Assistant Species Recovery Officer - Wildcat

Job summary

What you’ll do…

You will assist with the development, feasibility and if appropriate, delivery, of species recovery focused on European wildcat; whilst supporting ongoing species recovery efforts such as golden eagle and water vole.

Your main duties will be to help plan and undertake necessary ecological surveys to inform decision-making, including coordinating volunteers and contractors, as well as supporting the Species Recovery Officer with information dissemination via engagement events.

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

Where you’ll work...

You will be based in Northumberland from our office in Bellingham or Kielder. The Assistant Species Recovery Officer will work across Kielder.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

The post holder may be expected to focus on the following key work areas.

• Assist with the development, feasibility and if appropriate, delivery, of species recovery focused on European wildcat; whilst supporting ongoing species recovery efforts such as golden eagle and water vole.

• Help to plan and undertake necessary ecological surveys to inform decision-making, including coordinating volunteers and contractors,

• Work closely with academic partners to enable applied research which supports the potential for peer reviewed publication.

• Ensuring Forestry England procurement and contract management regulations are followed throughout.

• Support the Species Recovery Officer with information dissemination via engagement events.

• Liaise with stakeholders to ensure the success of the project.

And any other tasks, reasonably requested by their line manager.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• A good understanding of ecology

• Excellent communication skills.

• Strong organisational skills and ability to plan own time efficiently.

• Ability to work independently while maintaining good relationships and knowledge exchange with wider teams.

• Competent in IT including core Microsoft Office applications.

• A good understanding of Health & Safety in the workplace.

• Competent map reader with the ability to navigate your way around Kielder Forest.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• 2 years of experience working on development and/or delivery of a nature conservation project, and an understanding of the barriers and opportunities to species recovery.

• Direct experience working in similar species reintroduction projects and or undertaking surveys in the field

• An understanding of applied ecological research

• Experience with stakeholder and community engagement

• Experience of working with volunteers

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualification in ecology or similar discipline and/or experience in conservation and/or land management.

• A full driving licence.

Licences

A full driving licence

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• To be confirmed at invitation to interview

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,105, Forestry Commission contributes £8,721 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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%

Things you need to know

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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

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 –

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together

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.

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.

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 theCivil 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 :

• Name : FC Recruitment Team
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

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: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. 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 - Assistant Species Recovery Officer - Wildcat (PB6a) Opens in new window (pdf, 186kB)