Career Opportunities

The South East Rivers Trust (SERT) is a busy, charitable organisation, consisting of approximately 40 employees and 10 Trustees, working across the rivers in the South East of England. Our rivers flow through a mixture of urban and rural locations, benefiting people’s wellbeing and pleasure, which we want to protect and enhance. We work to improve our rivers through education and practical conservation; we are looking to actively grow our team to deliver practical work, to improve water quality and to enhance natural beauty for all.

SERT is made up of five teams, running about 60 projects at any one time. We work with multiple stakeholders, from landowners to councils, delivering a wide range of environmental benefits. By joining us, you will have an exciting opportunity to use your skills, experience and passion to make a real impact on our natural world by running your own projects, while working as part of a team. You will be making a real difference to rivers and the wider environment in this corner of the UK. Most roles offer the chance to not only plan and monitor changes in our rivers, but also to be hands on — getting into the water and physically improving the ecosystem. We operate a hybrid working policy with most staff attending the office in Leatherhead once a fortnight, working from home and outdoors in our catchments.

SERT’s 12 catchments, located across the south east of England

Benefits you will enjoy if you work for us:

  • 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays. After three years’ service, staff receive an extra day of annual leave each year (maximum of 28 days).
  • Hybrid working
  • Pension contribution of 9% salary, subject to 6% employee contribution
  • Life assurance (3 times your  annual salary when signing up to the SERT pension scheme).
  • Time off in Lieu
  • 4 staff awaydays per year
  • Flexible bank holidays
  • Enhanced leave policies including sickness, maternity and paternity
  • Employee Assistance Programme
  • Wellbeing team, with trained Mental Health First Aiders

Commitment to career development and training, including but not limited to:

  • Individual career development plans
  • Attendance at external training and conferences relevant to role
  • Internal training relevant to role
  • One personal development day per year
  • Access to resources and training via affiliated memberships

If you don’t see a vacancy that you feel is suitable for you listed below but would like to explore the opportunities at the South East Rivers Trust, please send us your CV and contact details to jobs@southeastriverstrust.org. A member of our team will be in contact with you. Please note, all CVs and applications are kept on file for six months.

Take a look below at the jobs available at the South East Rivers Trust.

  • Senior Project Officer (Restoring Rivers & Catchments)

    Salary: £32,573 – £41,558 (per annum)

    Are you looking at developing the next step of your career, and do you have relevant experience leading and developing our rivers?  We have an exciting opportunity for you to come and join us as a Senior Project Officer on a permanent basis.

    The South East Rivers Trust is an environmental charity bringing rivers and their catchments back to life. Working in 12 river catchments across the south east of England, the Trust connects communities and mobilises citizen scientists to educate and engage people on the importance of rivers, and supports and challenges stakeholders, businesses and individuals to protect them. The Trust uses data and evidence to target positive action and works with nature to make rivers healthy again. This includes tackling water pollution, addressing water scarcity, reconnecting rivers and restoring habitats.

    Working at the South East Rivers Trust is rewarding, fulfilling and busy. We work collaboratively and with passion, and this is reflected in our core values of: delivering high quality work, using expertise and scientific understanding, building good and effective relationships and bringing positive energy to all we do. If this sounds like an environment that you would thrive in, we would love to hear from you.

    We lead on a range of exciting, challenging and fulfilling projects which vary significantly in size, complexity and type. No two projects are the same. We often have the opportunity to direct and mould them into novel, bold and ambitious schemes which are directed and/or monitored with a science-based approach. The projects will typically cover natural flood management (NFM), water resource management, fish passage including weir removals, easements or fish passes, wetland/backwater creation and in-channel habitat improvements such as the introduction of large wood and gravel through to re-channelling works.

    The Senior Project Officer role is an exciting opportunity for an experienced and knowledgeable individual to oversee all stages of river and catchment enhancement projects, from conception to development, design and physical implementation. Working in the Restoring Rivers and Catchments Team, you will use your proven ability to lead on our larger projects, ensuring that they are delivered on time, on budget and to a high standard. We encourage creative thinking to come up with exciting, ambitious and novel solutions with the possibility to put your own stamp on the project. The role will require you to manage, delegate and work collaboratively within the Trust and with external partners, stakeholders and professional services to identify and deliver meaningful and impactful projects for the benefit of the environment and communities.

    Please see the full job description here.

    How to apply:

    To apply for this position, please send the following documents to jobs@southeastriverstrust.org.

    The deadline for applications is 28th April 2024. We reserve the right to close the recruitment early.

    If you would like to discuss this position, please email jobs@southeastriverstrust.org with your enquiry and a member of our team will be in contact shortly.

    Please note: All applicants must have the right to work in the UK. We are unable to sponsor applicants from overseas.

  • GIS Analyst

    The Salary: £32,573 – £41,558

    SERT is seeking a highly competent Geographical Information Systems (GIS) professional with a passion for the natural environment to join our growing team. This is a role dedicated to data, evidence and GIS. The primary purpose of the position is to underpin the evidence-based approach taken by the Trust by managing, analysing and communicating spatial data to inform effective river catchment management. You will lead on developing opportunities for the Trust to work with others and develop partnership projects, by building relationships with others whose objectives align with our own, such as Local Authorities, Environmental NGOs, water companies etc.

    By applying and demonstrating the value of using modern spatial analysis, modelling and emerging technology to the problems we face in addressing the issues impacting our rivers and catchments, you will identify opportunities for business development with our partners and support initiatives to raise funds to expand the GIS function of the Trust. Whilst being part of a vibrant and dynamic organisation, you will also support colleagues to interrogate, analyse, visualise and present data to support the ecosystem services/natural capital planning and integrated catchment management activities of the Trust and the Catchment Partnerships that it hosts. We are seeking a personable, adaptable and organised GIS professional with an eye for detail and an associated interest and specialism in either IT, statistics, programming, web development or interactive mapping. This position will suit a self-starter with individual initiative who is comfortable setting priorities and managing simultaneous tasks. We welcome innovative, creative individuals who want to apply their excellent data analysis and visualisation skills, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team and bringing their own ideas to help the Trust deliver its mission of healthy rivers for all.

    We would be interested to hear about your skills and interests and how you would like to develop this role and the application of spatial analysis across the Trust in the future. This is an exciting opportunity that will suit a natural leader and great communicator who will help lead the development of GIS and IT systems in a growing and dynamic organisation making a real difference for the environment.

    Please view the job description here: GIS Analyst Job Description

    How to apply:

    To apply for this position, please send the following documents to jobs@southeastriverstrust.org.

    The deadline for applications is 21st April (with interviews via Microsoft Teams, dates to be advised).

    If you would like to discuss these positions, please email jobs@southeastriverstrust.org with your enquiry and a member of our team will be in contact shortly.

    Please note: All applicants must have the right to work in the UK. We are unable to sponsor applicants from overseas.

Equity, diversity and inclusion

At SERT, we are committed to offering equal opportunities and positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital/civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity. We use a redacted process to reduce unconscious bias during shortlisting and ensure all applicants are judged solely on merit. Our equal opportunities monitoring forms helps us understand the diversity of applications we receive and are analysed on an annual basis.

SERT offers flexible working options to support everyone as individuals. Please get in touch if you require assistance with the application and/or interview process and our team will do the best to accommodate reasonable adjustments, where possible. For more information, please refer to our EDI Policy

Privacy notice

When submitting your application to us, it is important you are aware of what will happen to your personal data after the position is filled. Please read our Applicant GDPR Notice.