Senior Flood Management Officer

Do you want to help us, our partner organisations, and our communities to better manage flood risk, with a focus on implementing innovative actions from our forthcoming Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS), including engaging with communities? We have a great opportunity for a Senior Flood Management Officer to join the Strategic Flood Management Team on a permanent basis.

The Strategic Flood Management Team, are a team of fifteen who are enthusiastic and passionate about managing local flood risk in BC’s role as the Lead Local Flood Authority. We are responsible for delivering the statutory duties (outlined below) of the LLFA under the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) and Land Drainage Act (1991), delivery of a number of flood management projects and developing new flood alleviation projects, and guiding the flood management approach on large infrastructure projects.

We have recently updated our LFRMS, which will set the team’s direction over the coming few years with a number of exciting proposed actions, including around building the resilience of our communities to flood risk and climate change through supporting community flood action groups.

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the countytocreate positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with experience in a flood or water management role, which you may have gained while working for a previous local authority, other Risk Management Authority, or consultancy.

The Senior Flood Management Officer post is a vital and influential role, helping lead and deliver the non-planning statutory role of the LLFA (Flood Investigations, Land Drainage Consents and Enforcement, and responding to enquiries).

The role will have a focus on managing and delivering actions from our LFRMS in collaboration with other partners, including planning and delivering flood resilience engagement with local communities. There is also potential to project manage a small number of pipeline capital projects through feasibility and business case.

Key Accountabilities

• Work in a dynamic team to deliver the statutory duties of the LLFA as required (including flood investigations, land drainage consenting, land drainage enforcement, and responding to enquiries), with a particular focus on being out in the community where flooding has occurred
• Plan and deliver actions from our new Local Flood Risk Management Strategy in collaboration with internal and external partners
• Help plan, manage and deliver engagement with communities e.g. to support the setting up of community-led flood groups and action plans
• Develop effective working relationships with a diverse range of partners and local communities to manage local flood risk
• Potential for managing the feasibility and options appraisal parts of flood mitigation projects

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

Skills & Experience

• Has relevant experience and technical skills in a flood or water management role, including:
• Strong understanding of all sources of flooding, including groundwater flooding mechanisms
• Understanding of relevant best practice guidance for surface water drainage and fluvial flood management techniques
• Ideally, experience of using, interpreting or commenting on outputs from hydraulic modelling, drainage software packages and/or Computer Aided Design drawings
• Strong working knowledge of water related law, regulation and policy
• Confident, passionate and articulate in engaging with the public and community representatives
• Adept at communicating complex technical matters clearly to stakeholders…