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 (Water & Land Stewardship)

    Salary  £32,573-£41,558

    The role

    The Water and Land Stewardship Team (W&LS) lead the identification and delivery of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to improve rivers and catchments across the South East. Through evidence, stakeholder engagement and on-the-ground experience, this new senior role will lead and develop NbS project opportunities. You will aim for impact, scale and collaboration.

    You will be responsible for delivering projects to scale up NbS across the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) area, and lead the ‘South East demos’ for the Ofwat Innovation Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions project, a flagship five-year innovation project with water industry partners across the UK. Working with colleagues at SERT to deliver NbS measures on the ground will give you the opportunity to make a real difference, using this to help regulators and policy makers address barriers and build enablers for NbS at scale.

    You will lead walkovers, report on project opportunities identified, and develop projects on the ground, including natural flood management, riparian corridor enhancement and land management to increase catchment resilience. You will work closely with land managers to co-design feasible NbS options delivering multiple benefits. Your recommendations will be informed by data and evidence, and part of your role will be contributing to the effective collation of this across the Trust and the region. This will include identifying and reviewing nature market opportunities including through Biodiversity Net Gain, water resource, natural flood management and water quality, and you will look to capitalise on these opportunities and find ways to combine them with public funding (e.g. developing agri-environment schemes) to develop blended funding approaches. Working with our regional water companies, you will use your understanding of their drivers and processes to find ways of delivering more nature-based solutions with them in our catchments, building on existing relationships and projects within the Trust and the wider Rivers Trust movement.

    Crucially, you will take a collaborative partnership approach, building close relationships with our regional water companies, farmer clusters and other NGOs as well as regulators and local authorities, and provide a vision for these stakeholder groups to drive improvement of our rivers and catchments.

    This role is varied and allows for an individual to take ownership for their own projects, seeking and developing resolutions whilst working collaboratively with several organisations and individuals, as well as learn new skills and grow within a supported environment. You will be personable and inquisitive, enjoy working with evidence, be able to explain technical concepts in simple terms, engage positively with partners, and be passionate about rivers and the environment.

    While the role covers the entire SERT area, we expect to develop a geographic focus towards either the East (Sussex, Kent) or West (Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey).

    Please see the full Senior Project Officer job description for more information.

     

    How to apply:

    Please send the following documents to jobs@southeastriverstrust.org :

    The deadline for application is 11:59pm on Sunday 29 September 2024.  We reserve the right to close the recruitment early.

    Interviews will take place Friday 4 – Tuesday 8 October 2024.

    If you would like to discuss the position please email jobs@southeastriverstrust.org  with your enquiry and we will arrange to call you back.

    Please note: All applicants must have the right to work in the UK. We do not 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.