Marine Archaeological Project Officer (Marine Planner)

HISTORIC ENGLAND; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 33,000; Full time

Job summary

A national heritage body seeks a Marine Archaeological Project Officer to oversee marine planning advice and contribute to environmental assessments. This full-time role allows hybrid working and includes a competitive salary of £32,616 pro-rata, along with generous benefits. Candidates should hold a relevant degree and have experience in environmental impact assessments. The role involves travel and potentially working aboard vessels.

Benefits

28 days holiday

Pension scheme starting at 28.97% employer contributions

Corporate discounts

Free entry to English Heritage sites

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level with a post-graduate qualification or equivalent experience relevant to marine planning.
• Experience providing advice through Environmental Impact Assessment exercises.
• Knowledge about the historic environment as encountered by seabed users.

Responsibilities

• Deliver Historic England’s advice on proposals for change in the historic environment.
• Involved in pre-application and decision-making processes.
• Prepare development advice and assess historic environment assessment.

Skills

Spatial data analysis

Environmental impact assessment

Understanding of government policy

Ability to work under time pressure

Initiative and relationship building

Education

Degree with postgraduate qualification related to marine planning

Job description

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Marine Archaeological Project Officer. (This role is known internally as Marine Planning Officer.)

This is a full Time, Fixed-Term Contracts until June 2027

This role is be based nationally at one of our offices, with hybrid working.

Where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth (Fort Cumberland), and Cambridge.

Home working, with occasional office visits, will also be considered.

Salary

National - £32,616 pro-rata

Cambridge - £36,078 pro-rata

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

To view our full range of benefits please follow the link here.

What you will be doing

The Marine Planning Unit provides Historic England’s statutory and non‑statutory advice to developers, consultants and regulatory authorities. We are involved in pre‑application, formal decision‑making processes and post‑consent through our role as the only curatorial body for the English inshore and offshore marine planning areas.

As part of the Marine Planning Unit, you will take delegated responsibility for the delivery of Historic England’s advice on proposals for change in the historic environment that fall within their area of competence. You will contribute to delivery of Historic England’s corporate plan objectives, as relevant to marine development advice.

Historic England is the primary advisor for marine areas beyond local authority planning jurisdiction and as the Marine Planning Officer, you will play an important role in all stages of preparing development advice, especially the case for historic environment assessment and mitigation as part of the development consenting process and subsequent delivery.

Who we are looking for

• Educated to degree level with a post‑graduate qualification or equivalent experience relevant to marine planning and management;
• Experience of effectively providing advice through Environmental Impact Assessment exercises;
• Trained in the use of spatial data, analysis and presentation;
• Knowledgeable about the historic environment as might be encountered by seabed users and developers;
• Understanding of government policy, guidance and statutory measures for the historic environment;
• Confidence to deal with time pressure and challenge;
• Applies initiative and willingness to develop effective working relations.

What the role may require

• May require travel to locations not serviced by public transport;
• Requires visiting locations that may require climbing aboard vessels (large and small), to undergo travel at sea and negotiating confined spaces;
• May require occasional participation at events and to present information at conferences requiring away stays.

Please note your application will be scored and assessed against the above criteria.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work‑life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part‑time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email [e-mail] if you have any recruitment queries.

At Historic England we use a hiring system called Applied. Applied is a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. We do not use CV application for the majority of our hiring processes. You will answer a selection of questions that allow our hiring teams to test your skills and suitability for the role.

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Provisional interview dates: December 2025

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description – https://cms.historicengland.org.uk/media/llmpmwar/zw-marine-planning-officer-jd-aug-2025.odt