Job Description

Competition # : 38567

Department: Environment and Climate Change

Location: HALIFAX

Type of Employment: Term

Union Status: NSGEU - NSPG

Closing Date: 9/12/2023 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

Nova Scotia Environment\xe2\x80\x99s role is to protect the environment, human health and animal health through regulatory excellence, conservation, partnership and promotion. To achieve this, we strive to develop legislation, regulations and policies, process notifications, applications, and approvals for regulated activities based on sound scientific knowledge and expertise.

Our goal is to educate, inspect and enforce to ensure compliance with legislation and regulations. We also proactively respond to environmental, conservation, animal, and human health risks and work to develop programs and deliver services to enhance protection in these areas.

About Our Opportunity

Reporting to the Manager, Protected Areas & Ecosystems, you will be responsible for implementing various elements of a one-year, multi-million-dollar, partner-based conservation project. With significant funding through the Federal Canada Nature Fund - Pathway to Canada Target 1 Challenge, Nova Scotia\xe2\x80\x99s collaborative project takes a multi=pronged approach to advancing protection of biodiversity.

As a Conservation Planner, you will contribute to biodiversity conservation by continuing Crown land protection, accelerating the protection of private land, restoring connectivity, supporting Nova Scotia Mi\xe2\x80\x99kmaq in advancing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, enhancing conservation stewardship, facilitating collaborative conservation planning and action, undertaking targeted ecological inventory, analysis, and prioritization of specific conservation themes, and addressing pre-existing rights, uses, and threats in new and existing protected areas.

You will work in a team environment with staff from this and other provincial departments, municipalities, Nova Scotia Mi\xe2\x80\x99kmaq representatives, lands trust partners, and various contractors and conservation groups. You may also interact with industry and non-government partners, community groups, conservation and recreation organizations, and others to advance project goals.

Additionally, you will be involved in stakeholder and public partnerships and consultations, developing public communication materials, preparing reports and negotiating and overseeing various contracts. You may also be involved in policy development, process facilitation, and collaborative planning.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful in this role, you will have a bachelor\xe2\x80\x99s degree, such as Environmental Management, Ecology, Land Conservation or Natural Resources an equivalent combination of training and experience.

You will have demonstrated competency and experience in land conservation or protected areas planning and have a practical understanding of current issues and best practice approaches in protected areas establishment and management. Familiarity with the Nova Scotia Protected Areas Program is essential.

You will be experienced in collaborative conservation planning, communicating with project partners and stakeholder groups, dealing with concerns and facilitating partnerships, and have superior written and verbal communication skills. You will be self-directed, have excellent problem solving and organizational skills, sound judgement and critical thinking skills that are necessary to resolve complex and sensitive issues. You must also be highly proficient with computer word processing and spreadsheet software.

You will have knowledge of provincial and federal legislation, regulations, policies, programs, and processes relevant to protected areas, private land conservation and land management in Nova Scotia.

Working familiarity with geographic information systems (GIS), ecological inventory and prioritization, ecological connectivity analysis and mitigation, re-naturalization techniques, processes for screening potential protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and barriers and potential solutions to private land conservation would be assets.

Other assets include experience in public land-use planning, policy development, public consultation, Indigenous consultation and facilitation. Knowledge of protected areas establishment processes, management and environmental planning is also an asset, as is an understanding of global, regional, and local drivers of biodiversity loss.

Benefits

Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as Health, Dental, Life Insurance, Pension, General Illness (Short and Long Term), Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. Click to learn more about our various benefits offerings and eligibility criteria.

Additional Information

You must be willing and able to travel throughout Nova Scotia and work irregular hours when deemed necessary.

Please note, this is expected to be a term status position with an end date of March 31, 2024; however, the position status (\xe2\x80\x9cterm\xe2\x80\x9d, \xe2\x80\x9ctemporary\xe2\x80\x9d or \xe2\x80\x9ccasual\xe2\x80\x9d) is dependent on the start date of the successful candidate.

This is a part-time 50% position. Typical 35 hours biweekly.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer.

What We Offer

Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.

Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.

Countless Career Paths.

Department Specific Flexible working schedules.

Pay Grade: PR 08 - PR 14

Salary Range: $1,007.09 - $1,560.92 Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement:

Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians and Other Racially Visible Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application.

This is a bargaining unit position initially restricted to current civil service employees represented by the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU). If applying from outside a government office, employees must apply correctly via this link:

Failure to apply correctly means that your application will not be given first consideration as a bargaining unit applicant, and will only be included if external applications are pursued.

External applicants and current casual employees will only be considered if there are no qualified civil service bargaining unit candidates. PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to Competitions@novascotia.ca.

Government of Nova Scotia