Senior Benthic Ecologist | Various, Scotland

Do you want to play an important role in tackling the climate change emergency by helping to enable the sustainable development of offshore wind in Scotland?. Are you passionate about applying the best available science in policy and decision making?. Do you have excellent communication skills and experience of working with a wide range of colleagues and stakeholders?. Do you have expertise in benthic ecology, and experience or a detailed understanding of legislation and applied research relating to this?. If the answers to the above questions are yes, then this exciting opportunity to join Marine Scotland Science could be for you!

In January 2022, Crown Estate Scotland will announce the successful applicants to the ScotWind offshore wind leasing round and a new phase of offshore wind farm construction will commence in Scottish waters helping Scotland meet its Net Zero targets, become carbon neutral by 2045 and tackle the climate emergency. Marine Scotland is responsible for identifying where the ScotWind projects will be located, administering the related offshore planning consents, and ensuring that projects are delivered in an environmentally sustainable manner. We need to grow our teams to support the delivery of ScotWind and Scotland’s offshore wind ambitions. The Renewable Energy Environmental Advice (REEA) Group in Marine Scotland Science is recruiting ten posts to ensure continued delivery of specialist scientific advice to regulators and policy makers. The new posts will provide scientific advice on offshore renewable energy projects, and help to build the evidence base relied upon by decision makers. This will ensure that our advice continues to be supported by the best available evidence, and that research undertaken and commissioned by Marine Scotland addresses the most important knowledge gaps facing the sustainable development of offshore renewables. The roles will require close working with other divisions within the Scottish Government, including the Licensing Operations Team and the Planning and Strategy team within Marine Scotland. REEA sits within the Renewable and Energy Programme of the science division of Marine Scotland. The programme currently has 30 staff who provide advice within government on the potential environmental impacts of marine energy on key receptors including birds, marine mammals, fish and fisheries, benthic habitats, and diadromous fish. Our advisors also provide advice on other Scottish Government policy priorities, such as marine protected area management and regulation of other marine industries.

Qualifications Required
Relevant Experience

Essential Criteria

1. A comprehensive understanding of benthic ecology and the regulation, legislation and research that relates to benthic ecology in Scottish and/or UK waters.
2. The ability to work independently with good organisational skills and effectively prioritise work and manage projects.
3. Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to explain scientific concepts to varied audiences, particularly to other professionals.
4. A sound understanding and experience of applying approaches, tools and assessment methods used to evaluate possible impacts of marine industry activities on benthic habitats and species.

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 Servic
• 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
For further information on this vacancy please download and review the “Person Specification and Further Information for Job Applicants” which you will find below. To apply, you must fully complete and submit an online application via this website before the closing date as well as a CV (no longer than two pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements.

When considering how your experience relates to the role, please tailor your CV and personal statement to reflect the role and the essential skills/criteria as described in the job description/person specification.

To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Dr Sally Rouse at sally.rouse@gov.scot

Important Information Regarding Interviews
In recognition of the Scottish Government’s ongoing measures and guidance in its response to Covid-19 (Coronavirus), we would like to advise applicants that a decision has been taken that all interviews must be conducted in a virtual/remote setting.

In order to facilitate this new way of working, we are asking all applicants to ensure that they have a suitable space to complete the virtual interview. In addition, a personal device of choice, which has the interview application downloaded. This could be MS Teams or Webex for example. This will allow candidates to undertake the interview/assessment if selected. We are also asking you to ensure that your personal Wi-Fi/Broadband capacity will be sufficient to carry both audio and video feeds.

The Scottish Government is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please let us know via recruitment@gov.scot