Strategic Principal Ecologist & Team Leader

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust; Nottingham; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working options

Generous employer pension contribution

Health payment plan

Personalised development programme

Multi-disciplinary business

Job summary

EMEC, a Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust subsidiary, seeks a Principal Ecologist to lead the Ecology team and contribute to EMEC’s strategy and delivery on major projects. The role blends technical leadership with senior management responsibilities to ensure high-quality ecological work and team development.

You will guide ecological judgement, manage resources, and develop capabilities across the portfolio while supporting bid opportunities and client relationships.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in ecological consultancy and broad ecological knowledge.
• Experience leading and developing ecologists and building high-performing teams.
• Strong technical judgement and ability to review complex ecological work.
• Experience managing a portfolio of projects, resources and priorities.
• Good commercial awareness including budgets, forecasting and resource use.
• Experience contributing to tenders and new opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Ecology department and overall performance, quality, capacity and development.
• Line manage Senior Ecologists and support them to lead within the team.
• Develop the Ecology team's skills and training plans for future capability.
• Set priorities and create an environment for high performance and development.
• Plan resources against workload, pipeline, seasonality and future needs.
• Monitor and report department performance using KPIs across operations, commercial and people.
• Maintain technical quality of ecological work with support from specialists.
• Oversee delivery and commercial performance of the Ecology portfolio.

Skills

Team leadership

Ecological consultancy

Project management

Budgeting & forecasting

Client relationship management

Strategic thinking

Communication & influencing

Education

Degree in ecology or related field

Full membership of CIEEM

Job description

EMEC, a Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust subsidiary, seeks a Principal Ecologist to lead the Ecology team and contribute to EMEC’s strategy and delivery on major projects. The role blends technical leadership with senior management responsibilities to ensure high-quality ecological work and team development.

You will guide ecological judgement, manage resources, and develop capabilities across the portfolio while supporting bid opportunities and client relationships.