Nature & Biodiversity Lead

Thrive on openness, respect and collaboration? Good. Us too. Join as our new UK Nature & Biodiversity Lead and thrive in a culture where wellbeing and tackling complex challenges is intrinsic. The role can be based from either our Bath or London offices with hybrid working.

This is an opportunity to work with a dedicated and passionate team, in a bespoke organisation that values innovation and real outcomes that make a difference. The Nature and Biodiversity team forms an integral part of the business and helps to shape entire projects by being involved at the outset and putting strategies in place to protect the environment, determine biodiversity priorities and weave best practice and net gain into their fabric.

Our focus on strategic level projects results in a highly varied and interesting workload. The existing team’s ethos is supportive and collaborative and encourages independent thinking, allowing staff to work autonomously, and supporting them to grow their career in the direction that they choose. The team prides itself on the consistent use of best practice and the quality of its work.

If you’re looking to make a positive impact and create real change you will be rewarded with an excellent salary and access to extensive learning and development opportunities, generous pension contributions, private medical, life, dental and travel insurance, flexible leave, and more.

This permanent position will require leadership of the UK Nature and Biodiversity team and will be responsible for the strategic growth of our UK nature-based solutions and ecosystem services portfolios, and input into the broader environmental net gain, Blue Green Infrastructure and Natural Capital service offers.

You will be expected to lead and mentor the existing team and support them in the delivery of their UK planning projects, refine and implement our nature-based solutions strategy, engage with clients, and collaborate across multiple disciplines to develop and deliver holistic solutions to the joint climate and nature crisis. You will be part of the Nature and Biodiversity leadership team, which includes internationally focused ecologists, and you will be a key member of a senior cross‑discipline group responsible for taking forward Buro Happold's UK climate resilience work.

We are looking for candidates who are curious and driven, have a strong understanding of the changing ecological landscape, are fast learners and open minded, and passionate about delivering positive outcomes. You should have experience in managing and leading teams and be confident with the opportunities the changing sector brings.

• Leading the successful growth of a team and/or new service offers
• Experience in coaching and mentoring junior staff to develop their technical and consultancy skills and fostering a positive team culture
• Knowledge and experience of the sectors in which ecology work is carried out in the UK and a strong awareness of recent developments in the ecology sector, including biodiversity net gain, off‑site credits and nature-based solutions
• Understanding and experience in the application of Biodiversity Net Gain and how it relates to other ecosystem services, as well as being able to communicate the wider benefits of biodiversity to clients
• Experience in developing innovative solutions to address complex project requirements
• A client‑focused approach and the ability to find solutions to complex ecological issues
• Extensive experience of advising on scheme design in relation to ecological impacts and biodiversity net gain, ecological impact assessments, habitat management and monitoring plans, and habitat regulations assessments
• Experience of providing ecological services for infrastructure projects, including road and rail schemes
• Experience in providing company or portfolio level technical input on corporate strategies, strategic guidance on landscape-scale projects, and nature-related disclosure framework reporting, including:
• Project scoping and reporting for corporate strategies
• Materiality assessments
• TNFD assessments, ESRS4 under CSRD, SBTN and GRI 101 project-based nature‑positive /…