Job Introduction
We are Forestry England.
We live and breathe forests.
Job title – Mechanical Engineering Service Delivery Chargehand
Salary - £33,854
Contract type – Permanent
Hours – 37 hours per week
Vacancy closes - 08th February 2026 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…
As the Mechanical Engineering Support Chargehand, you will have responsibility for managing and monitoring all aspects of our fast paced and flexible service provision for Forestry England vehicles, machinery and equipment.
Working closely with admin support staff at our Santon Downham workshop, you will ensure all vehicles, machinery and equipment under your remit, are inspected, serviced and repaired to the highest standard; utilising internal resources and establishing links with key external suppliers within your area of responsibility. You will mentor and develop a team of four to ensure the mechanical support provided is in accordance with the organisations vision and values.
Leading your team to successfully deliver business objectives, outcomes and targets, you will complete mid and end-of-year performance reviews, setting clear and defined objectives. In addition, you will communicate technical and safety information to your team engendering a culture of compliance and safe working. Adherence to Health and Safety Policy by ensuring staff complete Risk Assessments and maintain workshop husbandry standards is important in this role.
Repairing and Maintaining Vehicles, Machinery & Equipment is core to the workshop's business, therefore working knowledge of light vehicle repairs and systems is key. Regular work planning meetings are held between Chargehand and Area Fleet Manager to assess where internal resources should be prioritised and accurately recorded on the fleet management system.
Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.
Where you’ll work…
The role will be based at Santon Downham and you will be expected to work flexibly as part of a multi-disciplinary team, providing a wide range of specific technical duties and work collaboratively with colleagues who are based at different sites. To support this, some infrequent travel may be required.
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 experience based questions during your interview.
The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –
- Delivering at pace
- Managing a quality service
- Making effective decisions
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.
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.
