Asset Management Engagement Advisor - 27896

The Environment Agency’s aspiration is to create better places for people, wildlife and the environment. Asset Management underpins our work in flood risk, striving for a sustainable and collaborative approach.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our Operations Team, planning and delivering effective engagement across Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. This role will work alongside another Engagement Specialist in the Asset Performance team and will lead on asset decommission and transfer.

We need your energy, enthusiasm, and experience to ensure we embed a holistic approach to asset management. You will help provide direction to the Operations Teams, ensuring that engagement is appropriate, timely and of high quality. Building and maintaining productive and influential relationships with internal and external customers and partners will be at the heart of your role, as will ensuring that communications, especially those around sensitive and emotive issues, are clear and consistent.

You will also:

• Provide specialist advice or lead on high-risk projects
• Mentor and coach others to deliver engagement
• Advise on best practice and current national specifications
• Embed inclusive engagement
• Support and promote strategic engagement and the Working with Others Approach
• Support communications and engagement during incidents (rostered role)

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 an additional payment and full training and alternative working arrangements will be available to support you with your incident role.

Asset Performance Teams manage flood and coastal erosion risk assets to reduce the impact of flooding. We do this by managing the whole lifecycle of our assets, including the effects of climate change through planning, delivery, maintenance and decommissioning. We work with colleagues, customers and stakeholders to manage catchments holistically, seeking innovative and sustainable approaches to managing water resources. Our work seeks opportunities for Carbon Net Zero and Biodiversity Net Gain ambitions across the area.

As a senior member of the team, we are seeking an Asset Management Engagement Specialist who:

• is a strong communicator with drive/enthusiasm, and a genuine interest in telling a compelling message to our audiences
• can produce high quality, plain English correspondence, and briefing material on technical topics
• is prepared to take on difficult problems through to resolution, rising to the challenge of the EA to become leading asset managers
• has a proven ability to work effectively with customers and stakeholders in a way that supports delivery of our asset management activities
• has excellent interpersonal skills, supported by very strong written and verbal communication skills
• is a creative thinker, with the ability to identify new and innovative opportunities
• can demonstrate excellent self-management, and can prioritise and deliver work to tight deadlines
• Desirable: a technical understanding of flood risk and/or asset management or similar

The role will be based in our Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire Area. We do work flexibly and so the team currently have the option of working from either an office or their home.

For questions relating to this role, please contact Tracy Hodsman by e-mail at tracy.hodsman@environment-agency.gov.uk or by phone on 07785714889.

Our capability dictionary can be found here: https://www.calameo.com/read/004433680aab41adf893b

We are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We welcome flexible working patterns for all our vacancies, including job share, so please clearly include any information regarding your preferred working arrangements on your application.

Interviews will be held within the first two weeks of November.

In this role you’ll be working with a variety of people at different levels of the organisation. Please describe a time when you have influenced and persuaded others to gain acceptance of your ideas.

Conveying messages on technical and sensitive topics in flood risk management can be a challenge. What do you believe are factors in successful communication and how have you used these to convey your ideas confidently in the past?

Please give an example of when you have had to engage with multiple stakeholders on a complex project. What were the challenges and/or the lessons learnt?

Can you provide an example of when you have successfully developed and sustained relationships with external stakeholders?

A Full UK driving licence ideally required