Sands of LIFE Communications and Interpretation Officer

Closing date: 5 February 2023 | Salary: £32,876 - £36,229 (Grade 5) | Location: Bangor or Cross Hands preferred

Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment to 30 June 2024

Work pattern: 37 hours a week, Monday to Friday with occasional weekend work

Post number: 200445

As an organisation we support flexible working. This role allows hybrid working (a mix of home and office working) and a working pattern suitable for you can be discussed on appointment if you are successful.

You will be contracted to either of the NRW location stated in this advert, at which you will be required to attend for regular meetings, training and for one-to-one meetings with your manager. These will be planned in advance.

Job Description

This is an exciting opportunity to join an established, multi-million pound biodiversity restoration project, where you will take the lead on all engagement and communication activities. The project is at a stage where we will be completing our practical work and focusing on sharing the results with local community and digital audiences, as well as engaging with professionals across the UK and internationally, including via our project conference.

As a member of the Sands of LIFE project team, you will help deliver the ambitious programme of practical site restoration, monitoring and stakeholder engagement work underway on 10 sand dune sites located in four Special Areas of Conservation in Wales.

You will lead and manage all communication and engagement aspects of the project; delivering activities directly and providing support for the Team Leader and wider team. You will ensure timely delivery of specific targets to agreed milestones, in line with European Commission and NRW requirements. You will work effectively with colleagues across NRW, but particularly with our communications, branding and digital leads and with our leads on interpretation and marketing.

The Sands of LIFE project (LIFE 17 NAT/UK/000023) has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union and is part funded by Welsh Government.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include the following:

Maintain and deliver the Project Communications Plan in collaboration with colleagues and partners/stakeholders, in line with European Commission and NRW guidance and procedure.
Working collaboratively, develop and deliver a detailed work programme of stakeholder engagement work for the 10 project sites.
Produce high-quality, engaging and effective content through all channels and activity, targeted to the needs of identified audiences, to achieve strategic outcomes and improve the quality of our stakeholders’ access to information about the project.
Develop and provide an integrated flow of communication across a variety of activities and channels, including digital, ensuring that a wide and varied audience is engaged.
Prepare and deliver on- and off-site engagement for a wide range of audiences about sand dunes including:

Educational materials.
Assisting with guided walks/visits by a range of audiences.
Films.
Story Map.
Written material including leaflets.
Interpretation boards.
Attendance at public events such as agricultural shows.
Liaison with local councils and other community and special interest groups.
Large events aimed at engaging with the national and international sand dune community such as the Littoral conference.
Contribute towards strategic decisions to ensure NRW’s and the project’s reputation is protected and enhanced.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge

You will be able to demonstrate knowledge and experience of the following:

Experience of communications and engagement work with a wide variety of stakeholders/audiences, including the development and delivery of communications plans and partnerships.
Fully IT literate and evidence of being fully conversant in preparing digital inputs and dissemination methods.
Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, allied to the ability to work in a team environment with colleagues and partners. The ability to develop and manage strong working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, from practitioners to policy makers.
Effective self-management and organisational skills, including the ability to work within a project framework and manage challenging workloads, plus the ability to support and promote innovation, and demonstrate initiative and commitment.

Welsh language requirements

Essential: Level 4 – Fluent in spoken Welsh

Desirable: Level 5 – Fluent in spoken and written Welsh

Competencies

Applications to this role will be assessed based on the following competencies, both at shortlisting and interview. Please give examples of how you demonstrate these competencies when completing your application form.

Essential Knowledge and Skills	Range of technical/specialist knowledge and skills gained through previous experience. Provide professional/technical/specialist advice to others on their subject area. Good communication, literacy, numeracy and IT skills, with ability to organise and manage their own workload.
Evaluation of Information	Analysis and interpretations of data and information. Provide guidance and advice to others on technical/specialist matters. Produce documentation from a variety of sources which may require some degree of originality. The content will have some technical or specialist element to it.
Decision Making and Autonomy Requirements	Will be guided by expected results but the post holder may be able to decide how best to achieve these, within defined parameters. Guidance provided by others but there will be some degree of judgment or creativity applied based on technical knowledge and/or specialist skills. Ability to problem solving and make decisions with a range of solutions, requiring some investigation/analysis before coming to a conclusion. There will be a limited range of options with known solutions, which will require a technical/specialist insight to the issue. Adaptable and able to manage workflow. May take responsibility for management of small, less complex projects.
Impact	Will have moderate effect on the business, according to specialist/technical advice given. Short to medium impact but will depend on the technical/specialist discipline and the extent it impacts on others. The consequences of taking potentially incorrect action/decisions will be moderate to high and likely need to be addressed to avoid longer term impact.
Communication and Relationships with Others	Communication across a range of NRW functions and possibly to external contacts and third parties. To provide advice and guidance to individuals who are not familiar with the technical/specialist discipline. This will require an ability to translate and present technical/specialist information in a way that others can understand. Well-developed skills to develop and sustain good working relationships/networks which are likely to be on-going and involve a degree of influencing.
Responsibility for Resources	Responsible for the safe use and operation of equipment and data that they use in order to fulfil the requirements of their role. They are unlikely to be a budget holder but may be involved in the processing or checking of financial information.

Benefits of working for us

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

agile and flexible working (role dependent)
Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 26.6% to 30.3%
28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
health and wellbeing benefits and support
weekly well-being hour to use at your choice

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

How to apply

Please send a completed application form to: Applications@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk using the post number as the email reference

Before completing your application, please read our Guidance on completing a job application form

Application closing date: 5 February 2023

Interviews will take place on Microsoft Teams

If you have any queries about the role, please contact Meinir Wigley at Meinir.wigley@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk or 07970 254369.

Natural Resources Wales embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunity. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from groups currently underrepresented, including women, black and ethnic minority groups and people with a disability. We have a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

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