Overview

SLR has an excellent opportunity for an experienced ornithological professional to join our European team at SLR’s Senior grade. Ideally, this position would be based in either our Shrewsbury or Worcester offices, but other locations would be possible for the right candidate. The successful candidate would play a lead role in undertaking and delivering a range of projects across the European Region and all of our business sectors, with a particular focus on minerals and renewables projects in England and Wales.

This role presents an exciting opportunity to be responsible for the delivery of ornithology inputs to a number of large, complex and high-profile projects.  SLR’s Ecology Team has a real passion for what we do and with over 60 experienced professionals, you would be joining a team that takes pride in providing high quality advice and ecological services to our clients.

The successful candidate would ideally be a specialist in undertaking field survey and assessing the impacts of developments on avifauna and would join a supportive and collaborative existing team of experienced professionals working in the same area.  Although the main focus of the role would be ornithology, experience and knowledge of other taxa would be beneficial. The successful candidate would also be likely to be able to demonstrate experience of business development, client and project management, preferably gained in a commercial consultancy environment.

SLR are global leaders in environmental and advisory solutions helping our clients achieve their sustainability goals. We are a consultancy with 2000 staff across 5 regions – including over 730 staff across Europe. SLR’s ‘one team’ culture is at the heart of our business; providing a collaborative and supportive environment for professional development. Along with competitive salaries, our staff enjoy a comprehensive benefits package including a company pension and healthcare offering, travel and life insurance, critical illness cover and a structured career framework with regular reviews offering outstanding opportunities for progression. Alongside 25 day’s annual leave, SLR offer agile working which allows staff to tailor hours worked around core hours, and our family friendly policies help balance the needs of professional and family life.

What you will do:

Working as part of SLR’s large and well established team of ecology professionals, you will be involved in:

  • Managing ornithological aspects of projects from feasibility stages to post-construction monitoring.
  • Preparation of fee proposals and scope of works, report writing and technical review of peer and sub-contractor reports.
  • Supervision and mentoring of ornithology and ecology team staff.  Depending on skills and experience, the role may also include staff management.
  • Scheduling, managing and ensuring delivery of complex ornithological survey work packages on time and budget, using in-house and occasionally sub-contractor staff.
  • Liaising with other SLR technical teams on a variety of subjects including planning, landscape, hydrology, noise and air quality whilst working closely with senior members of the ecology team in other SLR offices, both in UK and overseas.
  • Seeking opportunities through coordinated business development to expand ornithology, ecology and other services and capabilities in the region.
    The role will involve working with other team members located across the UK and may require short-term travel across the UK and potentially overseas, depending on client/project sites.

What you will need:

If you are interested we would love to hear from you. In order to succeed, we’d envisage that you would bring:

  • BSc Ecology, Biological Science or equivalent (MSc/PhD desirable), and eligible for CIEEM membership.
  • Excellent bird ID skills and the ability to demonstrate experience in a range of ornithology survey techniques (e.g. vantage points, breeding birds, raptors) across a broad range of habitats.
  • Able to design and deliver bird survey programmes, QA survey data and conduct analysis and assessment of field data.
  • Specialist skills in other areas would be an advantage e.g. bats, habitats, terrestrial mammals or aquatic species.
  • Experience in supervising construction works as either a supervising ecologist (ECoW) or delivering ecological mitigation contracts would be useful.
  • Full driving licence valid in the UK.