Regulatory Officer 1 – Packaging Waste - North - 31787

Are you passionate about the environment? Join us and help create a cleaner, safer and healthier environment for people and wildlife. We ensure that companies are disposing of their waste correctly by enforcing government regulations – ‘right waste, right place’. You will be key to planning, monitoring and delivering compliance and enforcement activity within your area of waste regulation, to drive a circular economy.

This role will be based in the Packaging North team within the Producer Responsibility team, part of Waste, Markets and Shipments (previously ORS).

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.

As a Regulatory Officer you will:

• Undertake audit and enforcement work in the field and/or desk based.
• Collate, analyse and use complex data to help make evidence-based decisions on regulation compliance.
• Answer technical queries; interpret and diagnose problems and develop solutions.
• Develop further relationships with customers and stakeholders
• Deal with confidential and sensitive information whilst keeping in line with data protection guidelines.
• Contribute to the development and improvement of processes, procedures, and operational instructions.
• Work with businesses to bring them into compliance and investigate companies suspected of non- compliance. This work can involve conducting interviews under caution and compiling casefiles for our legal teams.

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.

The Packaging North team in Producer Responsibility consists of Regulatory Officers and Senior Technical Officers who specialise in monitoring compliance at regulated sites. Our aim is to ensure that packaging waste is handled appropriately for recycling and recovery, either in the UK or overseas. The team also undertakes enforcement action where offences have occurred. Some travel will be required. The team is friendly, supportive and dedicated. We encourage our colleagues’ health, safety, wellbeing and development.

We are looking for people with various types of experience who can demonstrate the capabilities and interpersonal skills needed for the role. Waste industry or regulatory experience is not necessary as you will receive full training. We are looking for people who enjoy working outdoors and in an office.

You should be able to show us you are:

Effective, organised and able to prioritise
Confident/assertive
IT/computer literate
Comfortable with numbers and handling large data sets
Passionate about the environment and willing to learn about environmental regulation/enforcement

And can:

Handle confrontational situations
Adapt your communication style to suit others to get your message across
Integrate into a team
Record information accurately

You must hold a full valid UK driving licence as you will be required to travel and drive as part of the role. Don’t be put off applying if you don’t have a degree or similar. We value life experience.

We offer an attractive and competitive benefits package including:

A fantastic Pension Scheme
Competitive Salary
Flexible working hours including flexi leave
25 annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata)
Apprenticeships/opportunities for in-work qualifications

For more information see the Candidate Pack.

Interviews for the Regulatory Officer role are expected to take place 13 October - 24 October 2025 in a face-to-face setting in Leeds.

You will need to be comfortable with working in a dispersed team. The Environment Agency utilises a hybrid working approach, including office and home working. Regular travel across the North and wider travel for training and meetings is expected.

We may use the outcomes from this recruitment for future vacancies within the next 6 months.
For an informal discussion contact dave.parker@environment-agency.gov.uk

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

Describe an example of where you have solved a problem by using relevant information and exploring options.

• What was the problem?
• How did you gather information?
• What was the outcome?

Listens and questions to understand and engage. Conveys information and ideas clearly, accurately and persuasively through speech and writing.

Describe how you have used a range of communication methods to present your views in a convincing way.

• What messages you were communicating?
• How did you adapt your communication style or method to suit different audiences and why?

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 persuaded someone or a group to do something that they resisted. Explain the process you went through and how you sought to understand the other person's point of view.

• What was the situation?
• What were the challenges you faced?
• How did you influence/change their mind?

Full UK Driving License is essential