Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.
Our Role
Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do
this working through and with others.
Strategic Outcomes for Nature
Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes. Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.
- Recovering Nature – Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.
- Building Better Places – Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more
investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.
- Improving Health and Wellbeing – Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
- Delivering Security through Nature – Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a
changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.
Find out more about the work of Natural England at Natural England’s Strategy: Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK
The Team
Do you want to make a real difference, working in a high priority area, securing significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in and leading a team? If so, this role may interest you as an opportunity to create a better future for people and nature.
The roles are based across England in our Area Teams. Some travel may be required.
Natural England’s Area Teams use a range of mechanisms including land management and planning advice, engagement with stakeholders and direct management of our own land, to achieve the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and landscapes within its area.
Natural England’s new Strategy includes making a shift from isolated interventions to nature recovery happening at scale, ensuring our efforts deliver lasting improvement across whole landscapes and seascapes. As part of this, our sustainable development work is helping build better places and ensure nature is designed into development and improve health and wellbeing by building nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
Natural England is uniquely positioned to shape the next generation of New Towns and help facilitate the government ambition to deliver 1.5 million new homes in the UK. This is an exciting opportunity to reimagine urban development and create nature rich, vibrant, inclusive and sustainable New Towns, and make a strong contribution to the delivery of housing development through the New Homes Accelerator programme, which focuses on unblocking and accelerating large housing developments whilst maximising opportunities for nature recovery.
Job description
Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities
- Work closely with NE’s national Homes Accelerator and/or national New Towns leads to identify and address specific thematic issues causing delays to large housing development sites and provide proactive advice and support to developers and local planning authorities to expedite the development process.
- Promote the benefits of early engagement with Natural England and the opportunity to revisit solutions and opportunities for the natural environment.
- Build partnerships with customers and stakeholders to resolve complex issues affecting housing proposals. Provide clear, pragmatic, evidence-based advice, seeking opportunities to maximising delivery through our discretionary advice service (DAS).
- Build trusted relationships with local planning authorities, developers and wider partners, using your advice and influence to embed nature and its benefits into design and development.
- Be creative and solution focussed, using your knowledge of placemaking, green infrastructure (GI), ecology and landscape to show how development and nature can work holistically to achieve healthy resilient places where people want to live and work.
- Work closely with national specialists and coordinators to provide support and advice to developers, local authorities, master planners and communities in designing New Towns and in support of our Lead Environmental Regulator role with other Arms-Length Bodies (e.g. Environment Agency).
- Use tools such as the GI Standards, GI Design Guide, and Natural England’s strategic mapping to unlock opportunities for multifunctional green and blue spaces, climate adaptation and community wellbeing.
- Engage with environmental issues at a strategic scale to streamline regulation for the benefit of nature and growth, supporting the design and implementation of strategic mitigation schemes which can unlock housing at scale.
- Enable developers to use tools such as GI Standards and Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) (as these are developed) to secure planning approvals and gains for people and nature.
- Integrate mechanisms such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies, (LNRS) strategic mitigation schemes, health and inclusion approaches to support high-quality urban placemaking.
- Support and work collaboratively with other sustainable development advisers within the team, including support at external and internal meetings, providing a clear steer and consistent advice on complex issues affecting housing delivery and escalating risk through appropriate channels.
- Contribute to the broader leadership of the area team through active participation in cross-team groups and briefings to NE senior leadership, ensuring consistency in advice on large housing proposals.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
- The ability to see the big picture, so you can steer sustainable development work within the context of Natural England’s Strategy and help colleagues understand how their work relates to and supports this.
- The ability to build collaborative relationships with colleagues (both internally and externally) to help make things happen and deliver outcomes.
- The ability to direct, coach and support staff to deliver on sustainable development objectives.
- The ability to resolve problems and manage risks with good judgement and seek innovative solutions.
- Strong planning, prioritisation, and organisational ability to manage complex delivery areas with competing demands.
- Excellent written and oral communications skills.
- Robust and current knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance and how to apply and interpret it to NE’s activities and duties.
- Strong understanding of environmental protection in England and the legislation that underpins it.
- Demonstrable experience of UK ecology with a broad understanding of priority habitats and species.
Benefits
At Natural England, we support a healthy work-life balance by offering full-time, part-time, and flexible working arrangements.
We provide excellent opportunities for career progression, training, and development tailored to your role. This includes ten days annually for personal learning and development, plus three additional days for volunteering.
You’ll receive a generous leave allowance of 33 days per year (pro rata), access to the Civil Service Pension scheme with a 28.97% employer contribution, and a range of benefits such as shopping discounts and a cycle-to-work scheme. Staff can also join the Civil Service Sport club for discounts on sports, leisure activities, and social events.
We are committed to fairness, equality, and inclusivity. Our employee-led diversity networks help foster a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and supported.
Locations
Natural England has adopted hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England, and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Staff are expected to attend their associated office for 20% of their contractual hours.
Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work-related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.
National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area.
View a map of our office locations here: online map of Natural England office locations
Pay
It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.
You will become an active member of the relevant local leadership community, the group of senior Natural England staff in each of the localities across England who we ask to provide support and co-ordination for the local group of staff.
Closing date: 15 February 2026.
