GIS and Planning Assistant

Job summary

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly valuable tools for managing the nation’s forests. The GIS and Planning Assistant is an exciting role that will support our forestry, environment and wider land management teams in the East Forest District by coordinating the collection, processing and management of accurate and insightful spatial data.

You will use this data to support important decision making processes, such as forest planning and operational planning. This will involve the production of maps, reports and other analyses and visualisations of spatial data. It will also involve working with a wide range of colleagues, from ecologists to foresters, to make sure that outputs are accurate and meet the high standards of our sustainable forest management certifications.

You will be an important part of the Planning Team, who provide expertise in forest planning, in close collaboration with the Environment and Forest and Land Management teams. In particular, you will work closely with, and learn from, the Forest Planner. You will assist the Forest Planner in the production and review of forest plans and the coordination of our operational planning processes.

Job description

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

Main role responsibilities

· Coordinate and assist with the collection, processing, and management of spatial data that supports forest and operational planning. This will require you to coordinate procedures for gathering data, such as tree planting returns, tree safety management surveys, and forest tariffing.

· Update essential data sets, such as the sub-compartment database, tree safety, thinning, and conservation records using information gathered from surveys.

· Create new spatial layers, query and analyse spatial data to support management decisions.

· Produce maps, reports and other visual representations of data for Forest Plans and other projects.

· Undertake regular integrity checks of our data to ensure datasets meet the standards required for operational use and compliance with the UK Woodland Assurance Standard.

· Assist the Forest Planner in the production and review of forest plans.

· Provide advice and technical support to colleagues on the use of GIS, including Forester Web, ArcPro and ESRI Field Maps.

General responsibilities

· Minimise filing backlogs and prioritise workload to meet targets.

· Be familiar with and appropriately adhere to Forestry England Policies and Procedures.

· Keep Health and Safety matters as the overriding determinant at all times and in all circumstances.

· Undertake any other duties, reasonably requested by the Forest Planner or Planning Manager.

Person specification

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience using GIS software, preferably ESRI ArcGIS/ArcPro.

• Ability to work with complex spatial data accurately and precisely.

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and the ability to work collaboratively across teams.

• Proficient user of Microsoft Office applications.

Desirable criteria

• Basic understanding of forestry, land management, ecology or forest planning.

• Experience with mobile GIS software, e.g. ESRI Field Maps.

Qualifications

Desirable criteria

Degree qualification in an environmental discipline with a strong GIS component, or demonstrable, equivalent professional experience.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

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

• Technical skills in GIS will be assessed at interview by a practical test.

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, 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, a technical skill and behaviour during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Delivering at pace
• Working together
• Changing and improving

Technical skills in GIS will be assessed at interview by a practical test.

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 : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.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

FE Job Description - GIS and Planning Assistant Opens in new window (pdf, 273kB)