Works Supervisor - Habitat Restoration

Job summary

What you’ll do…

As works supervisor you will support the restoration officers to plan and manage the delivery of our landscape-scale habitat restoration programme with funding from the New Forest Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme. The work programmes focus on restoring and enhancing internationally important heathlands, species-rich grasslands, woodlands and wetlands in the New Forest.

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

Where you’ll work…

This post is based at: Kings House, Lynghurst, SO43 7NH.

The duties of this post require the applicant to travel to remote locations that are not accessible by public transport. You will therefore need to hold a full current driving licence that enables you to drive in the UK. We are willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means. A Forestry England vehicle can be made available for business use only.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Assist restoration officers in planning work programmes and setting up and managing operational contracts to deliver habitat restoration in the New Forest. Restoration projects will vary from heathland, mires and bogs to ancient woodlands, wood pastures and riverine habitats across the New Forest.
• Carry out day to day site supervision of staff and contractors engaged in habitat restoration works, maintaining high standards of delivery. This may include contractors delivering the works as well as ecological and archaeological specialists. Main operations to supervise will include stump shearing, rake and burns, forestry drain infills, tree felling and extraction, bracken management and invasive species clearance. There may also be opportunities to supervise wetland restoration which could include bed level raising and re-meandering of previously modified watercourses.
• Monitor health and safety practices of contractors and Forestry England staff to ensure high standards of safety. Assess risk assessments and ensure contractors are following FISA guidelines, Forestry England’s H&S policies and safe working practices.
• Take appropriate measures if there are concerns for safety, standards of work or breach of contracts. Keep up to date records of site supervision for all live contracts. You will also monitor any incidents / near misses on active sites which may need additional safety measures implementing. Recording and actioning quickly and efficiently any challenges on site to ensure contractors can continue delivering work.
• Manually install site safety signage for active work sites, and ensure signs are removed once redundant.
• Build and maintain excellent professional relationships and communications with Forestry England staff, contractors, stakeholders and members of the public, to maximise effective delivery of the works.
• Assist the restoration officer with creation of contract maps, habitat mapping and other administrative tasks as required.
  
  The duties of this post require the applicant to travel to remote locations that are not accessible by public transport. You will therefore need to hold a full current driving licence that enables you to drive in the UK. We are willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means. A Forestry England vehicle can be made available for business use only.
  
  And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge and experience:

Essential professional and technical experience

• relevant experience in countryside management or practical conservation
• experience supervising operational contracts and resources
• good understanding of and experience in the application of health and safety in land management or forest operations
• able to work in a team environment that includes working collaboratively with teams from other departments
• competent IT user with experience of MS Office

Desirable professional and technical experience

• have a practical experience of habitat restoration and land management techniques to support the supervision of contractors
• an understanding of habitat restoration techniques and issues
• have a familiarity with the use of GIS mapping systems
• sound understanding and experience in the application of contract management

Qualifications:

Desirable
• hold a recognised land management or forestry qualification to at least national diploma level.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Technical Skill question

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, Strengths, 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 experience, a technical skill and strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

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 - Works Supervisor - Habitat Restoration (PB6A) Opens in new window (pdf, 94kB)