Role: Senior Consultant - Terrestrial Ecologist (HRA)

Location: UK Flexible / Spain Flexible (Hybrid) 

Salary range: £35,200 - £52,800 / €40,000 - €55,000

Role ID: 1744

Our vision is to create a safe and sustainable world

Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering leading-edge and innovative cross-sector sustainable products and solutions. Every day, we enable our customers to solve the most complex and dynamic challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world.

Energy & Environment, one of Ricardo plc’s five operating business units, is a leader in sustainability consultancy, solving complex environmental challenges through industry-leading analysis, advice and data. With more than 50 years of heritage in addressing air quality, environmental and sustainability issues, our customers value us for our deep understanding and breadth of services covering the entire value chain from evidence, policy & strategy to implementation.

We are currently looking for a Senior Terrestrial Ecologist to join our Ecology team.

Key responsibilities

• Your role will involve undertaking Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRA’s).
• Project management and implementation of ecological assessments, coordination of associated surveys, consultation, and mitigation in support of our clients’ proposals and operations.
• You will be involved in managing the technical work of more junior staff and sub-consultants and (depending on experience) managing projects and their direction too. There will also be team leadership opportunities as our team continues to expand.
• The nature of the role and the dynamic of the team provides a wealth of opportunities to explore your interests and carry out a range of tasks and functions within terrestrial ecology, as well as a range of related disciplines.
• There is also a degree of flexibility over which facets of the role you become most invested in: be it a more technical focus; project management; developing bids and tenders; or a more generalist role.

Key competencies and experience

• Experience of writing thorough and complex reports and assessments, such as HRA stages 1 - 4 and Environmental Statement chapters
• In depth knowledge of UK and EU Wildlife Legislation, planning policies, licensing requirements and best practice survey techniques.
• Capable at leading PEA, EcIA and HRA.
• Experience of working on large infrastructure or development projects.
• Leading, planning and co-ordinating field surveys, analysing and interpreting survey results and planning and co-ordinating ecological mitigation works.
• Multiple protected species survey licences (ideally in both England and Wales).
• Experience of applying for and holding licenses for protected species mitigation/conservation.
• A track-record of successful project management.
• Experience in the preparation of ecology proposals and tenders. A chartered member of a professional body (e.g., CEnv or CEcol).
• Membership of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; be able to produce meticulous and accurate technical reports as well as communicate confidently with a variety of clients and stakeholders.
• Be organised with proven ability to multi-task and handle several projects simultaneously.

Skills and behaviours 

• You will be part of a large multidisciplinary team within the Water and Environment (W&E) Practice and join a very busy ecology team. Excellent team working skills are therefore essential together with strong communication skills, sound understanding of ecological impact assessment and a close attention to detail.
• Whilst fieldwork skills are needed for this role, there will be a large component of office-based coordination, data analysis, client contact and report writing.
• This is a fast-paced and challenging environment offering you the opportunity to make your mark. You will have support from the wider business for your career to develop into a wide range of future opportunities within Ricardo Energy & Environment.

Desirable

• WRMP options appraisal understanding and/or experience would be an advantage.

Working here

Ricardo is an exciting and rewarding place to work and you have the opportunity to make a difference. You will work with teams of talented, dedicated, and supportive individuals. Alongside having a fantastic opportunity to develop your career with us through our broad range of projects, mentoring opportunities and a personalised approach to your learning and development. We are always keen to hear from people who have driven, ambition and a flair for innovative thinking.

Wellbeing and work life balance

We offer flexible approaches to work, whether that's working from home, being in the office, or as a hybrid worker. We're happy to discuss flexible working arrangements. Wellbeing is at the core to our culture, allowing employees to flourish and to achieve their full potential. Our People are important to us, and we take pride in our wellbeing programmes and policies that support individuals including flexible working, carers policy, mental health first aiders and readily available support through our extensive Employee Assistance programme.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person's potential, and we'll help you reach yours. We have an ambitious diversity, equality, and inclusion approach as explained here. We value diversity; recognising that a more diverse workforce creates a richer and more varied working environment. Diversity also drives innovation, by allowing us to offer our clients the best consultancy service that we can. As part of our commitment to engage positively and pro-actively with all our employees and ensure a culture of inclusivity, we are a recognised as a 'disability confident' employer.

Benefits

Our core benefits include 25 days' annual leave, plus 8 flexible bank holidays, a competitive company pension scheme, life assurance and professional subscriptions reimbursement. We also offer a wide range of flexible benefits to suit your lifestyle.

Once you have submitted your application a member of our Recruitment Team will be in touch. Please be aware that the timing can vary dependent on the volume of applications that we receive for each role and in some cases, we may start to review applications prior to the closing date.