6867 - Senior Officer - Marine Planning & Licensing - National


Company:	Natural England
Salary:	from £41,550 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	National, NP10 8FZ
Working pattern:	Hybrid - 4 days remote
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	23 Oct 2026
Closing date:	22 Nov 2026

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Summary

Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.

Our Role

Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do this working through and with others.

Strategic Outcomes for Nature

Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes. Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.

Recovering Nature– Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.

Building Better Places– Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.

Improving Health and Wellbeing– Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.

Delivering Security through Nature– Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at:

Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK

The Team

The Planning and Infrastructure Team sits within the Strategy Directorate of Natural England.

The Team works across the terrestrial and marine environment to:

Advise Government on national policy issues, contributing to the development of planning policy, guidance and process changes and responding to national consultations.

Provide strategic technical advice and leadership to our programme and operations teams and develop new approaches to planning and infrastructure work.

Develop and maintain relationships with key national partners including Government, other regulators and agencies, NGOs and the commercial sector.

This presents a unique opportunity to influence government policy to secure greater outcomes for the natural environment, whilst also playing a key role in both supporting and shaping Natural England’s Planning and Infrastructure work.

Job description

We are looking for a Senior Officer to provide technical leadership and strategic support marine planning and licensing. Working alongside the Principal Officer and colleagues across Strategy and Operations, you will help strengthen Natural England's capability, consistency and effectiveness in this area, ensuring colleagues have access to clear guidance, expert support and a shared understanding of good practice.

Working alongside Principal Officers and colleagues across Strategy and Operations, you will play a leading role in the development of guidance, training, technical networks and advice to support consistent and proportionate approaches to marine planning, licensing and environmental assessment. You will also help identify opportunities to make best use of Natural England's skills, knowledge and evidence base, improving the way we engage with marine planning and licensing processes and supporting Area Teams in delivering high-quality advice on complex and high-priority work.

Natural England's marine planning and licensing work plays an important role in securing positive outcomes for nature through decision-making in England's seas and coastal waters. Working closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), government, regulators and other partners, we provide evidence, advice and expertise to support sustainable marine development and nature recovery.

A further key aspect of the role will be developing and maintaining effective relationships with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and other marine stakeholders. Through collaboration and influence, you will help improve understanding of emerging issues, coordinate Natural England's input to Marine Plans and other strategic marine initiatives, and identify opportunities to secure better outcomes for nature through partnership working and strategic engagement.

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