Overview

Job Title: Intelligence Research Officer

Organisation: National Environmental Crime Unit (NECU) within the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency’s ambition is to be an intelligence-led organisation. This role supports investigations and helps prioritise and drive interventions to remove unlawful operators from waste regimes. You will pro-actively develop and access intelligence from a range of sources to inform decision making and provide actionable intelligence products for our customers.

The team: NECU supports the Environment Agency’s enforcement community across 14 geographical areas and national services, tackling around 40,000 suspected and alleged offences each year. You will be part of the Intelligence & Partnerships department, working with intelligence professionals to provide intelligence products and assessments.

You will be required to be comfortable with working in a dispersed team. Location is flexible with a mix of home and office working; travel to Birmingham and Sheffield offices will be required on occasions. Interviews are expected to be held via Microsoft Teams in September 2025. We welcome flexible working patterns including job share and encourage you to include your preferred arrangements on your application.

Responsibilities

• Collect and evaluate data and information from a wide variety of sources to produce or inform intelligence products.
• Prepare and deliver research summaries; interrogate IT systems and databases to access information.
• Proactively develop intelligence to inform decision making and support investigations.
• Provide actionable intelligence products for internal customers and partners.
• Respond to incidents as part of an incident role, which may attract additional payment and require training and alternative working arrangements.

Responding to incidents is a central part of the role and you must be ready to participate in incident response or business continuity support as required.

Experience and Qualifications

• Experience of collecting and evaluating data from diverse sources to inform intelligence products, with ability to interrogate IT systems and databases.
• Enthusiasm and curiosity for finding information.
• Good communication skills; ability to listen and transmit information effectively.
• Ability to represent the Environment Agency professionally with a variety of partners.
• Ability to use standard IT packages; ability to retrieve information accurately.
• Strong teamwork and an inclusive approach; ability to flex between tasks and manage administrative activity to support colleagues and customers.

Other requirements: security vetting checks (SC and NPPV3) will be required. For applicants from Civil Service or local government, please review status regarding continuous service and redundancy provisions as described in the original posting.

Additional Information

• We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome applications from under-represented groups.
• We encourage flexible working patterns, including job share, and offer a Guaranteed Interview Policy to support applicants with a disability.
• The Environment Agency is a Non-Departmental Public Body and participates in Central Government frameworks and contracts for external recruitment.
• For an informal discussion, contact the vacancy managers at the Environment Agency.