SuDS+ Monitoring Support Officer

Wear Rivers Trust are recruiting a SuDS+ Monitoring Support Officer to measure and monitor the wider community benefits of sustainable drainage (SuDS) installation in our study area of Stanley in North Durham. The post is on a fixed term to the end of March 2027. This development role would be ideal for someone who is creative and can turn ideas into reality and is prepared to pilot techniques that might not be successful while contributing to the overall effectiveness of the project and trust.

Wear Rivers Trust is at the forefront of the Rivers Trust Movement blending practical conservation with environmental expertise. SuDS+ is one of 25 Innovative Resilience Projects funded by DEFRA. The overall aim of the project is to experiment with an alternative way SuDS are created by local authorities and other agencies.

SuDS+ Monitoring Support Officer – Job Description

• Band 2, £23,889 to £24,488 per annum
• Full Time 37.5 hrs per week, (part time and flexible working requests will be considered)
• Home based, with work across the Wear Catchment and opportunities to work from our Hub in Durham City with significant time spent in the SuDS+ study area Stanley South
• Reporting to Education Team Leader
• Fixed term employment until 31st March 2027 following six month probation period

Wear Rivers Trust are currently recruiting a SuDS+ Monitoring Support Officer to aid and assist our work to safeguard and improve the waterways of the Wear catchment for both people and wildlife.

We are looking for transferrable skills, and a commitment to tackling pressing environmental issues, as detailed in the Person Specification. Experience in a similar role would be welcome, but this could also be your first paid position in the environment sector, or you could be returning to work after time out. This position is a development role, on a fixed term commensurate with the SuDS+ project. There may be opportunities to progress to Project Officer, or another suitable role within the Trust, at the end of the fixed term. Suitable training will be available, and you will be supported to grow and develop within your role.

SuDS+ (stanleysuds.co.uk) is a Defra-funded, five-year research and innovation project based in Stanley South, North Durham. It focuses on involving local people in addressing flooding problems in the area. To achieve this, we are using Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) alongside community engagement, visioning, placemaking, and co-design techniques to deliver exciting solutions designed with and for local people. SuDS aim to replicate natural processes by slowing, storing, and reducing the flow of water during periods of heavy rainfall, before gradually releasing it into the existing piped drainage system.

While SuDS and other nature-based solutions have gained popularity over the past two decades, they continue to deliver limited benefits beyond the water sector, and the existing evidence base does not fully demonstrate their potential. There is a need to understand what these benefits look like from a community perspective, and to apply innovative solutions within real-life scenarios.

Flooding and drainage underpin the project but the main driver is in doing things differently. This happens in two ways:

• Bottom up rather than a top down approach. Reversing the usual order by engaging the community from the outset find out more about community aspirations and building a co-design process which should lead to …
• An increase in the value residents place on the SuDS installations by intentionally adding features the community have requested and benefit the local area

The role will involve researching, collating and testing monitoring of community and wider environmental benefits created by the SuDS+ project and support the project partners on the overall objects of the project. Your monitoring ideas could be anything from participatory observational techniques to hands on innovative citizen science or sensing technologies. Activities will be shaped by the results of previous community engagement and align with project partners.

You will help facilitate the day-to-day practical activities of Wear Rivers Trust across our catchment. You will also have opportunities to support and assist the trust’s Business and Volunteering Team, Education Team, Agriculture Team and Project Team. Your work will involve spending a significant amount of time in the project study area.

You will have a passion for nature, for looking after your local environment, and for making it accessible to all. This may be through your studies, professional life, personal interests (e.g. angling, birdwatching, hiking, botany, etc.), or a combination. You will have a passion for research, be able to think outside the box, and explore creative solutions, while questioning their viability, weighing up and justifying options, and presenting your findings to team members.

You will be attentive to detail, flexible, efficient, great at time management, and able to work well both independently and under supervision as part of a small and dynamic team.

We value equality and diversity in our organisation, and are striving to build a workforce reflective of the communities we work in. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, or disability.

Purpose of the job

• Help evaluate the wider benefits of the SuDS+ measures and their impact on residents and the local environment in the Stanley South study area.
• Create and share outputs to demonstrate the findings of the studies
• To build productive relationships with project partners, stakeholders and the local community to ensure work is shared and communicated effectively
• Help to answer the questions have we delivered the communities vision and can our work be replicated?
• Work within the staff team at Wear Rivers Trust to forward the aims of the charity

Key Responsibilities

• Research, analyse and present appropriate indicators and methods to measure and monitor the wider community benefits to the SuDS+ partners
• Ensure monitoring solutions closely align with earlier engagement findings and key themes.
• Work with stakeholders and residents to capture meaningful data
• Trial and evaluate various methods of monitoring community, and wider environmental, benefits both hands on within the study area and remotely.
• Make recommendations for future users and contribute to SuDS+ publications for a range of audiences
• Raise awareness and promote our work through in-person engagement and by contributing to social media posts, providing content for the website, and other relevant publicity.

Person Specification

Essential skills and abilities:

• Demonstrable knowledge and passion for working with natural processes
• To be comfortable working with a wide range of collaborators both desk-based and, in the field with an ability to build and maintain strong working relationships
• Work independently, collaboratively and consider a range of different viewpoints
• A passion for creating, investigating and exploring solutions, both big and small ideas
• Good verbal and written communication skills in English including report writing
• Analyse and present data effectively and clearly
• Good attention to detail, responsiveness, reliability, and dependability
• Good time management / organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise a dynamic workload
• IT proficient with working knowledge of Office 365

Desired

• Tailoring communication to suit the audience
• Understanding of: Nature-based Solutions, Natural Flood Management, SuDS or Green Infrastructure and how to evaluate them
• Use of GIS and different monitoring methods and tools
• Use of social media to promote environmental work and issues

Other essential requirements

• A university degree or practical experience which enables research and innovation thinking
• A commitment to Wear Rivers Trust’s programme and values
• An understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion practices and commitment to upholding these values in line with the trust's EDI policies
• You must have the full right to work in the UK
• The post holder must agree to the application of an enhanced DBS check
• All job offers are made subject to receipt of 2 satisfactory references
• The post holder must hold a valid driving licence and access to a vehicle insured for business use

Other information and employee benefits

• Regular travel around the catchment, especially Stanley South, with occasional travel across the UK
• Contributory pension scheme with 9% (or the current Rivers Trust rate) employer contribution
• Life assurance scheme
• Health, Dental and Optical care insurance
• Home office subsidy
• Branded PPE provided suitable for outdoor work
• Length of service additional holiday entitlement
• Identification of courses and learning for career progression
• Laptop and mobile phone available for personal use
• Annual pay review
• Sick pay
• Optional credit union payroll savings.
• Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative

For an informal conversation about the role please email [email protected]

Closing date: 23:59 10th August 2025