District Recreation Manager

Job summary

What you’ll do…

In collaboration with other leaders, you will help to deliver our district strategy and business plan in line with our national Growing the Future strategy. You will play a key role in supporting Recreation Managers in the management and development of the recreation offer, to connect more people with the nations forests while delivering sustainable finances. This work will be focused on delivering our New Forest strategic recreation aims through partnerships with key stakeholders as well as leading our engagement with visitors through our New Forest Ranger team. Across the south district, you will help to progress projects that could improve our financial sustainability or enhance people’s experience in our forests by overseeing our Permissions team.

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

Where you’ll work…

This role is expected to be delivered from the office at The Kings House, Lyndhurst, SO43 7NH, with some potential for home working.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

Leadership:

• Contribute to the District’s one team approach, working collaboratively with a cross functional vision and approach.
• Ensure good working relationships with sustainable land management, estates, civils and business support colleagues as well as with National colleagues, business partners, customers, stakeholders and the public.
• Report directly to the Head of Recreation, forming part of the Recreation Leadership Team, leading by example – Forestry England Values, H&S champion, customer voice etc.
• Act as coach, mentor, leader, professional, with a delivery focus.
• Support Recreation Managers in managing and developing the recreation offer, delivering against strategic objectives and business plan targets

Team and Line Management:

• Line management including multiple Recreation Managers plus project leads.
• Ensure Business Plan objectives are reflected in team & individual plans.
• Promote a just health and safety culture; audit compliance and put in place actions to maintain the required standards.
• Support team skills development and personal development to enable delivery, promote manageable workloads, encourage good performance and manage risk.
• Deliver all works in line with policies and procedures including HR.
• Build and maintain good team morale.

Operational Delivery:

• Provide oversight of the New Forest community engagement, ensure standards and agreed targets are achieved with a focus on delivery of the New Forest Recreation Management Strategy objectives.
• Advise and support managers on recreation activities including events, permissions, engagement etc.
• Develop business cases for investment, external funding bids, sponsorship, and partnerships.
• Deliver agreed business plans to achieve sustainable finances.
• Maximise public benefit through work programmes and partnerships in line with available resources.
• Develop and maintain good working relationships across teams and with external partners and stakeholders to support the delivery of the district's strategic objectives. You would be the key contact in the New Forest for external stakeholders including key partners, business tenants, neighbours, delivery partners and funding organisations.
• Undertaking audits of facility inspections, accident reporting and operational activities to ensure compliance with local, national and industry guidelines.
• Lead the New Forest volunteer programmes, community groups and partners in Recreation delivery.
• Work closely with New Forest Operational and Car Parking teams to offer a seamless Forestry England visitor experience.

And any other request reasonably made by managers.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Experience of stakeholder management and working in partnerships
• Excellent communication and leadership qualities to give clear direction, motivate and inspire teams
• Experience of managing and leading teams in an outdoor recreation environment with nature conservation designations and a track record of successful delivery
• Experience of visitor engagement and visitor safety
• Experience of volunteer management
• Experience of budget management and delivering successful business outcomes
• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Experience of customer service
• Experience of business development and successful project management and delivery
• Experience of working with the private and third sector in operational delivery

Qualifications

Essential

• HND / Degree in a relevant discipline or subject area and / or professional qualification and / or significant relevant experience

Desirable

• Project or programme management qualification

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• Presentation:You will be asked to do a presentation at interview which will be based on your experience and further details will be provided if successful at the sifting stage.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,388, Forestry Commission contributes £11,700 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.

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 a combination of behaviour and strength based questions during your interview. You will also be asked to do a presentation at interview which will be based on your experience and further details will be provided if successful at the sifting stage.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Seeing the big picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Managing a quality service

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 Recreation Manager (PB4) Opens in new window (pdf, 98kB)