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Role location: Epsom, London, Warrington, Glasgow, Bristol, Peterborough, Oxford, Birmingham.

Do you have the drive and technical capability to work with us as a Principal Consultant or Associate in our Natural Capital and Environmental Economics team, delivering the future of Atkins’ service offerings and capability in this area? You can join a respected technical team, and help maintain and grow our reputation for innovation and award-winning technical excellence, while working collaboratively to both win and deliver work across our extensive client portfolio. We have a deep-rooted passion for protecting natural capital and supporting our clients in meeting pressing challenges including climate change and biodiversity loss, and this is an exceptionally exciting time for you to join us.

Our company:

SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies, with over 50,000 employees worldwide. At Atkins, we offer more than just a job. We offer an opportunity to make a difference and shape the world to benefit future generations and the natural environment. Our friendly, collaborative and supportive working environment is a great space to further develop your technical skills, build your career, and work with great people with a shared purpose.

Our team:

You will be joining our growing Natural Capital and Environmental Economics team, part of our exciting and inclusive Environment practice. The role will sit within our Water Management Consultancy business, with the opportunity to work across multiple sectors and with our other businesses. We develop and use state of the art approaches and our innovative in-house tools to assess and quantify the economic impact of environmental changes at various scales, from strategic to scheme level. You can see some examples of our work here Valuing Our Natural Capital: The Atkins Approach (snclavalin.com).

Our natural capital team offers a unique blend of skills, comprising experts in environmental economics, environmental science and spatial analysis, with an ambitious strategy for continuous innovation and expanding our capability. We enjoy working collaboratively with our colleagues across the company to deliver projects that bring about real change, drawing on experts from specialist teams such as biodiversity and air quality to deliver our work. This year we hosted a “Natural Capital and Environmental Economics Day” at a local nature reserve in London, bringing together more than colleagues from across the business to celebrate our successes in this area, share learnings from recent projects, and is a great example of how we support each other’s’ technical development.

We work for a broad spectrum of clients across the UK and globally, including central and local government, utilities, regulators, the water industry, private estates, developers and NGOs. Many of our clients are highly ambitious about tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, with recent projects focusing on using nature-based solutions to deliver carbon net zero, introducing beavers as part of natural flood management on a rural estate, and integrating the value of natural assets into investment decision making. You will have the opportunity to work with and influence our clients directly, supporting them on tackling these challenges.

What we’re looking for?

We are seeking an enthusiastic and ambitious individual to join our Natural Capital and Environmental Economics team, contributing to a wide range of projects across the Environment business, including in water management, climate adaptation, sustainable finance, nature-based carbon removals, habitat restoration, environmental planning, and designing future-ready cities. You will have the opportunity to work alongside award-winning national experts in environmental economics, biodiversity net gain and nature-based solutions. Our current vacancy is for a Principal Consultant or Associate position in Epsom, London, Warrington, Glasgow, Bristol, Peterborough, Oxford, and Birmingham, although consideration will be given to exceptional candidates in other locations.

Responsibilities:

You will play a central role in developing, contributing to and leading projects with a natural capital and environmental economics focus, as well as the opportunity to support on Biodiversity Net Gain, Net Zero, Nature Positive and Social Value themes on a wide variety of projects across the business. You will need to keep up-to-date with the rapidly developing field of natural capital and the application of evolving economic techniques. You will also have the opportunity to input to the development and refinement of new and existing digital tools that quantify and illustrate environmental impacts in a clear and visual way. You will also contribute to business development and will be responsible for the successful delivery of key tasks on projects or on bids, including managing contributions from junior team members, and will be focused on achieving and delivering technical excellence.

The Individual:

You will be a Scientist or Economist, preferably chartered, who has demonstrable experience in natural capital, through either a combination of academic training or on-the-job experience. Ideally, you will have experience in undertaking economic valuation using a variety of valuation methods to support decision-making. Some experience of multi-disciplinary project delivery is desirable, as environmental economics will often be an input into a wider project.

You will be self-motivated, flexible and enthusiastic, as well as having:

• A degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Environmental Economics or Environmental Science and Policy) and preferably a relevant post-graduate qualification.
• Technical experience in applications of natural capital assessments and/or environmental economics techniques.
• Ideally some experience in project management, winning work and technical leadership of projects.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt your presentation style to different types of audience, including non-specialists.
• Strong organisational skills, an ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and to deadlines.
• Excellent collaborative working skills to ensure we get the best from our working relationships with internal and external client teams.
• Attention to detail and desire to work to high standards consistently.

What we offer?

Atkins recognises that there are many well-qualified people who are looking to further their career, but who cannot commit to full time employment. We support flexible working arrangements and welcome discussions on how we can best accommodate individual requirements. As part of this commitment, we understand the need for a diverse and flexible workforce, where a work-life balance is important. Atkins offers flexible working, where there is no fixed 9 ‘til 5, no need for a 5-day week and no requirement to spend all your working time in the office.

Our IT systems support home-working, so where you have parental or carer duties; or you simply need to be elsewhere for a parcel, servicing your car, or waiting in for a tradesperson; Atkins will work for you.

Similarly, Atkins’ corporate social responsibility provides the opportunity to give something back to the community, and we run professional networks supporting groups such as local schools, charities, parents, those coming out of the armed-forces and women in engineering.

Training:

Atkins develops individuals through a portfolio of training and development activities designed to help you make the best of your abilities and talents. These are reviewed with individuals through an annual development process, a formal system that is bolstered by other approaches such as mentoring. We support staff in achieving and maintaining membership of relevant institutions. You will also be part of our global Technical Networks, which provide a flow of technically orientated information and ideas through the company.

Atkins will support you in your professional development, whether chartered with CIWEM, IEMA, CIEEM, or another professional body. This includes paying your annual membership and providing access to training.

Rewards and Benefits:

We offer a competitive salary that is regularly tested against other consultants with a default 25-days leave each year plus bank holidays and options to buy or sell leave. We also operate a Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) system for any hours undertaken above contracted hours which can be used throughout the year. To support and safeguard your physical and mental wellbeing we provide an employee assistance programme offering advice and support in times of need.

Our offices run their own sports and social club providing wide ranging activities such as wine tasting, surf trips and a kids’ Christmas party. Two volunteering days a year allow our staff the chance to make even more of a positive difference to the world. You will also have access to our Flexible Benefits, where you can opt in to a wide range of benefits to complement your work/life balance: such as medical insurance, gym membership, the cycle-to-work scheme, charitable giving, additional pension contributions etc. Please refer to our website for details of our full benefits package: https://yourrewarduk.snclavalin.com/.

This role may require security clearance and offers of employment will be dependent on obtaining the relevant level of clearance. If this is necessary, it will be discussed with you at interview. If applying to this role please do not make reference to (in conversation) or include in your application or CV, details of any current or previously held security clearance.

Atkins, part of the SNC Lavalin Group, is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and ability.