District Ecologist - Biodiversity

Job summary

What you’ll do…

Our vision is that the nation’s forests will provide the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England. The District Ecologist will play a key role in the delivery of that vision by leading the team of Area Ecologists and inspiring others to support our work for nature. Together we are Forestry England, we grow forests for all, for life.

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.

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

Where you’ll work…

The postholder will be based in the district office at Bank House, Coleford, Gloucestershire (other Forestry England office locations within the district may be considered). A blended working pattern can be agreed, with a minimum attendance at an office of 2-days per week.

Job description

• Lead the Area Ecologist team, supporting effective and efficient delivery through a culture of teamwork and mutual support and collaboration.
• Champion high standards of health and safety and model our core value of ‘look-out and look-after’, take a stand against unsafe behaviours.
• Foster a positive team working relationship between the operational beat teams, the visitor service teams and the ecology team so as to inspire and engage everyone to drive beneficial change for the benefit of wildlife.
• Proactively liaise with communications and marketing colleagues so as to champion success and promote our work.
• Collaborate and build relationships with stakeholders including statutory bodies, NGOs, academic institutions and community groups to support sustainable forest management.
• Positively collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders to ensure full SSSI management plan coverage with shared understanding, active implementation and delivery of the agreed plans.
• Proactively lead on the conservation of protected and priority habitats and species as supported and facilitated by the DEFRA Biodiversity funding.
• Co-ordinate and liaise closely with colleagues to ensure effective and efficient planning, delivery and monitoring of works – ensuring compliance with agreed plans and procedures.
• Provide ecological expertise and support across the district to facilitate efficient, effective and compliant forest operations as well as feed into forest plans, planning applications, minerals restoration, woodland creation schemes, building maintenance and development as well as related biodiversity net gain work.
• Identify, develop and implement nature restoration projects ensuring readiness for funding opportunities and supporting both existing and new initiatives.
• Deliver strategic ecological monitoring and analysis, contributing to evidence-based decision making and natural capital approaches.

And any other tasks reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Essential professional and technical experience

• Experience in writing management plans, in particular for designated sites such as SSSI.
• Good wildlife identification skills, especially for protected species.
• Able to design and deliver robust survey and monitoring programmes.
• Experience or an understanding of forestry and woodland management.
• An effective communicator, both written and spoken.
• Able to manage a complex workload, effectively prioritising and meeting deadlines.
• Up-to-date knowledge of environmental legislation, particularly biodiversity, and experience of its application to land management.
• Experience balancing ecological requirements with commercial and social objectives.
• Excellent team and partnership working, with a track record of interdisciplinary working.
• Experience working with local stakeholder groups, including landowners; non-governmental organisations; charities; and local government.
• Able to analyse data and evaluate evidence to produce succinct reports.
• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications.
• Lead the Area Ecologist team, supporting effective and efficient delivery through a culture of teamwork and mutual support and collaboration.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Ecological knowledge and understanding the key ecosystems and species present in the district.
• Experience or understanding of the UK forestry sector, the UK Forestry Standard and UKWAS certification.
• Experience of citizen science projects.
• Experience of managing small nature recovery projects.
• Good knowledge of biodiversity net gain and/or experience of the planning system.
• An understanding of natural capital and how it supports making land management decisions.
• Strong ecological knowledge and understanding of the key ecosystems found in the district.

Qualifications

Essential

• The successful applicant is very likely to have a degree or equivalent in ecology, nature conservation or environmental management.

Desirable

• Member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.
• European protected species licenses (EPS)

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

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.

• 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 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 questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

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.

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 - District Ecologist - Biodiversity (PB5) Opens in new window (pdf, 148kB)