Principal Ecologist

Principal Ecologist– Scotland Region (Edinburgh)

Are you a Principal Ecologist looking for the flexibility to balance site work with your home life? Are you looking to make a step up with the support of a diverse network of ecology experts that's underpinned by a defined career pathway? We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Ecologist as part of the Scotland team based out of the Edinburgh office.

About Tetra Tech

Tetra Tech is a leading provider of high-end consulting and engineering services for projects worldwide. We combine the resources of a global, multibillion dollar company with local, client-focused delivery in more than 400 locations around the world. We are Leading with Science® to provide sustainable and resilient solutions for our clients. Tetra Tech Ecology team won the CIEEM Large Consultancy of the Year Award and Large Scale Mitigation Award in 2023 and CIEEM Large Consultancy of the Year Award in 2025.

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. They help our clients succeed, our business prosper and the communities we work in thrive.  We need the very best designers, project managers, engineers, surveyors, town planners, environmental specialists and business service professionals to maintain our reputation as a market leader.  We do this by taking care of our people; offering fantastic flexible benefits, providing personal and professional development, and giving employees the opportunity to work on exciting and ground-breaking projects.

We don’t want Tetra Tech to be just your next role, we want it to be a step-change in your career and ultimately a move that you are proud to have made.

The Role:

As Tetra Tech builds on its demonstrable track record as one of the leading global environmental consultancies, we are seeking a talented Principal Ecologist to join our team in Scotland.  With ambitions to grow our UK presence to emulate the success of the global business, we are looking for an experienced ecologist to join our established network of over 95 ecologists with the energy to contribute to a diverse project portfolio.  

As a multidisciplinary consultancy, we work closely with colleagues from other teams including Planning, Placemaking, Engineering, Transportation and Asset Management including through the identification of opportunities, tendering and project delivery.  You will be proactive in developing relationships with colleagues from across the business, liaising with other teams on a regular basis and supporting them through all stages of a project.

We pride ourselves on our ability to offer professional ecology advice across a breadth of sectors including Residential, Defence, Energy, Government Services and Transport.  We can draw on the knowledge of Sector leads and experienced technical consultants from across Tetra Tech, as well as the support of our wider ecology team, to develop the best solutions.  

Examples of projects we currently work on include:

• Ecological appraisals and protected species surveys for projects at varying scales and across a range of sectors including residential, commercial, defence infrastructure and renewables with solar and wind projects.
• Protected species licensing work for a range of species including: great crested newt, water vole, badger, otter and bats.
• BNG assessments for developments in sectors including residential, commercial, defence and energy
• Ecological Impact Assessment and Habitat Regulations Assessments for developments as part of planning submissions.
• Projects involving ecological input into all stages of project lifecycle including pre-planning submission survey work, post-planning delivery Ecological Clerk of Works and post-development mitigation monitoring, including as part of protected species licensing.  

Given the variety of projects we work on, we are looking for a Principal Ecologist who has strong field experience and ambitions to continue their technical development, whether that be across many areas of ecology or in a particular specialism.  In addition we are looking for an Ecologist who has experience of inputting to multi-disciplinary teams, influencing masterplans and detailed design to achieve positive environmental outcomes. Our Principal Consultants lead and deliver multiple projects of medium complexity with minimal supervision, and they are required to confidently adapt their technical knowledge to specific client and project requirements, including direct client communications, liaison with stakeholders, quality assurance and management of project finances.  With support from the regional and wider national teams, and in line with our defined career framework, you will continue to develop your expertise across many areas of ecology, actively working towards Chartered Ecologist status. As a Principal within our team you will provide mentoring and line management duties to early career and senior ecology team members.

We Lead with Science® and we encourage our team to share their findings with the industry (subject to sensitivities of timings and client permissions). We also encourage research-based elements to be brought into projects and many of the projects we have worked on have resulted in publications and we encourage our team to continue to do this.

Flexible Working:

The role will require site work and some travel dependent on location of projects, and some attendance at our UK offices, plus opportunities to meet colleagues at planned events.  However, we operate fully flexible, hybrid working which allows our ecologists to choose where, how and when they work as long as our clients are receiving the high-quality service they expect. We focus on talent and skills, not postcode.  

We are very happy to discuss flexible working for this role, including the possibility of reduced or compressed hours and flexible start or finish times. We can offer a range of solutions to help you get the most out of your work / life balance.  If the timing’s not quite right for you, please do still get in touch as we will always consider deferring the start date for the right candidate.

About the Team:

•         Multi-award winning Ecology team; recently winning CIEEM Large Consultancy of the Year and Large Scale Mitigation project in 2023 and CIEEM Large Consultancy of the Year 2025.

•         Over 95 permanent ecologists across 13 offices working as one cohesive team. 

•         Time away from home minimised.  

•         IT systems allow seamless remote and flexible working, so proximity to an office is not a barrier– we focus on talents & skills, not postcode.  Our ecologists can work on the projects that interest them and deliver them to the highest standards.

•         Cars or car allowances to every member of the team regardless of grade, including for personal use.

•         Established TOIL system to allow time management to suit specific personal needs alongside seasonal demands.

•         Career frameworks provide clarity on how to progress.

•         We encourage the development of well-rounded ecologists who can talk about all stages of a project. We offer extensive internal and external training and mentoring, including from our inhouse experts along with all team face to face training.

•         Bat handling licence incentivisation scheme to thank ecologists who spend time and effort in achieving their licence - we know it's not easy! 

•         And to show our support of personal development, we award a significant financial bonus to anyone achieving Chartered Environmentalist/Ecologist status through CIEEM.

•         We work closely with many other teams, including our own Planners, Archaeologists, Landscape Architects, Masterplanners and Engineers. With a culture of openness, there is always someone within the business who can provide advice and support for almost any query.