Groundwater Protection Officer

Job Description

This is an exciting opportunity for a geoscientist with skills in data management, groundwater quality and land contamination management to work in the Thames area.

Customers include internal teams, water companies, industry, developers and local authorities.

In this role you will provide quality technical advice on behalf of the team, relating to land and water quality, WINEP (Water Industry Investment Delivery and Planning); WFD, permitting and planning work relating to groundwater quality and land contamination.

You will be required to have an incident role and make yourself available to respond to incidents or provide business continuity support during an incident. This may attract an additional payment and full training. Alternative working arrangements will be available to support you with your incident role.

The Groundwater and Contaminated Land Team protects groundwater in an area where people and wildlife are heavily reliant on this resource. Our work includes advice to internal and external customers supporting environmental permitting across a range of activities. We respond to planning consultations and give technical and regulatory advice on land contamination. We are currently a mostly dispersed and remote team that connect frequently using Microsoft Teams.

We are seeking someone who wants a career in groundwater protection and who is versatile, self‑motivated and can quickly contribute to the work of our busy team.

Desirable skills:

• Hold an undergraduate degree in a relevant geoscience discipline such as geology, earth sciences or geochemistry
• Have knowledge of land and groundwater contamination issues and of how groundwater resources are managed and regulated
• Be a great communicator with an ability to present clear, well‑reasoned arguments based on your understanding of a range of environmental issues
• Have good IT skills and be able to use a range of computer systems including GIS and MS Office
• Have experience of undertaking hydrogeological risk assessments and understand how to apply their outputs
• Demonstrate a good knowledge of relevant environmental legislation
• Be supported to undertake a role in the Environment Agency’s wider response to pollution and flooding incidents

Role location is flexible but occasional travel to the Reading and Wallingford Office will be required. To discuss this role, please contact:
Pratiksha.

Pand or Jenny.

Thom

Your answers to the capability questions will be used to establish interview selection. Using the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result) can help when formulating your answers.

Interviews are likely to be scheduled in early‑mid April and will be held virtually.

If you consent to being held on a reserve list, we’ll hold your details for 6 months and may offer you an alternative post.

Description:

Sets and delivers high work standards, demonstrates the drive to meet targets. Prioritises and organises tasks and resources to ensure timely achievement of results.

Question:
Please give an example of when you had to re‑evaluate your priorities in order to complete an unexpected piece of work.

Description:

Finds and delivers optimal solutions by effectively analysing all the information, probing to develop alternatives and taking sound and timely decisions.

Question:
Please describe a time when you have used multiple datasets to solve an environmental problem.

Description:

Applies scientific knowledge (various disciplines, depending on team role) to provide sound, science‑based evidence to our internal and external customers.

Question:
Describe an occasion when you have worked with or developed a conceptualisation that you used to make a scientific, evidence‑based decision.

We are fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We welcome flexible working patterns for all our vacancies, including job share, so please include clearly any information regarding your preferred working arrangements on your application.

We…