Forestry England’s Biodiversity Plan sets out a bold ambition of nature recovery in the nation’s forests. Working across five principal focus areas, Forestry England aims to restore resilient biodiversity in the nation’s forests, delivering our vision to ensure that these forests provide the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England.
Established in 2022, Forestry England’s Forest Wilding Programme brings together two of these focus areas as part of a co-ordinated effort to deliver a step-change in nature recovery. Our species recovery work focuses on the reintroduction of key influential species, such as beaver, wildcat, pine marten, white-tailed eagle and wood ants.
Alongside this nationwide effort, we have established Wild Areas on over 16,000ha of the nation’s forests, bringing innovative approaches together with a sound evidence base to shift our land management to restore and enhance natural processes.
Species Recovery Officers support the delivery of species recovery through conservation translocation projects in our districts and across England, from planning and feasibility through to delivery and post-release monitoring.
Translocations enable species restoration where natural recovery is not possible, or unlikely within a reasonable timeframe. International and national guidance (e.g., IUCN, Defra) informs best practice and evidence-based decision-making to optimise project success.
Where you’ll work…
The postholder will be based at our forest office at Bank House, Coleford, Gloucestershire, GL16 8BA. However, other Forestry England office locations within the district may be considered.
If the successful applicant is new to Forestry England, then they will need to be embedded within a Forestry England office for a significant proportion of the working week during an induction period.
Key responsibilities & accountabilities
Project Management
- Lead on the development of the vision and the project plan for one or more species recovery projects, and/or help govern and guide this where other organisations are the lead partner.
- Apply appropriate project management principles to ensure effective and timely project implementation, in accordance with Forest Wilding Programme guidance and frameworks.
- Ensure relevant project documentation is produced and maintained throughout the lifecycle of the project.
- Develop annual and long-term work programmes and budgets for the project(s), supported by relevant project boards and sub-groups and the Forest Wilding Programme Team.
- Manage a delegated budget to ensure the project(s) are managed within budgetary limits and fiscal guidelines.
- Support funding bids for external funding and ensure that commitments to funders for the projects are appropriately met through project delivery.
- Fulfil necessary corporate and funder reporting.
Species Recovery
- Lead on progressing one or more species recovery projects, at scoping and feasibility, release, or post-release monitoring and management stage; working with district colleagues and the Forest Wilding Programme Team to recover influential species to our landscapes.
- Follow and adhere to conservation translocation best practice to ensure an evidence informed approach is applied throughout, whether we are a lead or supporting partner.
- Ensure biological, ecological and socio-economic factors are considered and addressed throughout the project’s lifecycle, including end-of-project review.
- Procure and manage contracts and contractors, including ecological and social science consultants, and academic institutions.
- Support the investigation of the (re)introduction of influential species to wild areas, which help restore natural processes.
- Ensure Forestry England procurement and contract management regulations are followed throughout the project.
Knowledge and Monitoring
- Lead or feed into the design, commission and interpretation of ecological, biological and socio-economic feasibility studies to guide species reintroduction projects
- Ensure best practice and evidence-informed release strategies and post-release monitoring and management are implemented.
- Work with the national Forest Wilding programme team, colleagues from Forest Research and wider academia to learn from and share best practice from the projects.
- Ensure appropriate licensing requirements are understood and met, in addition to considerations around forestry operations.
Communications and public engagement
- Support the development of partnerships with other organisations to increase the scale and effectiveness of species recovery outcomes.
- Lead or support the development and delivery of a stakeholder engagement plan(s) alongside district and national colleagues, building and managing relationships with relevant stakeholders.
- Work with district and national communications colleagues to develop and implement communications plans for the project(s).
- Showcase the project to internal and external stakeholders to gain support for forest wilding, nature recovery and further delivery within the nation’s forests.
Line Management
- The post holder will have line management responsibility for three Assistant Species Recovery Officers, whose work is focused on beaver and white-tailed eagle reintroduction/reinforcement projects. And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.
Person specification
Skills, knowledge & experience
Essential professional and technical experience
- A track record of successfully developing, managing and coordinating species recovery projects.
- An experienced project manager, able to manage and prioritise workloads, meet deadlines and solve problems, and manage budgets.
- Strong knowledge of ecology, biology, social science and/or human-wildlife coexistence with applied experience in species recovery initiatives, particularly conservation translocations.
- Experience of procurement and contract management, especially in the relevant areas of species recovery, land management, feasibility studies and ecological survey and monitoring
- A great team worker, adept at working under your own initiative and as part of a multidisciplinary team, taking ownership of the responsibilities of the role, building collaborative working relationships with colleagues, and being adaptable in the face of changing situations.
- Demonstrable skills in stakeholder management, with a track record of developing constructive collaborative relationships with a wide range of stakeholder groups, including public sector, private sector, and non-governmental organisations, volunteers and community groups.
- An excellent communicator, both written and verbally, able to adapt to a range of audiences.
- Competent in using information technology, and sound knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, especially Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams.
Desirable professional and technical experience
- Sound experience in the forestry sector.
- A working knowledge of environmental legislation and regulation designations, including their practical application, with relevance to species reintroductions.
Qualifications
Essential
- Ecology, zoology or environmental degree, or equivalent professional experience in nature focussed species recovery and reintroductions.
- 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.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
- Seeing the Big Picture
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £33,854, Forestry Commission contributes £9,807 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- 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 at interview.
The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –
- Making effective decisions
- Working together
- Delivering at pace
- Seeing the big picture
Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.
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 number of applications, a pre-sift may be carried out.
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.
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 - Species Recovery Officer (PB5) - Opens in new window (pdf, 186kB)
