Deputy Director – Marine and Biodiversity Division

Job summary

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.

Job description

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.

Person specification

Civil Service success profiles relevant to this role are set out below (click here to view more information on Civil Service Success profiles).

Your application (personal statement and CV) should set out your evidence in relation to the person specification below (i.e. success profile behaviours and experience listed).

Behaviours

• Working Together: you will have experience of providing effective leadership for a team with substantial responsibilities, creating an inclusive and positive culture.
• Leadership: you will have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to develop effective working relationships with a wide range of people inside and outside of government. You will have proven ability of operating with integrity, reliability and being a role model of civil service leadership principles.
• Seeing the big picture: you will be resilient and able to operate effectively in what can