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Overview

We are seeking an Intelligence Research Officer to join 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 to it 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.

Any future recruitment will be taken from the reserve list.

Team and scope

The NECU supports the Environment Agency’s enforcement community which is spread across 14 geographical areas and national services – tackling around 40,000 suspected and alleged offences each year. We help to protect and improve the environment by regulating industry, ensuring compliance, and eliminating illegal activities including Organised Crime Groups. You will be part of our Intelligence & Partnerships department, working with intelligence professionals, providing intelligence products and assessments to support colleagues.

Experience and skills

Requirements

You’ll need to collect and evaluate data and information from a wide variety of sources to produce or inform intelligence products as well as preparing and delivering research summaries so you must have experience of interrogating IT systems and databases. 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. An ability to retrieve information effectively and accurately
• Good team working skills and a supportive approach that is inclusive to everyone you work with
• An ability to flex between tasks and juggle various administrative activities to support your colleagues and customers.

Additional information

Location is flexible and we are happy to support smarter ways of working through a mixture of home and office working; however 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 a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome applications from groups under-represented across our workforce. Security vetting checks (SC and NPPV3) will be required. For an informal discussion please contact vacancy managers at the Environment Agency.

Note: If you are applying from the Civil Service please note that the Environment Agency is not a part of HM Civil Service and you would not be a Crown Servant in the event of being appointed. Therefore, you will not be eligible for continuous service. For applicants who currently work in local government or other bodies listed in the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order 1999, you may be eligible for continuous service for the purpose of calculating any future redundancy payment. If you are unsure of your status, please contact your HR team. We also have a Guaranteed Interview Policy to support those with a disability who are seeking employment.

The Environment Agency, as a Non-Departmental Public Body, uses Central Government frameworks and contracts for all external recruitment needs. We are unable to engage directly with the market through post, email or phone calls. If you wish to become a support supplier on one of these frameworks or contracts, please visit the Crown Commercial Service guidance for more information.

Seniority level: Associate

Employment type: Full-time

Job function: Research, Analyst, and Information Technology