Overview

We are seeking an Intelligence Research Officer to join the National Environmental Crime Unit (NECU) in a dynamic part of the business. The Environment Agency’s ambition is to be an intelligence-led organisation, so having the ability to manage intelligence professionally and in line with current guidance is essential to ensuring threat, risk and harm is appropriately assessed and managed. Environmental crime is a strategic priority, attracting high profile attention from the public, media, national and international stakeholders. This role provides an exciting opportunity to support investigations and help prioritise and drive forward interventions to remove unlawful operators from the waste regimes. You will help deliver our response by pro-actively developing and accessing intelligence from a range of sources to inform decision making and provide actionable intelligence products for our customers.

We are fully committed to having an inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. We welcome flexible working patterns for our vacancies, including job share, so please clearly include any information regarding your preferred working arrangements on your application. 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.

Location is flexible and we are happy to support smarter ways of working through a mixture of home and office working; travel to our Birmingham and Sheffield offices – where most of our staff are based – will be required on occasions. Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams and are expected to be in September 2025. We are committed to reflecting the diverse communities we serve and welcome applications from under-represented groups. Note that security vetting checks (SC and NPPV3) will be required.

Responsibilities

• Develop and access intelligence from a range of sources to inform decision making and produce actionable intelligence products for customers.
• Support investigations and help prioritise interventions to remove unlawful operators from waste regimes.
• Respond to incidents as part of a dispersed team and provide business continuity support as required (may attract additional payment).
• Collaborate with intelligence professionals across NECU and provide intelligence products and assessments to colleagues.

Experience/skills Required

You’ll need to collect and evaluate data from a wide variety of sources to produce or inform intelligence products, and to prepare and deliver research summaries. You must have experience interrogating IT systems and databases, and an enthusiasm and curiosity for finding information is essential.

• Good communication skills with the ability to listen to others and transmit information effectively
• Ability to represent the Environment Agency professionally with a variety of partners
• Ability to use own initiative and identify when a change in approach is needed
• Skills in using standard IT packages and the ability to retrieve information accurately
• Good teamwork and an inclusive, supportive approach
• Ability to switch between tasks and juggle administrative activities to support colleagues and customers

Other information

We also have a Guaranteed Interview Policy to support those with a disability who are seeking employment. The Environment Agency is not part of HM Civil Service and you would not be a Crown Servant if appointed. You may be eligible for continuous service for redundancy payments depending on your previous roles. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds and flexible working arrangements should be included in your application. For more information on supplier frameworks, visit the Crown Commercial Service site.

Seniority level: Associate

Employment type: Full-time

Job function: Research, Analyst, and Information Technology

Contact: For an informal discussion please contact vacancy managers pete.booth@environment-agency.gov.uk or sam.morrison@environment-agency.gov.uk