Business Support Manager

Job Introduction

We are Forestry England.

We live and breathe forests.

Job title – Business Support Manager

Salary- £33,854

Contract type –  Fixed term appointment until March 2029 with possibility of extension or permanency

Hours –37 hours per week

Vacancy closes - Sunday 7th June 23:58

Join us. We're foresters, professionals and experts. We are a passionate team who love to share our enthusiasm and want to make a positive difference for you and the environment.

Together, we’re using our scale and expertise to grow the nation’s forests for everyone. We’re already adapting our landscapes for tomorrow, and getting stuff done today, like creating amazing places and experiences for you to enjoy. We're providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner to breathe and producing sustainable timber.

What you’ll do…

Forestry England is working on an ambitious plan to help nature recover in the nation’s forests. We’re improving important wildlife sites, restoring ancient woodlands, creating more open spaces for nature, and even bringing back key species that help ecosystems thrive. We’re also trying out new technologies — like collecting traces of DNA from the environment and using sound monitoring devices — to better understand and support wildlife. Our goal is to make England’s forests some of the best places for nature, using solid evidence to guide our actions and help wildlife recover for the long term.

The Business Support Manager will play a key role in delivering high-quality business and technical support across Forestry England’s National Operations and Forest Districts for its Defra-funded programmes. This includes providing dedicated support, business and technical advice; administrative support; communicating and implementing policy and providing additional support for colleagues in our Forest Districts. A core part of the role will be to act as the secretariat and operational hub for the Resilience & Nature Recovery Programme, providing the administrative, technical, and logistical support needed to ensure the Programme Board can govern effectively.

Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.

Where you’ll work…

This role can be based at any Forestry England office with the possibility of blended working. This post will involve dealing with contacts across England, and travel with overnight stays. 

The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. Forestry England is willing to consider any reasonable adjustments and/or proposals put forward by an applicant that would allow them to do this work by other means.

Benefits…

Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension. You will become a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

• 25 days holiday a year, raising by one day every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
• STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app.
• free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• a commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

Read more about the benefits on the Forestry England website.

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 a technical skill and strength based questions during your interview. 

 The Behaviours being assessed at interview are – 

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 standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first. 

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website. 

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.

Nationality requirements…

Read more about nationality requirements here. 

Working for the Civil Service…

Forestry England is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service has a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). This means candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria during the application process will be guaranteed an interview. We also offer a Redeployment Interview Scheme to current civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the role. This role is also part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative. 

Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to provide conversation in accurate spoken English.

Our recruitment process makes appointments based on fair and open competition and merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in in line with/according to these principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. 

This role is funded by DEFRA rather than through Forestry England generated revenue, and is therefore subject to government spending reviews. While DEFRA has indicated long term support for the Biodiversity Programme and we expect funding to continue, it is possible that funding levels may change at the end of any financial year depending on DEFRA’s budget allocations. In the event of funding changes, we would prioritise retaining staff posts wherever possible. This approach is consistent for roles within publicly funded organisations. We are committed to keeping staff informed and supported through any changes.