Grassland Conservation Officer (Operator)
Salary: £35, 310 - £39,380
Contractual Hours: 35 hours per week
Hours of Work/Work Pattern: Monday to Friday, 07:45am – 3:45pm with a 45-minute lunch break
Basis: Full -Time, Permanent
Workplace category: Workplace based
Workplace role categories describe our approach to workplace attendance.
Attachments: Job Description and Person Specification
Summary of Terms and Conditions of Employment
We reserve the right to close the advert earlier should we receive a high number of applications. We therefore encourage you to apply early.
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Grazing & Grasslands team at Epping Forest. We are looking for an experienced tractor driver with a passion for conservation and land management to deliver a variety of amenity, sports, conservation, and access vegetation management across the Epping Forest Landscape.
If you enjoy being part of a small team working in a variety of disciplines, have excellent communication skills and the desire to work collaboratively to manage this dynamic, highly visited landscape, then we would love to hear from you.
About Us
Epping Forest stretches from London’s East End for 14 miles out into Essex and covers over 6000 acres along with a further 2000 acres of ‘complimentary land’ and receives over 10 million visits each year. Two thirds of the Forest is designated as SSSI and SAC and is home to over 50,000 veteran trees, ancient pollards, over 100 ponds and lakes, two registered parks, ancient monuments, and listed buildings. The ancient wood pasture landscape is managed with the help of a resident herd of 200 Longhorn cattle.
The team at Epping Forest numbers 100 staff, performing a wide variety of duties to maintain, enhance and protect this ancient, shared use landscape which was purchased by the City of London in 1878 to protect it from development.
The Role
You will work as part of the Grazing and Grasslands Team helping to delivery grassland management across the ancient landscape of Epping Forest. You will be responsible for helping to deliver a programme of works and feed into monitoring the outcomes that will inform future management. As well as using tractors and machinery the team uses arboriculture, and battery powered equipment to manage access routes and for habitat creation. This is a multi-skilled role providing lots of variety and an opportunity to help build and develop on 20 years of conservation works. As part of the wider team, you will assist and provide support when needed managing our 200 head herd of cattle and associated infrastructure. The works you carry out will help deliver our objectives for biodiversity and environmental stewardship which we receive grants funding for. With a new fleet of tractors and equipment, the role will include ensuring proper and regular maintenance and checks are carried out. Machinery requirements within teams can fluctuate and a collaborative pragmatic approach is needed to ensure we meet our goals as a division.
The Ideal Candidate
You will be an integral team member within the team of six, working closely within a focused sub-grasslands team of three. Together, you will collaborate to help balance conservation requirements with public safety, access, sports and recreation. Driven by a passion for landscape and grassland work, you will bring strong attention to detail to a highly practical role focused on site maintenance. This includes driving tractors and operating powered machinery alongside manual hand work. Your tasks will adapt throughout the year as seasonal changes determine the priority work required.
If you would like to discuss this role, please call 0208 532 1010. Ask for John Phillips.
The City of London Corporation is currently undergoing a programme to ensure that our pay and reward practices are competitive and equitable across the whole organisation, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in the work that we do.
Closing date: 23:59pm on 21 August 2026
Interviews will be held on 14 September 2026 (Provisionally)
To apply online please click the Apply online button below.
Alternatively, please contact 020 7332 3978 (24 hr answerphone) quoting reference number OENV1342if you experience any difficulties. A minicom service for the hearing impaired is available on 020 7332 3732.
The City of London Corporation is committed to Equal Opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.
Because our roles are so varied, we don’t have a ‘one size fits all’ policy for workplace attendance. How many days a week you’ll be required to attend your workplace will depend on the requirements of your role. It’s important that you understand the requirements before applying to ensure you are able to meet them. We are committed to considering requests to work flexibly and job share. Requests will be considered by the recruiting manager in line with our policies and business needs.
For more information on our categories for workplace attendance, please view our guide here.
We will be reviewing this policy and approach at regular intervals to ensure we’re meeting our attendance needs.
Salary range
- £35,310 - £39,380 per year