Principal Scientist (Ecology)

Contract: Permanent, full-time (35 hours per week)

Location: Flexible

Salary: £48,666 to £55,054

Do you want to use your scientific skills to support our work to help Scotland tackle the biodiversity and climate emergencies?

We are the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scotland’s principal environmental regulator. We work to protect the country’s environment and communities from harm; help Scotland adapt to a changing environment; support those we regulate transition to net zero; and improve the quality of the environmental for nature and people.

We are science-led, using evidence, including from our monitoring programmes, to enable us to target effort where it will have greatest impact and take timely preventative action against emerging threats.

We are looking for a principal scientist to provide technical leadership across the broad range of work we do to monitor and assess the ecological health of Scotland’s environment and inform action to protect and improve its biodiversity and the quality of its bathing waters.

You will need to be:

• An experienced scientist with a strong interest in ecology and in the use of science in helping understand and solve environmental challenges
• A natural collaborator and team worker, with a proven track record of leading successful technical groups and partnerships
• A creative and strategic thinker who is highly motivated, able to enthuse and inspire those you work with and drive continual improvements in how we generate, use and communicate scientific evidence
• A clear and persuasive communicator of science and its implications to non-scientists as well as scientific peers
• An effective planner and manager of large work areas and priority projects, who is also passionate about mentoring and supporting your colleagues.

As well as the opportunity to work with like-minded, professional and highly motivated people, we offer flexible working, including hybrid working; a local government (career average) pension scheme; and a generous annual leave policy. You will also be able to access a range of other benefits, such as discounts and offers; additional leave purchase; and volunteering days.

Closing date: Midnight on 15 October 2023.

APPLY HERE.