Wildlife Manager

Job summary

What you’ll do…

You will share leadership of the District’s wildlife team, working alongside another Wildlife Manager to provide high-quality wildlife management operations in line with industry best practice and Forestry England policy. You will collaborate with Beats and other District functions to contribute to the wider Forest District operations.

Through inclusive leadership and teamwork, you will support the high performance of the District’s wildlife team, with a strong focus on nature conservation and delivering increasing cull targets. You will champion a positive health and safety culture, and ensure the proper management of firearms and production of venison.

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

Where you’ll work…

We are Forestry England. We are the country’s largest land manager, caring for the nation’s forests for people, nature and the economy. The foundation of our organisation is our world-class sustainable management of the nation’s forests.

Our South England Forest District team is made up of around 170 people with a diverse range of roles - from foresters and wildlife rangers to civil engineers, and ecologists to marketing professionals. We all contribute towards the management of 46,000 hectares of public forest estate that stretch from Sussex to Dorset, and from Berkshire to the Isle of Wight. Nearly all of our forests are within either a National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Much of this forest is of high national importance for nature conservation and wildlife, and of international importance for biodiversity. South England Forest District is therefore responsible for land that includes Special Areas of Conservation (for habitats), Special Protection Areas (for birds) and Ramsar sites (for wetlands). We also provide public access and recreation in our forests, with nearly 50 million visits every year to South England Forest District.

If the post you are applying for is PB5 or above, you will be asked to join the District duty roster, after a suitable period of time.

Job description

• Responsible for the protection of crop and habitat from wildlife damage. Lead and inspire the New Forest Keeper team to deliver effective deer management operations, maintenance and operation of deer larders (and the presentation of carcasses for sale), in collaboration with Beat Foresters, District Foresters and specialist District leads.
• Take responsibility for the delivery of wildlife management projects and programmes of work as required.
• Promote a positive and inclusive culture in the New Forest Keeper and wider District team and actively foster cross-functional collaboration and support. As a Line Manager in the Forest District demonstrate and embed our organisational values and behaviours.
• Ensure compliance with organisational guidance and procedures and communicate the importance of working safely, to manage risk across operations for staff, contractors, and customers. Embed a culture of continuous improvement, promoting learning and development opportunities amongst the team.
• Provide leadership across the New Forest Keeper team, and deputise for the District Forester, as required, to ensure expertise and continuity in wildlife management.
• Develop and deliver the Districts Wildlife Management strategy, including the district deer cull and the management of other mammals to mitigate damage to crop and habitat.
• Design, manage and execute the programme of operations (Wildlife Management Plan) for the District.
• Ensure effective communication of the programme to colleagues in Land Management and across functions.
• Plan, procure, and manage contracts (including Deer Control Licences, volunteers and contractors) to deliver effective wildlife management, and the preparation and sale of carcasses, whilst meeting all relevant guidelines and legislation.
• Efficiently manage resources to enable effective delivery of wildlife management projects, programmes, deer larders, and ‘business as usual’ operations.
• Prepare the annual wildlife management business plan, monitor, reforecast and report on budgets and Key Performance Indicators throughout the year.
• Leadership of the New Forest Keeper team and any associated contractors and volunteers.
• Maintain professional and productive relationships with stakeholders across all wildlife management and project interests and work collaboratively with colleagues across the wider district.
• Engage proactively and respond constructively to existing and prospective customers and present the highest standards of professionalism when representing Forestry England.

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

Person specification

Essential professional and technical experience

• Experience of leading a team, as well as successfully demonstrating a collaborative approach to team working.
• Experience of planning and supervising wildlife management operations, and the ability to demonstrate a significant understanding of health and safety and compliance, in particular the use of firearms, across wildlife management operations.
• Experience of budget management, and a sound understanding of and experience in contract management.
• Competence in IT with experience in the use of MS Office applications.
• A full drivers licence.

Qualifications

Essential

• Hold a higher level deer stalking certificate.
• Hold a valid firearms certificate.
• Hold a qualification in wildlife or conservation land management, such as a BTEC National Diploma, a BTEC HND or a BSc degree or significant and equivalent experience in a wildlife or conservation land management role.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills

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

• To be confirmed.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,537, Forestry Commission contributes £10,874 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Benefits…

Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension. You will become a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

• 25 days holiday a year, raising by one day every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
• STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app.
• free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• a commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

Read more about the benefits on the Forestry England website

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.

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 your experience, technical skills and the below behaviours during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture

Successful candidates will undergo an enhanced criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

Interviews - To be confirmed in February.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

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 - Wildlife Manager (PB5Ops) new Opens in new window (pdf, 134kB)