Senior / Principal Marine Ornithologist

We are looking for a Senior or Principal Marine Ornithologist to join our team to help deliver impactful habitat compensation and monitoring plans for marine renewable energy projects and support in the delivery of ornithological assessments and guidance.

Our team values having an excellent mix of robust academic skills combined with applied experience of working with developers and stakeholder. This has enabled us to deliver nine PhDs, more than 40 research and guidance-based commissions and numerous offshore wind projects over the last 15 years.

MacArthur Green has recently been acquired by SLR Consulting, so the successful candidate will be joining our marine team at an exciting time. The transition to being part of SLR Consulting in 2025 opens a host of interesting and varied opportunities around the UK and internationally.

SLR is a global consultancy and offers significant potential for career development. The culture, management structure and straightforward approach to project delivery ensures everyone works on interesting projects with valued clients. The successful candidate will receive expert training from both MacArthur Green and SLR’s talented teams and will enjoy excellent prospects for progression based on performance.

Job Description

The overall objective of your role will be to work as part of our marine ornithology team to successfully deliver projects and guidance that have important environmental benefits.

• Preparation of delivery of compensation plans for offshore wind farm projects.
• Preparation and review of Ornithological Assessments, Habitats Regulations Assessments and technical reports.
• Project management, coordination and delivery of offshore ornithology projects.
• Preparing and coordinating tender submissions.
• Undertaking analysis of offshore wind farm impacts on protected seabird populations.
• Assisting clients with written and oral advice, including in meetings with key stakeholders.
• Ornithological field work.
• Contributing to strategic ornithology projects undertaken by the marine ornithology team.

Essential Criteria

• Strong experience and understanding of the environmental planning system in relation to the production of ornithological impact assessments.
• Demonstrable experience and understanding of the European Birds and Habitats Directives and methods for assessments with regards to European Designated sites.
• Knowledge of the ecology of European seabirds.
• ESAS and seabird colony count survey experience.
• A flexible and proactive approach to work.
• Comprehensive experience of project management and managing a diverse workload.
• The ability to produce and review high quality reports and deliver them to clients on time and to budget.
• Good working relationship with regulators and statutory advisors.
• Educated to higher degree level in ecology or related subject, or able to demonstrate an equivalent level of experience.
• Strong IT skills including Word and Excel.

Desirable Criteria

• Previous experience of using some or all of the key tools in undertaking impacts assessments of offshore wind farm projects on seabird populations (collision risk modelling, spatial modelling, apportioning, displacement analysis, population viability analysis).
• Field survey experience.
• Previous experience of checking and analysing digital aerial survey data.

Benefits

• Full time, permanent contract
• UK-based from one of our offices or homeworking with regular visits to our Glasgow office

Along with competitive salaries, our staff enjoy a comprehensive benefits package with a company pension plus excellent healthcare offering, travel and life insurance and a structured career framework with regular reviews offering outstanding opportunities for progression. Alongside 25 day’s annual leave, with additional flexible bank holidays, we offer flexible, agile and hybrid working which enables staff to tailor hours worked around core hours, with family friendly policies help balance the needs of professional and home life.

We are registered as a Disability Confident employer. Please see our website recruitment page or get in touch to find out how we can help you feel confident that this is the right place of work for you. We offer a guaranteed interview to disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for this role and will endeavor to make reasonable adjustments for the successful candidate.

NO RECRUITMENT CONSULTANTS PLEASE.