Nature Recovery Manager

Job Introduction

We are Forestry England.

We live and breathe forests.

Job title – Nature Recovery Manager

Salary – £40,388 - £43,482

Contract type – Permanent

Hours – 37 hours per week

Vacancy closes – Wednesday 17th 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…

As Nature Recovery Manager, you will work across the East England District, covering a large and diverse area of around 35,000 hectares. The district spans from Norfolk in the north to the Sussex coast in the south, and extends west to Buckinghamshire.

You will lead a programme of ambitious nature recovery projects and build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Your work will include restoring habitats to improve ecological connectivity, such as chalk streams, restoring plantations on ancient woodland sites, improving the condition of the district’s two largest Sites of Special Scientific Interest, the Brecklands and Sandling Forests, and assessing opportunities to reintroduce pine marten to woodlands in the district.

The Nature Recovery Manager will oversee the strategic development and delivery of a suite of wild area and species recovery projects in District under the Forest Wilding Programme.  This will include initiating overseeing existing projects and developing new ones, ensuring that these progress through the project lifecycle to effective delivery on the ground, reporting on progress to project and programme boards, and managing dedicated project officer staff.

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

Where you’ll work…

The role can be based at any Forestry England office within East England District. We would particularly welcome applications from candidates able to work from the main office at Santon Downham in Suffolk, or from one of the sub-offices at the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire or Bedgebury in Kent.

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 

You will be assessed on experience and behaviour-based questions during your interview.  

 The Behaviours being assessed at interview are – 

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

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. 

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.