Principal Ecological Consultant

Place Services; Essex; Hybrid; GBP 51,000 - 63,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days holiday + bank holidays

LG Pension Scheme

Wellbeing and counselling

Volunteering leave

Travel discounts and season ticket

Retail and restaurant discounts

Job summary

Place Services, a multi-disciplinary consultancy within Essex County Council, seeks a Principal Ecological Consultant to co-lead the ecology offer and shape our services for local authorities and public sector clients.

You will deliver complex ecological assessments (PEAR, HRA, EcIA) and manage habitat and species surveys, leveraging GIS and robust data to inform decisions and ensure regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Advanced technical ecology expertise with substantial post-qualification experience.
• Professional accreditation including Full Membership of CIEEM.
• Experience in planning and development management from a planning authority perspective.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate ecology teams across multidisciplinary projects.
• Deliver high-quality ecological assessments (PEAR, HRA, EcIA).
• Drive business development and manage key client relationships.
• Ensure projects meet budget, specification and performance targets.
• Travel across the operational area and be mobile as required.

Skills

Ecology expertise

Project leadership

Commercial awareness

GIS

Stakeholder engagement

Tools

GIS software

Job description

• Salary: up to £57,095 per annum + benefits and local gov pension

Place Services is a multi-disciplinary consultancy within Essex County Council, providing expert environmental and planning services to local authorities and other public sector clients. We play a key role in enabling sustainable development, combining technical excellence with commercial awareness to deliver meaningful outcomes for communities and the natural environment.

As a Principal Ecological Consultant, you will operate as an and authoritative subject matter expert, co-leading and shaping our ecology offer alongside two existing Principals. This is a senior role requiring advanced technical expertise, underpinned by substantial post-qualification experience, strong professional accreditation (including Full Membership of CIEEM), and a deep understanding of relevant legislation, policy, standards and guidance.

You will take ownership of a diverse and challenging portfolio, leading on complex development management consultations and delivering high-quality ecological assessments (PEAR, HRA, EcIA). Your expertise will extend across habitat and species management, habitat creation, and the design and delivery of protected species surveys—applying both established and innovative approaches to achieve effective, evidence-based outcomes. We are particularly interested in ecologists with expertise and experience in planning and development management, preferably from a Local Planning Authority point of view.

Working at the forefront of multidisciplinary projects, you will lead and coordinate specialist teams, managing large-scale and complex projects from concept through to completion. You will confidently analyse, interpret and present complex ecological data, using a range of tools including GIS, to inform robust decision-making and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Alongside your technical leadership, you will bring strong commercial awareness, playing a key role in business development, bid-winning and managing high-value client relationships. You will be an accomplished communicator, able to influence, negotiate and build trusted partnerships, while ensuring projects are delivered to budget, specification and performance expectations.

You will also contribute to building a high-performing and supportive team culture, leading, mentoring and developing colleagues while promoting wellbeing, health and safety, and continuous professional growth. Through your leadership, you will help strengthen both the capability of the team and the ongoing success and reputation of Place Services.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle,or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

• Holiday entitlement of 27 days per annum (plus bank holidays), with the opportunity to buy additional annual leave
• Local Government Pension Scheme: essexpensionfund.co.uk
• Employee Wellbeing and counselling provision
• Volunteering leave
• Travel discounts and season ticket loans
• Retail and restaurant discounts and cashback on purchases

*This is a hybrid-working role. You will work from the Chelmsford office and/or across our operational area 1-2 days per week, depending on business need. This can be discussed further at interview.