The role
Join our South East Waste Regulation Team in St Mellons, Cardiff, and help protect and enhance Wales’ environment through effective regulation, investigation and enforcement of waste. You will regulate permitted waste management facilities across SE Wales—including waste transfer stations and metal recycling sites—responding to environmental incidents and reports quickly, safely and professionally. Working both from the office and on site, you will investigate pollution and illegal waste activity (for example large-scale fly-tipping), sometimes in challenging or unpleasant conditions.
You will work within a multidisciplinary team of Waste Regulation Officers, Illegal Waste Enforcement Officers, Fisheries and Hazardous Waste specialists and colleagues tackling waste crime to apply our Regulatory Principles: secure compliance, take proportionate enforcement action and deliver measurable environmental and community benefits.
The role involves travel to NRW locations and partner sites, close liaison with external stakeholders, and contributing to a resilient, intelligence-led approach to reducing harm from industrial installations and waste sites.
As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the NRW office at the above location and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. Any regular face to face meetings or training will be planned in advance.
To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact David Griffiths, david.griffiths@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk or Kate Rodgers kate.rodgers@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk
Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams the week commencing the 10th November 2025.
Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.
What you will do
- Assess compliance at installations and waste sites.
- Take appropriate actions to collect evidence for enforcement purposes, in accordance with defined procedures.
- Where non-compliance is identified, recommend the most appropriate intervention option to ensure operators return to compliance as quickly as possible, with minimum environmental impact and consideration of the economic impacts.
- Assist in the development of medium-term regulatory strategies for regulated sites.
- Respond to incidents and complaints.
- Contribute to a positive health, safety and well-being culture. Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
- Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
- Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post
- Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
- Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.
Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills
In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method.
- Knowledge and experience of either working in a regulated industry or as a regulator.
- Good understanding of commercial business processes and pressures.
- Ability to communicate effectively with regulated business and the public, explaining issues and gaining support by influencing.
Welsh Language level requirements
Please note if you do not meet the A1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.
Benefits
This role will offer a range of benefits, including:
- Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
- 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
- generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
- commitment to professional development
- health and wellbeing benefits and support
- weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose
See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.
Please keep reading
We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
We are committed to equal opportunities, and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.
We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.
We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards. Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.
