Project Officer – Species Recovery Volunteer Network (Fixed-Term)
Reference: JUL20226079
Location: Flexible in Northern Ireland
Salary: £23,939 - £26,558 Per Annum
Benefits: Pension, Life Assurance, 26 days Annual Leave (pro-rata)
Duration: Fixed Term for 3 years until September 2025
Hours: Full Time
Volunteers are amazing. They enhance our capacity and enable us to make a bigger and better impact for nature. The Species Recovery Volunteer Network is an exciting project to get more, and more diverse, people engaged in work to save our most threatened species. Volunteers carry out a wide variety of activities including bird-surveying, community engagement and nest protection, whilst working to provide a sustainable legacy for our most threatened species. The Network is already supporting the recovery of species in Eastern England, including little tern, stone curlew, and turtle dove.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised individual with a passion for working with people to develop and deliver the Species Recovery Volunteer Network in NI. This is a really exciting opportunity as we expand the approach into NI and engage volunteers in priority species projects here. You will work closely with on-the-ground staff to establish what support is needed for species projects across NI as well as working closely with communities to recruit and engage volunteers. You will provide capacity building and support for staff for initial species project set up, and development and skills progression for volunteer teams. You will support the project manager to ensure the project is delivered effectively and promote the project internally and externally.
What's the role about?
The successful candidate will have experience of volunteer management and be passionate about the vital role volunteers and communities play in delivering long-term, sustainable conservation. You will be a team player, with experience in training and supporting staff and volunteers. You will have proven experience of working as part of a team to deliver, monitor and report on projects.
You will be responsible for:
- Assisting species teams to identify roles and tasks for volunteers
- Working closely with staff and local communities to build and support volunteer teams, led by volunteer co-ordinators. This will include volunteer recruitment, induction and training
- Ensuring long-term legacy through the recruitment of volunteer co-ordinators and skills development
- Working with staff, partners, and volunteers as necessary to ensure that actions are delivered to the agreed standards of cost, quality and time
- Ensuring that risks and issues are highlighted to the project manager
- Helping to put in place the right governance structure to keep the project on track
- Undertaking agreed activities in order to deliver the project outputs and objectives in accordance with the project plan
- Producing relevant project documentation, such as contributions to reports, volunteer training guides and newsletters, as directed by the project manager
- Developing and delivering appropriate communication activities such as ‘thank you’ events, media interaction, talks and production of project promotional materials in association with communications colleagues to support the delivery of the project
- Coordinating meetings and reporting to the project manager (and project board if appropriate)
- Contribute to annual project reviews and project board meetings
Essential skills, knowledge and experience:
- Experience of recruiting, managing and developing volunteers
- The ability to present and communicate verbally in a passionate and credible manner to internal and external audiences
- An ability to produce clear and written communications with experience of producing written materials e.g. reports, newsletters and similar project related communications
- An ability to persuade and influence a wide range of people, both internally and externally
- An ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing circumstances
- Proven time management, organisational skills and attention to detail
- Ability to work well as part of a cross-functional project team, working with species teams, volunteers and other stakeholders
- Experience of organising training events, workshops or facilitated discussions and meetings
- Demonstrable experience of developing and working in partnerships to achieve shared outcomes
- Competent IT user (e.g. MS packages, Outlook etc)
Desirable skills, knowledge and experience
- Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to find creative solutions
- Experience of working with and engaging communities, ideally with a conservation or environmental focus
Additional Information
This role will require some travel and, on occasion, short periods staying away.
The location of this role is flexible within Northern Ireland and can be home and/or office-based. The line manager of this role will be home-based in England.
The RSPB reserves the right to extend or make this role permanent without further advertising dependent on business needs at the end of the contract term.
Closing Date: 23:59, Sun, 21st Aug 2022
We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 29th August 2022.
Interested?
If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.
The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
No agencies please.
