Natural Capital Manager

Cambridge County Council; Cambourne; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Cambridgeshire County Council seeks an experienced natural capital practitioner for an 18-month fixed-term role. The successful candidate will assess natural capital data, influence policy decisions, and support biodiversity initiatives. This role offers a unique opportunity to impact environmental strategies within a supportive and diverse community.

Benefits

Comprehensive wellbeing package

Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave

Flexible bank holidays

Development opportunities and apprenticeships

Paid volunteering hours

Access to Peer Support Groups

Employee Recognition Awards

Discounts through Our Cambs Rewards

Qualifications

• Experience in policy making and implementation.
• Understanding of government approaches to natural capital.
• Ability to influence and negotiate across diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Assess and review existing natural capital mapping and data.
• Communicate natural capital evidence for decision making.
• Develop resources for statutory requirements under the Environment Act 2021.

Skills

Policy knowledge

Technical knowledge in biodiversity

Negotiation skills

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Attention to detail

Job description

Cambridgeshire County Council has an ambitious programme for net zero, ecosystem services and natural capital. We have been developing a deeper understanding of our natural assets and biodiversity and are now looking for an experienced natural capital practitioner to take us on the next steps of our journey.

Operating in a complex political, technical, regulatory, and commercial context, the challenge will be to think long term and function alongside other council programmes such as the Climate Change & Environment Strategy, the newly adopted Biodiversity and Tree & Woodland Strategies and other Net Zero' initiatives.

This post is a fixed term role for 18 months with a possibility of an extension subject to the release of more funds

For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact Quinton Carroll (Head of Natural & Historic Environment) on 07717 426713 or email [e-mail]

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

What will you be doing?

A specialist manager in natural capital (NC) is needed to undertake the following:

• assess and review existing natural capital mapping and data, identifying areas missing or out of date.
• communicate our natural capital evidence and tools so that evidence has an impact on decision making and outcomes.
• develop the resources and evidence base to deliver natural capital and ecosystem service approaches statutory requirements set out under the Environment Act 2021, including Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS)
• develop the mainstreaming evidence about nature into decision-making, to ensure society's prosperity and nature recovery is embedded in decision making.
• provide analysis (spatial, data, technical and delivery-focused) to inform the council's policy choices and advise on operational and delivery implications.
• bring together the evidence and resources to support and embed natural capital approaches into our work.

About you

We are looking for someone with the following experience and skills:

• Policy and technical knowledge in biodiversity, natural capital and nature recovery, with strong knowledge of the ecosystem approach, ecosystem services and environmental justice.
• Experience in policy making and implementation
• Understanding of government approaches to natural capital approaches.
• The ability to work in a multidisciplinary way with colleagues across the authority, influencing and negotiating across a diverse and challenging community of stakeholders including conveying contentious proposals and solutions.
• Ability to plan and prioritise workload with the appropriate attention to detail.

Full details are in the attached Person Specification.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities.If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers