Job summary
What you’ll do...
As Nature Recovery Manager in Forestry England’s Yorkshire District, you’ll lead a programme of ambitious nature recovery projects including landscape-scale Wild Areas, pioneering species reintroductions, and the creation nature-rich, dynamic habitat networks. You’ll provide leadership to a small team of specialist project officers, supporting and overseeing effective project delivery, budget development and tracking, risk management, and stakeholder engagement. Your ecological knowledge and experience in project management will support a fast-paced scaling of impactful, evidence-based nature recovery.
Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.
Where you’ll work…
The post will initially be based at Forestry England’s Yorkshire Office in Pickering. It will move to the Dalby Forest Office in autumn/winter 2027. Regular travel around Forestry England’s estate in Yorkshire will be required. There will be occasional trips outside of Yorkshire for Forestry England-wide meetings, which may require an overnight stay.
Role
Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities
1. Detailed project planning, control and implementation, including:
- Manage district-based forest wilding and other nature recovery projects, applying appropriate project management frameworks in accordance with Forest Wilding and Nature Recovery Programme guidance and principles, to ensure effective and timely project implementation
- Developing and maintaining appropriate project documentation, including project management plans, land management plans, stakeholder management plans, and communications plans
- Managing the delegated forest wilding and nature recovery budgets, under the governance of Forestry England’s national Nature Recovery Programme
- Procuring, commissioning and managing contracts and contractors, especially for practical land management, feasibility studies, and ecological survey and monitoring
- Identifying and managing project risks and issues, managing project scope, overseeing change control, and escalating where necessary with Senior Responsible Owners and the Forest Wilding Programme Manager
- Ensuring projects integrate Forestry England’s principal functions of timber production, nature recovery and engagement with visitors, resolving cross-team issues at project and district levels
- Ensuring forest wilding and nature recovery projects meet the defined project objectives, outcomes and benefits
- Monitoring project progress and performance, including through milestones and gateway reviews, and reporting on these to Project Boards and the Forest Wilding Programme
2. Provide strong technical leadership in ecology and nature-focussed land management, and its integration with forestry, especially through:
- leading and managing district-based forest wilding and nature recovery officers, responsible for delivering wild area and species recovery projects, providing line management, coaching and mentoring, supporting personal and professional development, and promoting a positive and inclusive culture
- Initiate and support the development of appropriate project initiatives, such as strategic land management plans, feasibility studies, and implementation plans, to produce a workable programme of nature-focussed land management
- Working with technical experts, contractors and colleagues to implement the strategic land management priorities on the ground
- Using best practice, technical knowledge and scientific evidence to contribute to the meeting Forestry England’s strategic ambition for nature recovery and resilience in the Nation’s Forests
- Working with the Forest Wilding Programme team to support the implementation of a coherent evidence framework, which both supports our decision making and monitors the outcomes of our land management
3. Develop and manage strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including:
- Supporting Yorkshire’s Strategy and Assurance Team and relevant project boards, in providing confident and coherent leadership and governance to nature recovery projects
- Managing the engagement and communications with colleagues and internal stakeholders of forest wilding across the Forestry Commission family
- Managing the engagement and communications with external partners and stakeholders on district-based projects, especially those with a high-risk factor and high influence on the outcomes of the projects, through effective stakeholder management and communications plans
- Representing Forestry England and the Forest Wilding Programme with relevant external projects, working groups, conferences and other forums, both in district and, where relevant, nationally
4. Work with Forest Wilding Programme team and district colleagues to explore, secure and develop external funding for Forest Wilding and nature recovery projects, for example through:
- UK Government grants, especially Defra’s Environmental Land Management Landscape Recovery Scheme
- Corporate sponsorship
- Biodiversity net gain
- Green finance
Person specification
Skills, Knowledge & Experience Essential Professional and Technical experience:
- Previous knowledge and practical experience of managing change at pace in the environmental sector, including planning, risk, issue and dependency management.
- Strong ecological background, with experience in land management implementation for nature conservation outcomes.
- A skilled project manager, able to manage and prioritise workloads, meet deadlines and solve problems, and manage budgets.
- Strong evidence of stakeholder management, demonstrating negotiation and influencing skills at a high level.
- A great team worker, with a strong track record of collaboration and relationship management.
- Strong leadership and communication skills.
- Experience of analysing and evaluating complex or conflicting evidence to provide usable advice and guidance to multi-disciplinary teams.
- An excellent communicator, both written and verbally, able to adapt to a range of audiences.
- Competent using IT and Microsoft Office.
Desirable Professional and Technical experience:
- Sound experience in the forestry sector
- Experience of procurement and contract management.
- Competence in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
- Working knowledge of environmental legislation and designations, including their practical application.
Qualifications
Essential
- Ecology or environmental degree, or equivalent professional experience in nature focussed land management.
- A full and current driving licence that enables you to drive in the UK.
Desirable
- A recognised project management qualification
- A member of a relevant professional body, e.g. Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, Institute of Chartered Foresters
Licences
A full and current driving licence that enables you to drive in the UK.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £40,388, Forestry Commission contributes £11,700 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
How to apply…
You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.
You will be assessed on experience and behaviour-based questions during your interview.
The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –
- Seeing the big picture
- Working together
- Managing a quality service
- Delivering at pace
- Making effective decisions
If candidates pass the interview but are not the leading candidate they can be placed on a reserve list. We may offer candidates on the reserve list for this role the opportunity to be considered for other roles at the same or lower pay bands.
In the event of a high volume of applications, a pre-sift may be carried out.
Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standardcheck.
If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email [email protected].
If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.https://jobs.forestryengland.uk/members/modules/ats/tracking.php?record=602
Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact
Recruitment team
Further information
Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: [email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.
Attachments
Forestry England Job Description - Nature Recovery Manager (PB4) Opens in new window (pdf, 159kB)
