of the following combustion, chemicals, food and drink, waste treatment, landfill, refineries, metals, intensive farming, cement and lime, paper and pulp, incineration, oil and gas, noise, odour, dust, air quality, habitats, fire prevention plans, best available techniques (BAT)
• Experience in environmental management and environmental risk assessment
• Willingness to work collaboratively with internal and external partners to build technical resilience, share best practise and knowledge and improve efficiency
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong influencing skills
• Ability to make sound and timely decisions

Desirable requirements:

• Experience of environmental permitting e.g. providing pre-application advice, assessing applications, reviewing permits, making applications
• An understanding of the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR)
• Chartered membership of a relevant institute or (for Environment Agency staff only) Practising Environmental Regulator.

For further details please contact Sifelani Mpofu, Principal Permitting Team Leader, on 020 302 54736 or 07584 108437 or sifelani.f.mpofu@environment-agency.gov.uk

Sets and delivers high work standards, demonstrates the drive to meet targets. Prioritises and organises tasks and resources to ensure timely achievement of results.

Give a specific example, describing how you have delivered a successful piece of work in the face of considerable challenges or obstacles.

Addresses the needs of internal and external customers, provides rapid and effective responses.

Give an example of when you have had to deal with both internal and external customers to resolve issues raised?

Finds and delivers optimal solutions by effectively analysing all the information, probing to develop alternatives and taking sound and timely decisions.

Given an example of when you had to use information from a variety of sources in order to solve a difficult technical problem.

Presenting a case in a convincing and attractive way that will win people over, encouraging them to follow plans willingly; often succeeding where logic and reason alone would fail.

Describe a time when you have successfully persuaded a key stakeholder round to your point of view.