Marketing & Communications Officer

Job summary

This post sits within the Recreation and Engagement team in West District.

West District is one of six forest districts across the country and is responsible for the sustainable management of the nation's forests in the west and south-west of England, stretching from Shropshire to Cornwall.

This role will primarily work in the following areas:

• Worcestershire (our main forest centre Wyre Forest and other smaller woodlands)
• Shropshire (our main forest centre Haughmond Hill and other smaller woodlands)
• Bristol (Leigh Woods) and woodlands in the Mendip Hills
• Wiltshire (Savernake Forest and other smaller woodlands)

This role will be based in our office in Wyre Forest at least one day a week. There will need to be regular travel to our other offices in Mortimer Forest (Ludlow) and Leigh Woods (Bristol)

Job description

Marketing – 60%

• develop and evaluate marketing plans (including budget management) for Wyre Forest and Haughmond Hill, to support local and national objectives
• work with local ranger teams to plan and coordinate marketing campaigns
• work with site partners (e.g. cafe, Go Ape) to deliver mutually beneficial marketing activity
• work with the wider marketing team to procure and contract manage the delivery of district-wide digital advertising campaigns
• oversee the content and quality of relevant pages of the Forestry England website
• support local ranger teams to manage social media channels; including Wyre Forest, Haughmond Hill, Leigh Woods, Savernake Forest
• maintain relationships with local DMOs – Visit Worcestershire, Visit Shropshire, Visit West
• use market research (visitor surveys) and data collection to target a wide range of visitors across all seasons to support sustainable visitor growth
• explore and support our emerging supporter development initiatives, such as corporate volunteering, individual giving, and legacy giving

Communications – 40%

• develop and deliver compelling content to tell the story of sustainable forestry, and our work for wildlife, for people, and for the climate
• promote good news stories and support key projects with activity including press releases, website updates, social media content, and internal communications
• plan and develop signage and interpretation around our forests
• maintain and develop partnerships with external bodies with whom we share a common vision, such as Natural England
• track and measure the impact and effectiveness of our communications in line with team KPIs
• respond efficiently and effectively to ‘emergency’ situations as they may arise on the estate to provide crisis management communications support to front-line staff

Other work as required:

• plan work and deliver according to a yearly budget
• work within and as part of the wider district engagement team to plan campaigns and initiatives collaboratively. This requires attendance at local delivery team meetings
• support internal communications by supplying engaging stories for the district’s intranet and encouraging better internal communications through attending local delivery team meetings

And any other task reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• relevant experience in a marketing and communications environment
• relevant experience of developing content in all forms of media (electronic and print-based) to support communications and marketing objectives
• strong digital marketing knowledge and skills, including content creation, promotion, and social media management
• creative flair and excellent written skills, with proven experience of copywriting and editing for digital
• proven organisational skills with the ability to work to tight deadlines and balance priorities whilst managing several projects simultaneously
• ability to work independently, use initiative, and solve problems
• excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to liaise effectively with a wide range of staff and partners
• excellent IT skills including word processing, spreadsheets, and using CMS#
• ability to work effectively in a geographically spread team
• full UK driving licence

Qualifications

Desirable

• a relevant professional qualification e.g. CIM or CIPR or substantial experience

Behaviours

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

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

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 strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Communicating and influencing
• Seeing the big picture
• Working together
• Delivering at pace

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 : 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 Marketing and Communications Officer (PB5) (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 129kB)