Principal Lawyer (Northern Ireland)

Principal Lawyer (Northern Ireland)

Office for Environmental Protection

Apply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 27th November 2025

Reference number: 435409

Salary: £54,470 - £61,000

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Contract type: Fixed term

Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed hours

Location: Northern Ireland

Job summary

Join us as a Principal Lawyer in Northern Ireland! Elevate your legal career with a dynamic and forward thinking organisation. As a Principal Lawyer (Northern Ireland), you'll lead and shape legal strategies, influencing key decisions and making a lasting impact on the environment. If you're ready for a challenging yet rewarding role, apply now and be at the forefront of legal excellence.

The Office for Environmental Protection (the OEP) mission is to protect and improve the environment. Created by the Environment Act 2021, our role is to hold Government and public bodies to account. The OEP does this in several ways including reporting on progress against environmental targets, advising on changes to environmental laws and receiving complaints from the public which can lead to us taking enforcement action.

This role is based in the OEP's General Counsel directorate. It is line managed by our Head of Litigation and Casework, but the successful candidate would also work closely with our other Heads of legal function, including our Head of Environmental Law, our Head of Legal Research and Analysis and the General Counsel.

With a total staff of just over 90, we are a dynamic, friendly and flexible organisation covering both England, Northern Ireland, and environmental matters reserved to the UK government. We offer flexible working arrangements, high profile, dynamic work and the chance to have an impact on improving the state of the environment.

To find out more about the OEP, what we do, who we are and our current work, visit the OEP website.

The OEP is a non-departmental public body sponsored by Defra in England and DAERA in Northern Ireland which means it operates independently from Defra and DAERA. Our employees are public servants and as part of the benefits package, employees have the opportunity to enroll in the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

Job description

The legal team provides legal support to all aspects of the OEP's work. We work in a flexible way, with lawyers acting across the full range of the OEP's functions. Each of our lawyers can therefore expect opportunities to work on:

• Delivering legal advice, research and analysis in connection with the implementation of environmental laws, including Northern Ireland environmental laws
• Preparing advice to government on proposed changes to environmental law and other matters.
• Producing reports for Parliament/the Assembly on the implementation of environmental law.
• Supporting our complaints team to receive in and analyse allegations of public authority failures to comply with environmental law.
• Undertaking investigations casework, where necessary, through to enforcement action via judicial review or our bespoke litigation process (environmental review), and supporting colleagues across the OEP's other business activities, such as on corporate and governance issues.

The above list of job duties is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Qualifications

• Qualified to practice as a solicitor or barrister in Northern Ireland.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,470, Office for Environmental Protection contributes £15,779 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Leave and Flexible Working

The OEP offers 25 days annual leave rising to 30 days over 5 years for all new entrants.

Additional paid leave is available where necessary to cater for a variety of situations including, but not limited to, family-related leave, volunteering days, exam and study leave, public duties and trade union activities. In addition, we offer a generous enhanced maternity leave, parental leave and shared parental leave policy.

The OEP is supportive of flexible working and has a flexible working policy to allow for variations in individuals working hours where this is compatible with business need.

Staff Wellbeing

Staff wellbeing is extremely important and the OEP strives to provide access to numerous resources to aid the wellbeing of its employees.

Current initiatives include:

• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) providing free and confidential 24/7 telephone advice and guidance to support employees with both personal and employment issues. This may include personal wellbeing, career development or legal matters such as landlord / tenant disputes.
• Access to an Occupational Health Service to provide a range of support service to help with the way you feel at work.
• Access to trained Mental Health First Aiders and wider Defra Group mental health first aid network and resources.
• Free access to Headspace, a mindfulness, meditation and sleep app.
• Access to a Financial Wellbeing Portal.
• Free eye tests and a contribution to glasses/ lenses if required for VDU use.

Salary Sacrifice, Discounts and SmartTech Benefits

All employees have access to the STaR, Reward Gateway an online platform providing access to hundreds of discounts, offers and cashback options with well-known retailers. They offer a SmartTech scheme, a Cash Healthcare plan and numerous other benefits and services.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact

Name: OEP Recruitment Email:

Recruitment team Email: