Lead Ecologist

Balfour Beatty plc; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 78,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Smart working with up to 40% remote

25 days paid annual leave pro rata

Family friendly policies including 28+

Pension, share incentive plan, and:vol

Job summary

Balfour Beatty plc is recruiting for a senior ecologist to shape ecological management across the Power portfolio in the UK. You will lead ecological input in bids and pre-construction, identify risks, and develop mitigation strategies while ensuring compliance with wildlife legislation and permits.

You will manage consultants, support consenting strategies, and drive Biodiversity Net Gain across projects, travelling to sites as required to deliver practical, value-adding environmental outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in Nature Conservation, Ecology, Biodiversity or closely related fields.
• Degree in Ecology, Environmental Management, Biological Sciences or a related discipline.
• Chartered Ecologist (CEcol) or working towards chartership.
• Full member of CIEEM.
• Extensive experience within ecology, environmental planning or nature conservation.
• Experience supporting major infrastructure, utilities, energy or construction projects.
• Technical understanding of UK wildlife legislation, protected species licensing and planning requirements.
• Experience developing ecological mitigation and consenting strategies.
• Experience managing specialist consultants and ecological supply chain partners.
• Commercial awareness with the ability to translate ecological risks into programme and commercial implications.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel to projects when required.

Responsibilities

• Lead ecological input into bids, tenders and pre-construction activities across the Power portfolio.
• Identify ecological risks, constraints, opportunities and programme implications during early project development.
• Develop and review ecological sections of tender submissions, technical proposals, methodologies and environmental management documentation.
• Provide ecological leadership for optioneering, routing, design development and constructability reviews.
• Identify and develop opportunities for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and wider nature enhancement during bid and pre-construction stages, supporting clients and project teams to incorporate practical, deliverable and value-adding environmental outcomes into project designs, programmes and delivery strategies.
• Support the development of consenting and permitting strategies, ensuring ecological requirements are identified and programmed appropriately.
• Provide specialist advice on protected species licensing, habitat management, biodiversity net gain and ecological mitigation.
• Act as the technical authority for ecology within the ES Bid & Pre-Construction team.

Skills

Ecology expertise

Environmental planning

Commercial awareness

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Project delivery

Education

Degree in Ecology

Chartered Ecologist (CEcol)

Tools

CIEEM

Job description

About the role

As a newly created position within a growing function, this role presents an exciting opportunity to shape the future direction of ecological management within one of the UK's fastest-growing infrastructure sectors and influence the development of ecology capability across the wider business.

What you'll be doing

• Lead ecological input into bids, tenders and pre-construction activities across the Power portfolio.
• Identify ecological risks, constraints, opportunities and programme implications during early project development.
• Develop and review ecological sections of tender submissions, technical proposals, methodologies and environmental management documentation.
• Provide ecological leadership for optioneering, routing, design development and constructability reviews.
• Identify and develop opportunities for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and wider nature enhancement during bid and pre-construction stages, supporting clients and project teams to incorporate practical, deliverable and value-adding environmental outcomes into project designs, programmes and delivery strategies.
• Support the development of consenting and permitting strategies, ensuring ecological requirements are identified and programmed appropriately.
• Provide specialist advice on protected species licensing, habitat management, biodiversity net gain and ecological mitigation.
• Act as the technical authority for ecology within the ES Bid & Pre-Construction team.

Who we're looking for

Essential:

• Experience in Nature Conservation, Ecology, Biodiversity or closely related fields.
• Degree in Ecology, Environmental Management, Biological Sciences or a related discipline.
• Chartered Ecologist (CEcol) or working towards chartership.
• Full member of CIEEM.
• Extensive experience within ecology, environmental planning or nature conservation.
• Experience supporting major infrastructure, utilities, energy or construction projects.
• Technical understanding of UK wildlife legislation, protected species licensing and planning requirements.
• Experience developing ecological mitigation and consenting strategies.
• Experience managing specialist consultants and ecological supply chain partners.
• Commercial awareness with the ability to translate ecological risks into programme and commercial implications.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel to projects when required.

Desirable:

• Protected Species Licence holder.
• Named Ecologist experience.
• Experience of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).
• Biodiversity Net Gain expertise.
• Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv).
• Master's degree in Ecology, Conservation or related subject.
• Experience supporting major transmission and distribution projects.

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Why join us?

As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You’ll have the freedom to shape the package that’s right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:

- Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
- 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
- Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave
- Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more…

About us

Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission & Distribution teams work with regional, national and international electricity network owners and operators to provide technical engineering solutions across the full spectrum of the electricity grid, including overhead lines, cabling, substations and distribution networks.

From scoping and feasibility, to design, construction and on‑going maintenance, our in‑house experts, flexible resources and industry‑leading innovations support customers in the development of some of the UK’s most ambitious power transmission and distribution projects.

Diversity and inclusion

At Balfour Beatty we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential components of any successful, happy workplace. Through our Value Everyone Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan, we are growing our diverse workforce and developing our inclusive culture where everyone is able to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of their identity or background. To find out how we are making this a reality, visit www.balfourbeatty.com/diversityandinclusion

To help and support us with our desired commitment to create an inclusive culture we are members of WISE, enei, Business Disability Forum and the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE). In 2020, we signed the Audeliss and Involve Open Letter to demonstrate our commitment to taking key long term and sustainable actions on Black Inclusion. Balfour Beatty is also a Gold Award holder in the Ministry of Defence 'Employer Recognition Scheme' and actively encourage applications from Armed Forces personnel, veterans and reservists.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long‑term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment. We are also committed to offering applicants with a disability an interview if they meet the minimum requirements for the role. For more info, visit: https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/

We are looking to continually improve our resourcing process and ensure that it is fair and inclusive for all. If you have any feedback on the process, please share this with us at: [e-mail]