Project Manager Volunteering

Job summary

What you’ll do…

Forestry England cares for the nation’s forests for people, nature and the economy. Our volunteers and partners play a vital role in connecting communities with nature and supporting the sustainable management and enhancement of England’s forests.

Working closely with the Nature Recovery Programme team, district delivery teams, biodiversity specialists and volunteer colleagues, this role will design, support and monitor volunteer opportunities that directly contribute to biodiversity, ecological recovery and forest resilience.

While Forestry England has not always been known for our conservation work, we have bold ambitions to be a leading force for nature recovery. Our progress is real and measurable: FSC certified since 1999, WWF’s 'Gift to the Earth' award in 2001, and commitments to restore all our ancient woodlands in 2007 and 11,000 hectares of open habitats in 2013. In 2022 we launched our first Biodiversity Plan with a clear goal to make the nation’s forests the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England.

https://www.forestryengland.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Forestry%2520England_Biodiversity%2520Plan%25202022-26_0.pdf

Where you’ll work…

This role can be based at any Forestry England office located centrally in England - blended working is a possibility.

Job description

• Provide specialist technical advice and national leadership on volunteering opportunities within the Nature Recovery Program and wider Forestry England Volunteer program relating to biodiversity /ecological volunteering, ensuring alignment with organisation and program goals and district operational needs.

• Work as an effective member of the national community partnership and volunteer team and in partnership with the Nature Recovery Program team at a national level to embed volunteer opportunities into program planning, monitoring, and delivery.

• Support district colleagues to support existing and develop new biodiversity volunteer programs, both delivered by ourselves and in partnership with local, regional or national organisations, fostering innovation and growth where resources allow.

• Provide technical support to District Volunteer Coordinators, biodiversity teams, and supervisors, both 1:1 and through peer support sessions, ensuring safe, rewarding, and effective volunteer programmes.

• Work with the existing technical volunteer technical advisor to complete the annual audit program for volunteer and community partnership activity across districts and relevant business areas.

• Support the development, improvement, and use of Forestry England’s CRM system (Connections) and volunteer portal (My Forestry England), ensuring staff and volunteers can use these systems effectively for biodiversity focused programmes.

• Produce data and reports from Connections and other sources to evaluate and demonstrate the impact of biodiversity volunteering.

• Contribute to the review and maintenance of relevant Policy, Practice and Guidance (PPG) frameworks relating to volunteering and community partnerships for Forestry England.

• Working with the wider volunteer team and appropriate departments to ensure the provision of relevant training for biodiversity volunteer and community partnership roles; and ensure staff receive consistent and high-quality training in volunteer management.

• Support the development of business cases where additional resources, training, system development, or expanded delivery are required, with the National Community Partnership and Volunteer Lead, and the Nature Recovery Program Manager.

• Manage and monitor pre-engagement check processes for biodiversity related volunteer roles, ensuring compliance and safeguarding standards.

• Represent Forestry England in relevant national volunteer and biodiversity networks, including engagement with the Environmental Volunteer Network Group (EVG).

• Support partnership development with local environmental groups, specialist conservation organisations, and community partners delivering biodiversity volunteering on Forestry England land.

• Work collaboratively with national teams (Ecology, Wildlife, Forest Planning etc.) to integrate volunteer contributions into wider programmes and aspirations.

• Identify areas for improvement or risk within biodiversity volunteer management and work with the Community Partnership and Volunteer Lead to shape strategic direction and business planning.

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

Person specification

Essential professional and technical experience

• Experienced in volunteer management, including recruitment, onboarding, training, ensuring delivery of an inclusive program.

• Knowledge of relevant health and safety legislation and best practice in its application of volunteer management within the outdoor environment.

• Experience in working within a team and with other disciplines and stakeholders. Candidates must be able to engage with and motivate geographically dispersed teams and be conversant with the remote working technology such as Ms Teams and SharePoint.

• Strong project and contract management skills, including risk, budget, and change control.

• Proficient in Microsoft systems including Teams, SharePoint, Excel, Work and PowerPoint.

• Experienced in providing advice and guidance around volunteer management, both within your own organisation workforce, and supporting partnership and third-party groups, who engage volunteers within their proposed work to be delivered on our land.

• Experience of engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders.

• Experience in procurement and financial reporting.

• Experience of working in a forestry or rural environment and delivering volunteer programmes within
this setting.

• Experience of Customer Relation Management or Volunteer Management systems.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Experience and relevant qualification in project management.

• Experience of working in environments with a high degree of public access.

• Experience of undertaking procurement activities in the public sector and managing contracts across multiple teams.

• The duties of the post require the applicant to have a full current driving license that enables them to drive in the UK. The Forestry Commission is willing to consider proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.

Qualifications

Essential

• Candidates must hold a degree or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in land-management disciplines, volunteer or people management.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

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 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 behaviours, experience and strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

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 - Project Manager Volunteering (PB4) Opens in new window (pdf, 177kB)