Senior Industry & Waste Regulation Officer (Landfill Emissions Reduction Project)

Closing Date: 29 March 2023 | Salary: £37,308 - £40,806 (Grade 6) | Location: Rivers House, St Mellons, Cardiff

Contract Type: Fixed Term Appointment until 31 March 2025

Work Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week.

Post Number: 203451

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 a NRW office within the place base, of 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

In October 2021 Welsh Government published its Net Zero Carbon Budget 2 (2021-2025). This strategy sets out a number of policies and proposals across all sectors and provides a clear focus on the waste sector for landfill sites.

This operational role will support the NRW in the delivery of Net Zero 2, through the Landfill Emission Reduction Project (LERP), specifically focussed on the impact from landfill sites, both closed and operational.

You will be working within a team focussing on landfill regulation. The work will comprise the planning and delivery of a series of detailed landfill gas audits with the aim of increasing rates of landfill gas capture and destruction / utilisation at operational and closed landfill sites.

The program will also include work to improve the level of understanding of landfill gas flaring at all applicable sites, with the aim of ensuring outputs of the national Landfill Gas emissions model to present a more accurate picture of emissions from the sector. You will be working to understand the impact of changing waste streams on Landfill gas quality and generation and explore the options for tackling the key waste streams identified as having the biggest contribution to total greenhouse gas emissions.

You will also work collaboratively with DEFRA and other UK regulators.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include:

Assess compliance at installations, COMAH sites, waste sites and sites handling radioactive substances.
Liaison with Counter Terrorism Security Advisors.
Take appropriate actions to collect evidence for enforcement purposes, in accordance with defined procedures.
Routinely lead our response to large or contentious cases/issues.
Co-ordinate pre-application discussions with Operators and NRW Permitting Teams to aid timely, efficient and good quality permit variations, applications and surrenders.
Where non-compliance is identified, determine and implement the most appropriate intervention option to ensure operators return to compliance as quickly as possible, with minimum environmental impact and consideration of the economic impacts.
Work with Operators to develop medium-term regulatory strategies for the installations, including engagement with senior managers and executives within companies, to deliver multiple benefits.
Be required to participate in technical/ strategic groups or represent NRW on external forums e.g., UK regulators’ sector groups, as required.
Contribute to NRW Sector Groups and cross-agency sector groups as required to aid adoption of consistent regulatory approaches and the dissemination of good practices to the benefit of the environment.
Coaching and mentoring of team members.
Required to take part in incident response activities

Qualifications, Experience & Knowledge

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

Extensive knowledge and experience of either working in a regulated industry or as a regulator.
Good understanding of commercial business processes and pressures.
Ability to communicate effectively with regulated business and the public, explaining complex issues and gaining support by influencing.

Welsh Language Requirements:

Essential Level 1 – Able to pronounce Welsh and use basic phrases

Please note if you do not meet the level 1 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.

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	Able to undertake practical or technical tasks or work, requiring specialist knowledge/ expertise. Expert in a range of subjects relating to their specialism and able to act as the local expert or specialist lead for a small area, in an advisory capacity. Demonstrates substantial experience and specialist knowledge in their field, with the ability to manage projects, including the project budget and team. Possess analytical, influencing, persuading, supervisory and mentoring skills, together with project management skills.
Evaluation of Information	Able to interpret the function’s operational delivery plans and understand their context in the wider NRW strategy. Able to interpret developments in their area of expertise, contributing to business planning and the design and delivery of team-work programmes. Demonstrates the ability to analyse and interpret a wide range of complex information, extracting key points and able to communicate them to individuals at all levels and contribute to the development of policy.
Decision Making and Autonomy Requirements	Ability to lead and project manage specific areas of work, taking responsibility for managing project budgets and teams, and for the success and delivery of the project. Able to decide how best to achieve results, with guidance from peers, requiring the need for some degree of judgment and creativity which may lead to changes in established procedures/ practice in the work area. Post holders will be delivering often significant programmes of work, which may require the need to alter priorities due to conflicting demands. Responsible for making independent decisions at an operational level, with input from line management and peers, together with an understanding of NRW policy and the range of options available and their potential implications for the business. Understands the consequences of taking wrong decisions, which would have an adverse effect in relation to external stakeholders, such as partner organisations, lenders, service users etc. Decisions taken may concern a broad range of matters, the outcome of which may not always be immediately clear or apparent; and are likely to be wider than the immediate function or department. Problems encountered may also relate to the work of other parts of the organisation and could be variable and diverse.
Impact	Working as a local expert / sector lead, the post holder’s input and influence will be at an operational level and have an impact both internally and externally.
Communication and Relationships with Others	Ability to interact and link with other roles across the business, fostering and maintaining good relationships and networks, engaging the organisation in delivering polices and work plans in the most efficient way. Communication with others will be at an operational level both internally and externally and will typically be specialist in nature. Able to act as an advisory or functional specialist, providing advice, which may be technical, specialist or detailed; tailoring the method, style and level of communication appropriately for the audience. Demonstrates effective communication and persuasive skills with the ability to lead projects, which may include facilitating and presenting at internal or external meetings, giving advice and input as required. Able to produce documents, reports, programs, contracts, with some complexity; containing advice, guidance or opinion; which would have detrimental consequences if incorrect or poorly drafted. Ability to research and gather information and data from multiple locations or sources and apply professional judgment in how the information should be interpreted.

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

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

Application closing date: 29 March 2023

Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams

If you have any queries about the role, please contact Gareth Lewis at gareth.lewis@naturalreourceswales.gov.uk

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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