Senior Specialist Advisor, Regulatory Approaches

Team / Directorate: Water Regulatory Approaches Team/ Evidence, Policy and Permitting

Starting salary:  £52,268 rising to £57,726 per annum through annual increments being paid each year (pro rata for part time applicants)

Contract type: 12 months from appointment date

Work pattern:  Full time, 37 hours per week (Part time, annualised hours, compressed hours or term time working considered - discussions at interview stage welcome)

Interview date: 22 July 2025

Post number: 201553

The role

In this role you will:
• be a lead regulatory expert and apply knowledge of environmental regulation across multiple regimes.
• be the expert lead for delivering regulatory projects such as feeding into the development of new legislation and understanding the potential impacts to NRW.
• Work with others to develop processes and tools relevant to multiple regulatory regimes.
• Support decision making by contributing at cross functional governance groups. 
• Support other teams across the department with work planning activities.

As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the nearest NRW office to your home and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. Any regular face to face meetings or training will be planned in advance.

To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact Eleanor Ellick at eleanor.ellick@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams 

Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

About us

This Senior Specialist Advisor, Regulatory Approaches role sits within NRW’s Water Quality Regulatory Approaches Team in Evidence, Permitting and Policy.

This role supports strategic working across the Regulatory Approaches and Policy teams, making connections and applying best regulatory practice.

What you will do

• Be the principal point of contact with environmental regulators, both UK and European, to share information and work together on the regulatory approach, technical advice and guidance for all relevant Sectors.
• To share information and work together on the development of operational policy and new legislation, interpretation of relevant legislation, advice and guidance for the specific sector(s) and areas of responsibility.
• Lead on or support national projects to achieve well planned and managed integrated solutions that progress effective change and improvement in NRW and for business across Wales.
• Identify and manage any organisational and reputational risks, displaying sound judgement and good political awareness in decision making. 
• Specifically lead on the mentoring and coaching of Advisors within the team to ensure that the team has sufficient technical and legislative resilience for your assigned area of work.
• Ensure that continuous improvement methods are applied to work areas the team undertake. 
• Develop, review and improve technical documentation, to enable consistent and appropriate understanding and application by staff in the business that enables effective service provision.
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post
• Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills

In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method.

1. Extensive knowledge of Welsh, UK and EU legislation related to your specific sector(s); Welsh, UK government Policy drivers in nuclear and non-nuclear regulated activities.
2. Experience in informing and influencing government departments/regulators, preferably on environmental issues.
3. Extensive experience in forming and maintaining close links with internal and external partners/stakeholders to deliver the outcomes of both a specific function/project/team and the wider organisation.
4. Experience of understanding and applying regulatory activities.
5. Being innovative and demonstrating drive to achieve targets.

Welsh language level requirements

• Essential: Level A1 - Entry level (able to use and understand simple, basic phrases and greetings, no conversational Welsh)

Please note if you do not meet the A1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Benefits 

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
• generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
• commitment to professional development
• health and wellbeing benefits and support
• weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose

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

Please keep reading

We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.  

We are committed to equal opportunities and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.  

We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards.  Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills. 

Apply for this role

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