Principal Consultant – Environmental and Ecological Assessment

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Bristol, Flexible, Glasgow, Harwell, London, Manchester, Shoreham-by-Sea

Role Type

Full time, Permanent

Contract Type

Hybrid - commutable to office location, Remote - within office location listed

Our vision is to create a safe and sustainable world.

Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering leading-edge and innovative cross-sector sustainable products and solutions. Every day, we enable our customers to solve the most complex and dynamic challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world.

The Role

We are currently looking for a Principal Consultant to join our Aquatic Ecology Team.

Our excellent track record in supporting the water industry is resulting in substantial and exciting growth of our Water & Environment Team. We have established long-term relationships with many of the UKs water companies. Consequently, we are servicing multiple environmental frameworks and some sizeable capital water and wastewater projects. Our growing focus on water and environmental solutions, alongside a wider array of consultancy services, means we are seeking to appoint an experienced Principal Consultant with both a strong technical background and the ability to manage projects technically and provide team leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of aquatic ecologist, supporting and training junior staff.
• With the support of your team of ecologist deliver expertise in aquatic ecology investigations across all project stages, from bidding/feasibility/optioneering, extensive field survey programming, detailed design and assessment.
• Contribute to the production of consents such as Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRA), Water Framework Directive (WFD), Drought Permits and INNS assessments as a technical author or reviewer.
• The role of Principal Consultant will require strong organisation skills and ability to communicate with colleagues and clients to deliver projects to budget and programme.
• You will work collaboratively as part of a wider team of multi-disciplinary water and environmental experts that include specialists in the fields of EIA, HRA, water resources, hydro-ecology, ground and surface water hydrology, geomorphology, water quality and natural capital.

Key Competencies and Experience

• Extensive and relevant experience as a team leader in undertaking and reviewing aquatic ecology assessments and supporting surveys within the UK water industry.
• A first degree in a relevant environmental discipline ideally with a post graduate degree.
• In depth knowledge of UK and EU Wildlife Legislation, planning policies, licensing requirements and best practice survey techniques.
• Capable at leading Ecological Impact Assessments and Habitats Regulations Assessments.
• A good understanding of WFD assessments, in particular the biological metrics and indices that inform ecological status.
• Leading, planning and co-ordinating field surveys, analysing and interpreting survey results and planning and co-ordinating ecological mitigation works.
• Demonstrable specialist knowledge in either fisheries, macroinvertebrate or macrophyte ecology preferable.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; be able to produce meticulous and accurate technical reports as well as communicate confidently with a variety of clients and stakeholders.
• Be organised with proven ability to multi-task and handle several projects simultaneously.
• Ability to manage multiple projects/proposals concurrently.

Skills and Behaviours

• A self-starter, as you’ll be part of a small, busy team. Excellent team working skills are therefore essential together with strong communication skills, sound understanding of ecological impact assessment and a close attention to detail.
• Excellent organisational, communication and presentation skills upholding client and stakeholder relationships.
• Proven technical reviewing skills.
• A…