Graduate training scheme application information

We’re looking for graduates who want to grow, lead, and influence. Through this permanent role, on our 4-year Graduate Training Scheme, you’ll gain the skills, experience, and confidence to become one of our future technical leaders — while making a real impact on the communities we serve and represent.

This isn’t just training — it’s a journey. You will be supported to plan and access quality Continuing Professional Development alongside learning a role to work towards a chartership with a relevant professional body.

Through this permanent role, on our 4-year Graduate Training Scheme, your journey looks like:

Year 1

• Understand the EA and what our remit is
• Complete EA foundation training
• Establish a training plan for your role

Year 2

• Build knowledge
• Apply learning to develop skills
• Apply for Member/ Practitioner status with a professional institute (see next slide)

Year 3

• Use and expand knowledge
• Gain Technical Leadership

Year 4

• Apply for Chartership
• Apply for an EA technical role

Everyone at the Environment Agency (EA) is encouraged to be committed to their professional development.

The Environment and Science Graduate Scheme will support you early in your career to work towards and achieve professional accreditation, with protected CPD time. To find out more visit: Chartership | Careersmart

During the 4 years of the scheme these are the skills you will develop:

• Working with internal and external customers and stakeholders
• Gathering data and information for auditing and improving.
• Communicating technical findings and assessments.
• Developing technical solutions.
• Joining discussions with technical communities.
• The ability and interest in explaining science to others: you need to be able to work with other people as much as you need to know the science.
• Applying safe and effective working practices

Trainees will have opportunities to work with other teams and projects to gain a range of experience to develop these skills.

Most of our Graduate Trainees are working towards becoming a Chartered Environmentalist | Society for the Environment, whilst other chose Chartered Geographer | RGS or Chartered Scientist (CSci) - The Science Council

The Environment Agency is at the core of planning for, responding to, and recovering from many emergencies in England as a Category 1 responder. We strive to keep people safe and minimise serious and lasting damage to the environment and the communities we serve.

Every year we receive over 100,000 reports of environmental incidents. Our incident response is wide ranging, and we respond to many different types of incidents affecting the natural environment, human health, or property. We put emergency plans in place, we warn, inform, and advise the public, we work with other local responders to co-ordinate our response, and we support the recovery from an emergency.

Responding to incidents is a central part of what we do. As a Graduate Trainee you will be expected to take on an incident role or provide business continuity support during an incident, after your first year on the scheme, this will be additional to your business role. There are many different roles to choose from, all of which have training involved.

Click on the below links to download the full candidate packs for more information on individual roles available.