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.

Any future recruitment will be taken from the reserve list.

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

Responsibilities

• Pro-actively develop and access intelligence from a range of sources to inform decision making and provide actionable intelligence products for customers.

• Support investigations and help prioritise and drive forward interventions to remove unlawful operators from waste regimes.

• Respond to incidents as part of an incident role; provide business continuity support where required; participate in incident training and arrangements.

Qualifications and experience

• Experience collecting and evaluating data and information from a wide variety of sources to produce or inform intelligence products; ability to interrogate IT systems and databases; enthusiasm and curiosity for finding information.

• 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 adapt approach as needed.

• Skills in using standard IT packages; ability to retrieve information effectively and accurately; good teamwork and an inclusive approach; ability to juggle administrative activities to support colleagues and customers.

Desirable and other information

• You will need to be comfortable with working in a dispersed team. Location is flexible with a mix of home and office working; some travel to Birmingham and Sheffield offices may be required occasionally.

• Security vetting checks (SC and NPPV3) will be required. Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams and are expected to be in September 2025.

• We are committed to diversity and inclusion; we welcome applicants from groups under-represented across our workforce. We also have a Guaranteed Interview Policy to support those with a disability who are seeking employment.

• If you are applying from the Civil Service, note that Environment Agency is not part of HM Civil Service and would not be a Crown Servant; you may be eligible for continuous service under certain conditions. For questions about status, contact your HR team.

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