Senior Strategic Projects and Partnerships Advisor - Flood Risk Management

Last year Yorkshire was severely affected by flooding. We’re growing our Flood and Coastal Risk Management teams so that we can reduce the risk of flooding to the people of Yorkshire. It’s an exciting time and we need your help to ensure we’re prepared.

You’ll be responsible for developing relationships with a range of strategic partners including communities, businesses and Local Authorities. Providing expert advice and guidance, you’ll help identify flood risk and find the most appropriate solutions, advising on everything from funding, planning advice, permitting issues, GIS mapping and community engagement.

You'll identify, develop, attract and secure funding opportunities to support flood risk management projects, with a focus on where this will support and enable economic growth. You'll empower public sector partners to deliver more for communities and the environment, and you'll build relationships with key private sector organisations to secure their support and investment.

To do this, you'll work collaboratively with a wide range of organisations to maximise opportunities to deliver flood risk projects, identifying those that can provide social, economic and environmental benefits. There’s a big emphasis on partnerships and how you can leverage your networks to negotiate the best funding options for each project.

Flood and Coastal Risk Management teams help protect against flooding and minimise the risks caused by floods.

Partnerships and Strategic Overview teams work closely with our public and private sector partners to identify flood risk solutions. We specify, plan and help fund the creation of new assets that protect communities from future flooding. We also influence the location of new property developments and help develop flood management strategies through the use of spatial planning.

You’ll come from a Local Authority or engineering environment where you’ve played a senior role in flood risk management. You’ll understand and be able to overcome the technical challenges in identifying and delivering flood risk solutions. Known as someone who can present solutions to complex problems in a simple and engaging way, you’ll quickly gain the confidence and trust of external partners. Being able to share your expertise by coaching members of the wider team will also be crucial. You’ll also need:
• Excellent networking/relationship building skills
• Knowledge of internal and external funding sources that could fund flood risk projects
• Good communication and negotiation skills
• Experience of programme development and management

An aptitude for managing the commercial and political aspects of flood risk projects is a must. Knowledge of using outputs from flood risk models is advantageous. Membership of ICE, CIWEM or equivalent is desirable.

The are 5 vacancies available, 4 permanent and 1 fixed term contract (to April 2017).

Internal role title: FCRM Senior Advisor (PSO).

The grade rate for these posts is £43,344 (pro-rata for assignment).

There are opportunities to get involved with incident management when flooding occurs. We have a flexible range of roles you can volunteer for and you’ll get all the training and support you need.

Candidates need to hold a full UK driving licence.

Please download the candidate pack (below) for more information. For further information please contact YorkshireRecruitment@ea.gov.uk.

The closing date for applications is 9th January 2017.

Interviews will be held the weeks commencing 27th February and 6th March.

You’ll be expected to harness the team to deliver results on time, to required standards and in line with organisational processes and procedures. Tell us how you have assigned workload and resources to achieve business outcomes.

Tell us how you have developed and maintained effective working relationships.

You’ll be expected to consult and collaborate with our customers and partners. Tell us how you have identified and engaged customers and partners in the past. How did you gain their input in the most effective and constructive way? How have you prepared long-term influencing strategies for key partners?

Tell us about a time when you Identified and seized the opportunity to create, introduce and implement new or improved methods or processes without compromising quality or accuracy.