Location

These roles will be based in Northumbria Area Team, covering the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear and Teesside, and are based at Lancaster House, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Northumbria has a rich natural heritage that includes stretches of rugged coastline, extensive upland tracts, varied lowland landscapes and impressive marine biodiversity.

It incorporates hugely contrasting areas, from the upland areas of the North Pennines and Cheviots to the riverine valleys of the Tweed, Tyne, Wear and Tees, and the industrial powerhouses of Tyneside, Wearside, and Teesside.

Diverse landscapes include maritime cliffs and extensive moorlands that contain rare species of flora and fauna. Of particular importance are the saltmarshes and mudflats of Lindisfarne and the Tees Estuary; the heaths, bogs and traditional hay meadows of the North Pennines and Cheviot Hills; the seabird colonies of the Farnes and Coquet Island and the Magnesian Limestone grasslands of East Durham.

Northumbria is also home to Kielder Forest, Europe’s largest man-made forest – an important habitat for the endangered red squirrel; the largest and most important softwood resource in England; and a valuable resource to the local tourist economy.

Our area teams lead our place-based delivery of six programmes. The Area Teams have an ambitious plan to build a resilient natural environment. We want to create flourishing landscapes that are a source of pride, employment, access, and enjoyment. The habitats across the landscapes will provide benefits to biodiversity, water quality, flood management, climate change and the wider farmed environment.

About the job

Summary

Job description

Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment?

If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature.

The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:

Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive

Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change

Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods

Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature

Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing

We are the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/naturalengland

Our Team Leaders are vital to the smooth running of Natural England, providing leadership and support for team members, translating the overall priorities and direction into day-to-day work programmes for teams. Team Leaders support our people and strive to ensure a fulfilling work life and a heathy work/ life balance for all.

As a Team Leader you will play an essential role in coaching and developing your team, helping people to further their careers and interests. Your role will include:

Ensuring that everyone has a safe working environment, and that both mental and physical health are protected.

Leading your team through periods of change.

Offering leadership, guidance, and support to ensure effective delivery of your team’s work

Managing staff performance to ensure targets are met.

Helping staff to find solutions to problems, encouraging creative thinking and seeking continual improvement.

Ensuring Natural England’s Ways of Working are embedded into your team and leading by example.

Benefits

Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.

Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days (pro rata) to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days (pro rata) to volunteer.

You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us.

You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events.

Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated.

We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan.

Job description

There are 2 Team Leader roles to recruit, and both are permanent recruitments in the Northumbria Area Team.

These Team Leader roles will lead staff working in a mix of work areas in our team, including Land management covering Countryside Stewardship advice and delivery, and reactive casework, and our work on 3 geographically dispersed National Nature Reserves in our area.

Candidates will be asked at interview to indicate a preference for the work area, and decisions will be taken in order of merit first, and then work area preference.

These roles are based at the NE Newcastle office, within the Northumbria Area Team.

The roles will be based at the Newcastle office, and a driving licence is essential, as travel to farms and protected sites will be required.

The role holder will:

Key tasks/tasks/principal responsibilities

• Inspire, motivate, and develop the staff through an appropriate mix of leadership, guidance, support, coaching, line, and functional management.
• Develop and continuously improve team performance by using the performance management system, address and resolve any poor performance
• Role model communications and ways of working; sharing good practice and inspiring the wider team through practical and effective examples of delivery.
• Work effectively with the other team leaders/managers and contribute to the decisions made by the Northumbria Area Leadership Team to ensure that area team’s resources are deployed effectively to deliver our outcomes.
• Create a supportive culture that enables Team members to innovate, and to reflect, review and learn lessons from their work.
• Proactively deal with complex and contentious issues relating to people and delivery of project outcomes.
• Lead and manage change in the team in line with, and contributing to, the development of Natural England.
• Ensure that staff work safely and healthily.
• Build a culture of seeking out opportunities that develop the Team’s ability to cost recover whilst also delivering for the environment and our customers.
• Show innovation and creativity in finding solutions and encourage team members to do the same in their day-to-day work
• Be proactive and self-driven, spotting and exploring opportunities and bringing them to fruition.

Skills and knowledge

Essential

• People management
• Ability to manage through change
• Taking complex decisions and deliver positive outcomes
• Communication skills that will inspire your team
• Risk management and problem solving
• Project management

Desirable

• Stakeholder engagement
• Casework delivery/management

Locations

Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means that our staff will work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographic area. Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.

As a new Team Leader you will become active members of the relevant local leadership community, the group of senior Natural England staff in each of the localities across England who we ask to provide support and co-ordination for the local group of staff.

View a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-englandoffice-locations

How to apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We'll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:

• Leading and managing people
• Personal effectiveness
• Work Delivery
• Technical skills and knowledge

When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your doing so.

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.

Next steps

Evaluation of applications will begin shortly after the closing date; Candidates invited to interview will be notified by email by early April 2023

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview via MS Teams or a suitable alternative, where you will be asked to give examples for all four competencies as set out in the Job Description.

Successful candidates will be allocated roles in merit order based on scores achieved at interview and considering the work area to which successful candidates are most suited, wherever possible.

Responsibilities

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Learning and development tailored to your role

An environment with flexible working options

A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

Please refer to Job Description

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals

nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the Republic of Ireland

nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

Name :
Suzanne Harrison
Email :
[email protected]
Telephone :
07795127933

Recruitment team :

Email :
[email protected]