Senior SuDS and Flood Risk Officer

Are you looking for an opportunity to build or further your career in flood risk management?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior SuDS and Flood Risk Officer to join the Flood Risk Team at Cambridgeshire County Council. The team leads the Council’s role as Lead Local Flood Authority, working with partners to investigate and deliver innovative local flood risk management projects across Cambridgeshire, improve the water environment, and provide technical engineering-based advice on surface water management for new developments.

The Sustainable Drainage and Flood Risk part of the team act as the statutory consultee for surface water drainage on all major planning applications, ensuring safe and sustainable development across the County. We are a busy team, providing comment on over 1,000 planning applications per year, as well as being involved in pre-application advice discussions and contributing to Local Plans and Policy.

We can offer a varied workload, training and support to further increase your technical competence. Cambridgeshire County Council offers flexible working arrangements, a local government pension and a comprehensive package of staff benefits including savings on big name brands and independent stores, Cycle 2 Work and The Car Benefit scheme.

The role is hybrid, which means there is flexibility on where you can work. Options include working from home, our office at New Shire Hall (Alconbury Weald) and other offices across the county.

If you would like an informal discussion or have any questions about the role please contact either Harry Pickford at Harry.Pickford@Cambridgeshire.gov.uk or 07469 377536, or Hilary Tandy at Hilary.Tandy@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or 07500 063286.

Interviews will be held during the week commencing 3rd April, at New Shire Hall in Alconbury. However there is the potential for flexibility if this would be difficult for you, so please do apply if you think this may be the job for you.

The successful candidate will become an important part of the team to assist in achieving our statutory role and will:

• Support the LLFA to ensure the delivery of high quality SuDS schemes across Cambridgeshire through providing specialist advice, working closely with, and supporting developers, consultants, engineers and Local Planning Authorities
• Form close working partnerships with key stakeholders across Cambridgeshire to work to reduce flood risk throughout the county
• Determine applications for works to watercourses under the Land Drainage Act 1991
• Work with local communities to help them prepare for and respond to flooding as well as investigating flood incidents in partnership with other risk management authorities

Testimonial from one of our current staff members: “Working within the SuDS and Flood Risk team has given me the chance to learn a whole new way of thinking, with full training being provided by the other members of the team and external organisations. This job allows me to have a good work-life balance and there is enough flexibility with working patterns that I can continue to pursue my outside hobbies and interests.”

A recent new starter had this to say about joining our team:

“Being a new starter myself I can vouch that there is an immediate sense of welcome and cohesion within the team, I find that the job has many different aspects to it which in turn means there is always something different to focus on. Having an environmental background means that I find the work very interesting.”

To be successful in this role, we are looking for someone who is:

• Confident in assessing complex and technical drainage information and plans against national legislation, local policies, guidance and best practice
• Able to provide drainage and flood risk management advice from a regulatory perspective
• Able to make informed and independent decisions with minimal supervision
• Pro-active and show initiative to develop new ideas
• Manage workload effectively to meet strict deadlines while being a part of a dynamic and busy team
• Clear and confident in communicating complex information sensitively to a wide range of audiences
• Ability to negotiate with developers and stakeholders to ensure the continued delivery of high quality outputs
• Be computer literate with experience in GIS systems and using databases

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we believe benefits our employees, the organisation and our communities.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits:

• Flexible working
• Flexible Bank Holidays
• A comprehensive wellbeing package
• Our Cambs Rewards employee discounts
• A comprehensive pension scheme
• IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
• Camweb our staff intranet helping to keep you informed
• An employee recognition scheme