Principal Consultant - Agriculture

Overview

Role: Principal Consultant - Agriculture

Location: London (Paddington), Harwell (Didcot), Glasgow or Madrid (Spain) office - hybrid working

Salary: £44,0000 to £66,000 (DOE) plus excellent benefits

Role ID:  2022-1616

Our vision is to create a safe and sustainable world

Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and employing close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering leading-edge and innovative cross-sector sustainable products and solutions. Every day, we enable our customers to solve the most complex and dynamic challenges to help achieve a safe and sustainable world.

Energy & Environment, one of Ricardo plc’s five operating business units, is a leader in sustainability consultancy, solving complex environmental challenges through industry-leading analysis, advice and data. With more than 40 years of heritage in addressing air quality, environmental and sustainability issues, our customers value us for our deep understanding and breadth of services covering the entire value chain from evidence, policy & strategy to implementation.

We are currently looking for a Principal Consultant to join our Agriculture team.

Agriculture and land use have come into sharp focus in the public consciousness, the challenges of climate change, land use and food and their interactions with the challenges facing society will drive increasing change in this sector.  Agriculture faces the most drastic shake up in policy seen within the past 50 years both in the UK and across Europe.  This is an exciting time to be involved in developing the role of land use and agriculture as farming moves to a more sensitive and sustainable global agricultural and food system.

Our Agriculture experts offer research consultancy, applying tools and techniques to deliver effective solutions to complex environmental problems occurring in agricultural and land use systems.  Our team provide support to national Governments, The European Commission and private sector clients in the development of evidence and analysis to support policies relating to air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and water quality while maintain productivity in farming.  Ricardo are well placed to support Governments and the private sector in understanding the challenges and solutions which will be necessary to revolutionise the future of farming.

Key Responsibilities

We are looking for a Principle Consultant to support the delivery of technical projects within the agriculture team, working within our strong existing team, developing our capabilities and contributing towards the growth of our business. We are looking for a high calibre scientist, with a proven track record. You are likely to have an agricultural, regulatory, or environmental consultancy background with an understanding of the interactions between farming, food and the environment.  This will include demonstrable knowledge of the physical, biological and chemical interactions that drive food production and the potential negative impacts on the environment.

You will be responsible for the delivery of technical projects including communication with clients and managing your time across several projects. You will work closely with colleagues across the UK to deliver high quality solutions.  The role will include leading technical work with the preparation of technical reports, providing technical advice to clients and colleagues, project management and proposal writing. You should have the ability to interact with environmental and agricultural professionals including policy makers at national and/or international level and to write reports in English to a professional standard

Key Competencies and Experience

• A Bachelors (2.1 or above), Masters or PhD in a scientific subject
• Good understanding of agricultural and environmental policy and the wider food system.
• Good knowledge of the farming systems and the interactions between agricultural production and the environment, particularly, GHG, Air Quality, Water and soil.
• Highly numerate with strong attention to detail and the ability to scrutinise data.
• Have personal drive and determination to succeed, be self-determining and able to positively contribute to the business.
• A strong track record in client relationship management with an ability to manage projects and deliver client outcomes.
• Strong communications skills, both written and oral to a variety of audiences including leading scientists, to politicians and the public.

Skills and behaviours

• Strong problem solving and creative thinking skills
• Effective communication skills, both written and oral and basic presentation skills.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Flexibility, resilience and enthusiasm
• Strong team working skills

Desirable

• Experience in a consultancy or in a customer facing commercial environment.
• Experience in leading or working on proposals and projects for clients such the European Commission and national governments.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills and experience of developing relationships within the sector

Working here

Ricardo is an exciting and rewarding place to work and you have the opportunity to make a difference. You will work with teams of talented, dedicated, and supportive individuals. Alongside having a fantastic opportunity to develop your career with us through our broad range of projects, mentoring opportunities and a personalised approach to your learning and development. We are always keen to hear from people who have driven, ambition and a flair for innovative thinking.

Wellbeing and work life balance

We offer flexible approaches to work, whether that's working from home, being in the office, or as a hybrid worker. We're happy to discuss flexible working arrangements. Wellbeing is at the core to our culture, allowing employees to flourish and to achieve their full potential. Our People are important to us, and we take pride in our wellbeing programmes and policies that support individuals including flexible working, carers policy, mental health first aiders and readily available support through our extensive Employee Assistance programme.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person's potential, and we'll help you reach yours. We have an ambitious diversity, equality, and inclusion approach as explained here. We value diversity; recognising that a more diverse workforce creates a richer and more varied working environment. Diversity also drives innovation, by allowing us to offer our clients the best consultancy service that we can. As part of our commitment to engage positively and pro-actively with all our employees and ensure a culture of inclusivity, we are a recognised as a 'disability confident' employer.

Benefits

Our core benefits include 25 days' annual leave, plus 8 flexible bank holidays, a competitive company pension scheme, life assurance and professional subscriptions reimbursement. We also offer a wide range of flexible benefits to suit your lifestyle.

Once you have submitted your application a member of our Recruitment Team will be in touch. Please be aware that the timing can vary dependent on the volume of applications that we receive for each role and in some cases, we may start to review applications prior to the closing date.