Principal Ecologist /Associate Director – Ecology London

Overview

In this leadership role, you will shape the London ecology team within Jacobs, guiding strategic direction and delivery for major UK projects. You will lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team, influencing energy, water, and transport infrastructure decisions with environmental expertise. You’ll combine technical excellence with stakeholder engagement to deliver impactful ecological outcomes at scale. This is a chance to define the future of ecology within a global engineering and environment-focused organisation.

Pay / Benefits

• competitive salary
• 23? 24 days holiday + option to buy 10 days
• enhanced pension contributions up to 10%
• health coverage with family options
• employee networks and inclusion initiatives
• enhanced parental leave and fertility support

Responsibilities

• Steer strategic direction for the London ecology team and contribute to UK-wide leadership
• Provide high-quality ecological advice to clients, regulators and stakeholders
• Lead client/stakeholder engagement and build strong relationships
• Mentor and develop team members, acting as a people leader
• Apply expertise across EIA, Habitat Regulations Assessment and Biodiversity Net Gain
• Oversee ecological monitoring and survey programme design and delivery
• Collaborate across disciplines to deliver integrated ecological solutions
• Identify, bid for and win new work and promote the ecology capability externally
• Oversee resource planning for London and South-East ecology teams
• Shape projects, performance, and future team direction

Key requirements

• Strong background in terrestrial ecology with substantial industry experience
• Chartered status (or on track to achieve it)
• Proven experience leading ecological input on large-scale projects
• Strategic mindset with ability to influence broader business decisions
• Experience in line management, mentoring and team development
• Proactive, hands-on approach with strong self-awareness
• Ability to adapt across diverse and complex projects
• Experience in innovative scoping of ecological inputs, licensing, and Biodiversity Net Gain
• Experience with project consenting, construction environments, stakeholder and regulator engagement

• leadership presence
• stakeholder engagement
• strategic thinking
• EIA
• Habitat Regulations Assessment
• Biodiversity Net Gain

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