Aquatic Ecologist - Leeds/Manchester, Nottingham, Basingstoke - 2024 starts

AECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets for governments, businesses, and organizations in more than 150 countries. As a fully integrated firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global network of experts to help clients solve their most complex challenges. From high-performance buildings and infrastructure to resilient communities and environments, to stable and secure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated and vital.

Job Description

Ecology is part of AECOM’s Environment business which provides environmental management services for feasibility, impact analysis and operational compliance as well as remediation, restoration and re-use of impacted property.

The Graduate Aquatic Ecologist will support the delivery of consultancy and advisory services, including a wide range of fieldwork and site work opportunities, to both internal and external clients to a high level of technical quality and to programme and budget.

Job responsibilities:

• Supporting the delivery of existing and new contracts for the collection and analysis of aquatic survey data including fish, macroinvertebrates, crayfish, macrophytes, riparian mammals, River Habitat Survey etc.;
• Opportunities to assist with a wider range of terrestrial ecology surveys for the right candidate;
• Working as part of the existing network of AECOM ecologists and water scientists within the UK and Ireland;
• Communicating effectively with their line manager, project managers, clients, project teams and other members of the Aquatic Ecology and Water Environment team in person, by telephone, e-mail, letters and reports;
• Good knowledge of current environmental legislation, including the Water Framework Directive;
• Compliance with internal business management procedures, including in relation to health and safety and technical quality of all advice and outputs;
• Contribute to maintaining internal and external client relationships, including providing urgent ecological response and / or advice as required;
• Collaborating with colleagues in wider AECOM teams on multi-disciplinary projects;
• Assisting with other administrative duties which add value to the management and development of the team.

Qualifications

• A degree (preferably MSc or higher, but BSc considered) in Ecology or related discipline (Freshwater Biology, [Marine] Ecology/Zoology) would be an advantage, as would previous commercial and/or regulatory experience.• The successful candidate will understand some or all the following: aquatic ecology and surveys such as fish, macroinvertebrates, crayfish, macrophytes, riparian mammals and/or River Habitat Survey.
• Microsoft Office skills essential such as Word, Excel & PowerPoint
• Ability to structure & prioritise work effectively through close cooperation with the team as a whole
• Solid attention to detail
• Strong numeracy
• Ability to communicate effectively to internal and external clients, both verbally & in writing with the confidence to engage with a variety of people (clients, colleagues, stakeholders and sub-contractors alike) and the aptitude to rationally explain, explore and discuss technical issues and capture feedback