Licensing Officer x6

Licensing Officer x6 (3x Permanent and 3x Temporary)

Job Purpose Summary

The post-holder will be a key member of NatureScot’s busy licensing team which sits within the Wildlife Management Activity, undertaking a range of duties to support the delivery of NatureScot’s statutory licensing function.

The NatureScot Licensing Team issue about 5000 protected species licences throughout the year. Licences enable actions that would otherwise be illegal. They cover certain types of activity such as disturbance to protected birds and animals, and are issued for purposes such as preserving public health and safety, preventing serious damage to livestock, development, science and research. 

We aim to provide an efficient and responsive licensing service that enables people to manage protected wildlife effectively, balancing legitimate needs of individuals and business with our regulatory responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Processing and issuing protected species licence applications, including assessing applications against the licensing tests and writing Statement of Reasons for issued licences;
• Processing licence returns and licence amendments;
• Assist in dealing with Freedom of Information requests, collating large volumes of requested information accurately and other reporting as required;
• Undertake monitoring to ensure licence holders are complying with the conditions of their licence, and report any licensing breaches to Licencing Manager/ Wildlife Crime Officer as appropriate.

Skills Required (Please refer to these in your Supporting Statement)

• Good understanding or experience of NatureScot’s licensing functions and approach, including knowledge of policy and legislation
• Understanding and experience of wildlife management approaches and the need for wildlife management.
• Good knowledge of Scottish protected species ecology
• Ability to source, collate and analyse data from a variety of sources
• Effective team working within a busy team including any experience of matrix management
• Good communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability to effectively deal with a wide range of stakeholders and to understand and appreciate their needs including in relation to novel and contentious cases.
• Good organisational and time management skills to effectively prioritise a high volume of reactive and proactive workload.
• Can demonstrate ability to work using own initiative and to ask for help when required
• Can demonstrate accuracy and attention to detail when undertaking day to day tasks

Prerequisites Required

• Right to work in the UK
• To undertake a disclosure Scotland Application
• Although Gaelic language is not a prerequisite it is a desirable skill in support of our commitment to our Gaelic Language Plan.