Location
Flexible - Contracted to the nearest Natural Resources Wales (NRW) office to your home with a suitable hybrid working pattern agreed on appointment.

Hours
Full Time

Salary
£74,460 - £80,072 (Grade 11)

About the Role
This is a high-impact leadership role at the heart of Natural Resources Wales’ most ambitious and high-profile programmes. As Head of Strategic Projects, you will lead the design and delivery of flagship initiatives including LIFE Projects, the Peatland Programme, Nature Networks, Natur am Byth and Metal Mines programmes that are central to Wales’ environmental recovery and long-term sustainability. You will oversee a portfolio of strategic projects with a capital spend exceeding £150 million, managing a team of around 200 staff and working across the organisation to ensure delivery is cohesive, well-governed and aligned with NRW’s corporate priorities.

You will be responsible for setting the strategic direction, building project delivery capability, and ensuring that our programmes deliver meaningful outcomes for communities, nature and climate. As Senior Responsible Officer for several major programmes, you will provide assurance to the Executive Team and Board that our planning, governance and investment decisions are robust, transparent and future-focused.

You will work closely with the Project Management Office and other corporate leads to embed best practice, drive performance and ensure compliance with legal and contractual frameworks. This role requires a confident and collaborative leader who can navigate complexity, manage risk and influence at the highest levels.

If you are passionate about delivering environmental excellence through strategic programme leadership, and ready to help shape the future of Wales’ natural resources, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Natural Resources Wales supports flexible working. Any regular face-to-face meetings or training will be planned in advance. Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

Experience
- Significant experience delivering major multi-disciplinary, collaborative environmental projects from concept to completion.
- Substantial experience in senior change management, transformation, or portfolio/programme management roles.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills with experience working as part of a senior management team and engaging senior internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience overseeing large teams and managing high-value capital projects.

About you
- Confident and collaborative leader able to navigate complexity and manage risk.
- Strong strategic thinker with the ability to set direction and build project delivery capability.
- Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion principles.
- Willingness to undertake health and safety responsibilities and incident response activities.
- Committed to personal and staff development through effective use of personal development plans.

Qualifications
- Business-based degree level qualification or equivalent experience.
- Recognised programme and project management professional qualification (e.g. PMQ Project Management Qualification) (essential).
- Membership of or working towards Chartership of the Association for Project Management (APM) or similar professionally recognised status.
- Safety Leadership qualification (e.g. IOSH or equivalent) (essential).
- Welsh Language Level A1 (Entry level) essential: able to use and understand simple, basic phrases and greetings and pronounce Welsh names correctly.
- Welsh Language Level C2 (Higher proficiency) desirable: fluent in both spoken and written Welsh.

Natural Resources Wales offers support and learning options to help meet Welsh language requirements during employment.