Arun Catchment Officer - 22380

As one of our catchment officers, you will play a key role managing the Environment Agency’s range of flood defence assets within the Catchments. You'll be involved with the whole life of river asset systems from the creation of new structures, through to the maintenance, inspection and ongoing review of engineering performance. A critical element of the whole life cycle is incident management ensuring that our structures are capable of performing to their design criteria during flood events from sluice gates to embankments, locks to weirs, culverts and pumping stations as well as routine river maintenance work.

This role of the Arun Catchment Officer is extremely varied and draws upon a diverse range of transferrable skills. Working closely with other teams, you can expect to be involved in any of the following:

• Inspecting flood defences and other flood risk assets
• Delivering projects
• Planning projects
• Engaging with local communities and businesses

The role includes a good mix of office and site work. You will also be trained in incident response and you'll fulfil an incident management duty role which can involve organising personnel, supervising work and working in our incident room.

Our assets are a diverse range of flood defences, earth banks, walls, pumping stations, sluices and control structures. They need constant management, maintenance and replacement. The team identifies, plans and manages work for a range of teams to deliver safely, within budget and on time. Assess asset conditions, recording and managing that data to create programmes of work. We liaise with communities, landowners and partners informing and discussing with them the work we do.

You'll have excellent communications skills and the ability to develop strong relationships with internal and external partners as well as the general public. It’s advantageous to have a project/programme management and/or a customer-oriented background.

For the role you must have experience in the following areas.

• Have a good working knowledge of health and safety
• Be skilled at managing multiple priorities and competing demands
• Be able to show where you’ve worked with others to deliver success
• Be an intelligent problem solver, with a methodical work approach
• Ideally you should have a driving licence
• Have an engineering or science background and, ideally, a relevant degree (or equivalent) or professional qualification

Please don’t be put off applying if you don’t have a degree - experience in the flood risk sector is also very important to us.

We don’t just talk about diversity; we seek it, embrace it and live it, for the benefit of our staff, our communities and our environment.
We support flexible working hours and practices.
We also encourage you to keep developing your skills and professional knowledge throughout your career.

The Environment Agency is a Category 1 Responder, responding to serious flood and pollution incidents, protecting the environment, lives, and livelihoods of the communities that we serve. Everyone has a role to play and we’ll help you to identify an incident role that fits with your skills, experience and personal circumstances.

If you'd like more information please get in touch with andrew.manville@environment-agency.gov.uk

Interviews will be held remotely by video conference date to be confirmed.

Please tell us about a time when you have had to make a decision at pace or based upon incomplete information. What were the factors you took into account in your decision making? What was the outcome?

Please tell us about a time when you have communicated a difficult message to someone. How did you select the method of communication? How did you ensure the message landed well?

Please show, using an example from your current situation, where you have addressed the needs of internal and or external customers, providing an effective response.

Drivers License

Engineering Knowledge