Deputy Director – Marine and Biodiversity Division

The Deputy Director – Marine and Biodiversity is a key role in delivering the Welsh Government’s agenda to protect and enhance health, nature and the environment. The senior leadership role focuses on important policy areas which can make a difference to people, nature and communities across Wales.

This is a significant leadership role, leading a team of around 40 people, and working with key stakeholders across the public and third sectors in Wales, and with counterparts in other UK Governments.

The role leads on the following main policy areas:

• Halting biodiversity loss and restoring it to resilient levels – leading action across the Welsh Government and key Welsh delivery partners to support Welsh Ministers to meet a range of statutory duties and international targets.
• Oversee Marine Planning for Wales including implementation of the marine plan and development of marine planning policy for the sustainable use of the Welsh marine environment.
• Setting policy direction and overseeing the delivery of the marine licensing regulatory regime, including its delegation, to NRW to ensure it is responsive and agile to Ministerial priorities including but not limited to marine renewable energy such as offshore wind.
• Improving engagement with coastal communities and strengthening marine resilience recognising the importance of the marine environment to climate change.
• Increasing the funding available for nature recovery through the development of nature finance markets and models.
• Provision of specialist advice on Habitats Regulations and Strategic Environmental Assessments and to address wild animal health and welfare issues where they affect species of biodiversity significance.

This is a full-time post in the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Directorate reporting to the Director (Rhodri Asby). Rhodri is part of Claire Bennett’s senior leadership team in the Local Government, Housing, Rural Resilience and Sustainability Group. You will:

• Lead a team of around 40 people working flexibly across a broad spread of responsibilities and provide opportunities for everyone to contribute and be recognised for their contribution.
• Build and maintain the Cabinet Minister’s trust and confidence, ensuring key commitments in the Programme for Government and wider work programme are delivered, including implementing Senedd legislation.
• Provide strategic policy leadership for a range of areas, including:
• Development of statutory biodiversity targets and implementation of associated duties to meet the requirements set out in the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) Act 2026.
• Delivery against international biodiversity targets such as the Global Biodiversity Framework including the reporting requirements.
• Development of a new marine planning framework to strengthen marine planning and governance for sustainable development, engage coastal communities and strengthen the interface between land and sea planning.
• Working closely with NRW and UK Government to strengthen and streamline the marine licensing regime including implementation of the Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement measures reform to support Ministerial priorities in relation to marine energy.
• Deliver shared priorities effectively through a network of partners across Wales, including the Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership and public authorities, ensuring that decision-making supports the Section 6 biodiversity duty and the objectives of the Welsh National Marine Plan.
• Influence the development and implementation of other Ministerial priorities including the Sustainable Farming Scheme and National Development Framework to ensure it supports delivery of biodiversity outcomes.
• Development of the nature finance strategy and corresponding actions, including funding and leading pilots to test different market mechanisms.
• Legislative delivery – to include relevant aspects of cross cutting Senedd Bills such as the Environment and Wildlife Bills scheduled for year one of the Senedd term, and implementation of secondary legislation where needed, including to address the recommendations arising from the Audit Wales and IEPAW reports on protected sites.
• Programme delivery – ensure the effective delivery of programmes to improve the condition and resilience of protected sites, improve bee health, support species reintroduction and effective management of the Marine Protected Area network.
• Build and maintain excellent working relationships with senior officials in UK Government Departments, Natural Resources Wales, JNCC and counterparts in the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to ensure Welsh interests are taken into account, and where possible so that approaches are aligned to deliver coordinated action and economy-wide certainty on the range of environmental issues that are priorities for the Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability.
• Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with a wide range of delivery partners including environmental stakeholders, Local Authorities and National Parks, relevant marine and coastal authorities, farmers and land managers to ensure action is prioritised and coordinated, delivers government priorities and contributes to our overall objective of reversing biodiversity loss and maintaining health ecosystems that support Wales’ prosperity.
• Ensure effective arrangements are in place to manage a tight budget of around £20m per year (revenue + capital) to deliver policy priorities, including oversight of a large grant programme to restore nature.
• Civil contingencies role including responsibility for the Lead Department Plan for marine oil spills and leading on wildlife consideration arising from animal disease outbreaks, for example highly pathogenic avian influenza. Incident response may require action outside normal working hours
• Ensure effective delivery of government business, including responses to Oral and Written Questions in the Senedd, correspondence and media queries, ensuring deadlines are met, outputs meet Ministers’ expectations and are of a consistently high quality.
• Play an active role as part of the Senior Leadership Team in the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Directorate and wider Local Government, Housing, Rural Resilience and Sustainability Group.

Note: The detailed responsibilities covered by the role may be subject to change as the Directorate flexes to respond to the new Government's priorities.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

A candidate Q&A session will be held during the advertising period to provide further insight into the role and organisation. To receive joining details and further information, please register your interest via scsrecruitment@gov.wales.

Stage 1 – Application

To apply for this role, you will be asked to submit:

Application Form

We welcome applications in Welsh and English. Applications in either language will be treated equally. If you have an impairment that would prevent you from applying online, please contact SCSRecruitment@gov.wales to request an alternative format or a reasonable adjustment to submit your application.

CV:

We operate name-free recruitment. The selection panel will not see personal information while shortlisting in line with our commitment to end bias and promote equality and diversity. Please remove your name from your CV and personal statement.

Personal Statement:

Your personal statement will be input into the application system and has a maximum word count of 1,500. Please explain how your professional qualifications, skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria included in the person specification. These are the key behaviours listed above: Working Together; Leadership, Seeing the Big Picture, and Delivering at Pace and the two experience criteria.

The Welsh Government is committed to achieving a workforce that reflects the society it serves – at all levels. You will be asked to confirm some diversity information on your application form. Collecting this information enables us to identify whether we are recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent and check that all groups are being treated fairly throughout the process; this form will not be disclosed to anyone involved in assessing your application. If you do not wish to provide a response to a particular question, you select ‘prefer not to say.’ You will not be able to submit your application if you leave any of the questions unanswered.

Stage 2 – Assessments

If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessments:

Online Psychometric Tests:

These include a discussion with a psychologist via Microsoft Teams. You will receive a link to the online tests within 10 working days after the shortlisting meeting. You do not need to take these tests again if you have completed these tests in the last two years for a role at the same grade.

Staff/Stakeholder Engagement Exercise:

This exercise gives you the opportunity to present your experience, ideas and views on effective leadership for this role. You will meet with a group of staff via Microsoft Teams who may be future team members, peers, colleagues or stakeholders.

Interview & Scenario Exercise:

Before your interview, the selection panel will receive feedback on your psychometric tests and staff engagement exercise.

You will be given a presentation topic before your interview and will be asked to give a 5-minute verbal presentation.

Interviews will be around 45 minutes and will consider how the skills and experience in your CV and personal statement meet the requirements of the role. The interview will be held in person at the Welsh Government’s office in Cathays Park in Cardiff.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.