Senior Enforcement Officer

Senior Enforcement Officer
£41,617 (+£2,117 Weighting Allowance for London Abbey
Wood location)
London SE (Abbey
Wood), Farnham, Reading, Wallingford, Welwyn
Garden City
Staff Grade: 5

Are you a motivated and enthusiastic professional ready to make a difference? We are looking
for a self-driven individual to play a key role in leading the enforcement of environmental
offences to address complex and serious performance issues within the water industry as part of
our new water industry enforcement team.

As an experienced enforcement officer, you will lead on governance and assurance of
investigations and enforcement for your team. And you’ll provide oversight of water industry
compliance and enforcement cases.

You will develop the wider enforcement community by supporting, training and mentoring those
delivering water industry enforcement across the business. Relationship building and providing
a first-class customer service will be essential to establish the new team and ensure new ways
of working are embedded across the new team.

What will you do?  

• Provide technical advice to officers and managers on the use of appropriate enforcement
  tools and responses, ensuring governance processes are followed and carrying out assurance work
  as needed.
• Ensure enforcement decisions are informed, efficient, consistent, and outcome-focused,
  following relevant policies and guidance.
• Maintain oversight of all enforcement activity across your team, using data systems to
  monitor trends and produce performance reports for management teams and the wider organisation.
  Your work will directly inform prioritisation of enforcement decisions and delivery.
• Support and mentor colleagues across the enforcement community, helping to build expertise
  in water industry enforcement. You’ll work with other senior officers to identify training
  needs and deliver tailored development opportunities.
• Drive continuous improvement within enforcement by conducting case reviews, identifying
  learning opportunities, sharing insights, and embedding new processes across the team.

This role is an opportunity to lead on the future of enforcement in the water industry.

Responding to incidents is a central part of what we do. You will be required to have an
incident role and make yourself available to respond to incidents or provide business
continuity support during an incident. This may attract an additional payment and full
training and alternative working arrangements will be available to support you with your
incident role.

We will provide comprehensive training and ensure you have the tools, equipment, and protective
clothing needed to carry out your duties safely and effectively.

There may be occasional overnight stays required, for example, to attend training courses.

The team 

The water industry enforcement team is dedicated to addressing serious and complex performance
issues within the water industry, driving improvements in compliance and environmental
standards. Based in our South East enforcement hub, one of four hubs across England, your team
will work closely with one or more water companies to achieve these goals. You will mostly be
office based with occasional travel to deliver work on investigations and enforcement across
your hub.

The team brings specialist enforcement expertise to:

• Reduce environmental offences.
• Effectively tackle complex and serious offences.
• Manage intelligence at the local level.
• Provide expert enforcement advice and support to staff and managers.
• Enhance prevention, intelligence, and enforcement capabilities.

What do I need?

In this role, you’ll bring strong decision-making skills and the ability to effectively
identify priorities and ensure enforcement decision-making is informed, efficient, consistent
and outcome-focused. You will have excellent attention to detail.

Essential

• The role will require travel from time to time and so a full UK driving licence is
  required. Please note, if you are invited to interview, we will contact you to conduct a DVLA
  driving licence check. More information on this process will be provided to you should you
  reach this stage of the recruitment process.
• Experience in analysing data to identify trends and assisting in identifying and tackling
  the cause.
• Experience of enforcement, with an understanding of serious/complex investigations
• Working experience of relevant legislation, for example the Environmental Permitting
  Regulations, the Environment Act, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, the Criminal Procedures
  and Investigations Act and its Code of Practice, and the Data Protection Act.

Desirable

• Have contributed to strategies on detection/prevention of offending.
• An understanding of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
• Experience of regulating the water industry.

What’s in it for you: 

You’ll benefit from a culture that embraces difference and is inclusive where you’ll feel
supported and trusted to do the right thing. We’ll invest in you and allow you to grow and
shape your career. What’s more, you’ll have access to our great benefits package including: 

• A salary of £41,617 (+£2,117 Weighting Allowance for London Abbey Wood location).
• A generous pension scheme.
• Overtime opportunities through standby and incident pay.
• 27 days holiday + 8 bank holidays for full-time employees.
• Two days each year to spend taking part in activities that enhance the environment, engage
  with communities, or educate people about the environment.
• Great career opportunities.
• Maternity, paternity, and adoption leave scheme.

Options for flexible and / or part-time working will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

As an organisation we strive to reflect the communities we serve. To achieve this, we welcome
applications from all backgrounds regardless of race, sexual orientation, and religion.

To learn more about these roles from those already in them, gain insight into the recruitment
process, and have the chance to ask your questions, join us for our candidate call on:

• Tuesday 11th March at 12pm

This will be held on Microsoft Teams and is open to all applicants. You do not need to have
submitted an application to join the call, just click the apply button for further information.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part
of the UK’s largest environmental organisation. Join us, and together, let’s tackle the
challenges of a changing climate and build a more sustainable future. Apply now and embark on a
rewarding and fulfilling career journey with the Environment Agency.

Closing date for applications is Monday 17th March
2025.

Interview Dates: w/c 31st March
& 7th April.

Please note that a reserve list will be held, and you may be offered other roles, including
temporary roles, in locations that are similarly aligned to this role.