Port Environmental Lead Officer

Port Environmental Lead Officer 
Portsmouth International Port 
Salary: Band 11 - £44,428 – £48,474 p.a.
37 hours per week.
Permanent

Portsmouth International Port is the UK’s largest and most successful council-owned port, providing a significant contribution to the council’s budget to support services. We have a thriving continental ferry business and are steadily building a profile as a major player in the UK cruise market. 

As a council-owned Port and a service of Portsmouth City Council, the Port comes under the Leader of the Council’s portfolio and there is also a Port Advisory Board, a cross party mix who oversee the Port’s development. The port has a long-standing partnership with Brittany Ferries, with destinations to France and Spain, and Condor Ferries who provide lifeline services to deliver goods to the Channel Islands. As a result, we are recognised as a major port by the Department for Transport and provide critical infrastructure.

Cruise business has been growing progressively over the years, thanks to investments which help the port handle larger ships and more passengers. A modern terminal extension opened last year, creating a premium experience for customers and there continues to be opportunities to capitalise on the city’s unique waterfront location to entice more cruise lines.

The Port is also responsible for The Camber, the city’s historic fishing port and home to a number of growing businesses. Underpinning this successful growth is an ambition and commitment to become one of the UK leaders in port sustainability and achieve carbon neutral status by 2030.

What is the role? 

Portsmouth International Port is seeking an enthusiastic, forward thinking Port Environmental Lead Officer to support its innovative, green ambitions. Recently the Port secured over £20m in government funding to deliver one the country’s most ambitious shore power projects, known as Sea Change, which will be a game-changer for the industry.

The successful candidate will play a significant role in the Sea Change project and be a major influence on the Port’s future sustainability plans to become net carbon neutral by 2030, and its long-term ambition to be the UK’s first emission free port in line with the government’s Maritime 2050 plan. 

This is a new role reporting to the Port’s Technical Director and will be instrumental delivering the Port’s environmental infrastructure projects both marine and landside, to realise the Port’s environmental and sustainability objectives, as published in the Port’s 20-year master plan. You’ll be responsible for the development of the Port’s Environmental Strategy and bringing together the relevant contacts/projects and initiatives to help implement the overall vision.

The team at Portsmouth International Port are dedicated to being trail blazers and setting the standards for environmental compliance and continual improvement. We are an award-winning team, recognised for creating a living laboratory at the Port for prototype solutions. You’ll be working alongside external stakeholders from SMEs, universities, industry leading organisations, and Government bodies, all with a focus to towards environmental innovation.

Current carbon reduction initiatives include shore power, living walls and onsite PV energy generation and Battery Energy Storage Systems.

Who is the person?

We are looking for an excellent Environmental professional with the right skills and experience and the drive and enthusiasm to successfully lead on high-profile projects. You should be comfortable representing the organisation at all levels, and presenting and public speaking to wide variety of audiences.

You will help promote activities and innovation and in return you’ll have an opportunity to play a part in the environmental revolution of the national and international Ports industry.

You need to be:

• Degree qualified in a relevant subject or demonstrable experience in a similar role.
• Comfortable developing and implementing solutions to align with the Port’s sustainability goals, strategic Environmental Plan and 20-year Master Plan.
• Be confident in developing and driving Port projects such as, but not limited to, air quality, energy management, including renewable energy programmes, waste management, waste reduction and water reduction. 
• Adept at writing reports that meet local government standard, with strategic direction and recommendations. 
• Be knowledgeable in current and future funding streams and experienced in developing, submitting, and managing funding applications.
• An understanding of emerging technologies in the energy, sustainability and port sectors would be useful.
• Understand industry trends and an awareness of the political landscape. 
• Comfortable working on high profile campaigns and building relationships with communications partners.
• The role will become the Port’s key enabler for its future sustainability goals and must be confident and comfortable articulating the Port’s ambitions to a wide and varied audience including members of staff, major stakeholders, government, MPs, industry representatives, SME’s and the wider community. 
• An understanding of the Environmental Protection Act and associated regulations would be of benefit; however, training can be provided.
• Have some knowledge of guidance, policies, design codes and legislation mandated by external and regulatory agencies such as: EA, DEFRA, Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
• Confident working unsupervised and able to use your own initiative. You’ll need to be adaptable and flexible to meet the demands of the service and required to comply with all Port and Portsmouth City Council policies and procedures and undertake any other tasks that may be reasonably allocated by the Port.

If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please call Mr Steve Watkyns, Technical Director, 02392 855907.

Closing date: 4th August 2024

When completing the application form, please thoroughly tailor your application to the 'Who is the Person' points with the use of examples from your experience and attach this as a cover letter in the Supporting Documents section. This is really important or you are likely not to be shortlisted. Please ensure your C.V. is tailored to the role following the advice above. And that it includes include your full work history, explaining any gaps and includes employers name and address. Please click HERE for the full job profile!

All employees and third parties working at the Portsmouth International Port are subject to a Substance Misuse - Drug & Alcohol Testing Policy and the Port reserves the right to carry out with cause and random testing. 

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it. 

We are a disability confident employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible and welcome applications from all areas of society. 

We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:

• A generous pension scheme
• Up to 31 days annual leave per year pro rata + bank holidays
• A range of retail discounts via our reward portal offering discounts at retailers including IKEA, Currys, Tesco
• Free Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellbeing support
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships
• Potential to purchase additional annual leave
• Business travel support and initiatives, including bike loans