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Job summary

Our vision is that the nation’s forests will provide the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England. We believe in the positive, long-term impact that forests can have on people’s lives, England’s biodiversity, a thriving green economy and our response to the climate emergency. Central England Forest District encompasses 30,000ha of the nation’s forests within a triangle formed by Preston, Grimsby and Milton Keynes. The area comprises a range of habitats and designated sites; from woodland and wetland, to grassland and heathland. As well as supporting a range of wildlife, the district produces approximately 150,000 tonnes of timber annually and manages seven visitor centres, attracting over 2.5 million visits a year. You will work closely with the planning and operational teams to build a programme of work that will accelerate our Forest Resilience and Plantation on Ancient woodland site (PAWS) restoration programme, focusing on the most challenging sites which are unlikely to achieve our policy targets without additional support.

You will be part of the Central district establishment team, developing and delivering a district-wide programme of forest resilience and PAWS restoration. This will involve working with other teams, including planning, ecology, civil engineering and supporting our beat teams. You will be part of a network of colleagues working on forest resilience across the country. You will have the opportunity to work with experienced colleagues, passionate about their contribution to sustainable forestry, conservation and the organisation’s overarching strategy. You will help to connect everyone with the nation’s forests, caring for them for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and business to grow. The postholder will be based in the district office at Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire (other Forestry England office locations within the district may be considered). A blended working pattern can be agreed. If the successful applicant is new to Forestry England, then they will need to be embedded within a Forestry England office for a significant proportion of the working week during an induction period. You can expect to spend time outdoors, working remotely and sometimes on your own and you will be expected to manage your own time to maximise efficiency and effectiveness.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Lead delivery of our Resilience and PAWS restoration programme by establishing a program of works that deliver impact over the 3-year project period focusing on;
• Restoration thinning, to increase the “nativeness” of our PAWS woodland sites.
• Working with Beat Foresters and Wildlife specialist to adequately protect planting and natural regeneration.
• Develop a long-term plan to map out the conversion of our PAWS sites.
• Prepare and manage contracts as required.
• Build positive working relationships with colleagues to inspire and engage the whole team. Share knowledge, draw on each other’s expertise, and build trust and understanding. Be open about challenges within the business, and encourage honest, constructive conversations. Engage with district and national colleagues to enable effective delivery of projects.
• Work proactively with the Forest Planning team to ensure that all regulatory requirements are met ahead of work being undertaken e.g., approval of Felling Licences etc.
• Deliver a positive and inclusive culture, fostering cross-functional collaboration and support.
• Positively collaborate with finance and business support teams to maintain clarity on approved expenditure plans and monitoring of spending against delivery.
• Feed into monitoring and reporting on progress.

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

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Experience of planning and managing operational programmes in a land management, forestry, conservation or an environmental setting.
• Proven ability to work positively and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong networking, communication and influencing skills.
• Competence in use of IT packages including MS Office and GIS mapping software.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Experience of managing a budget;
• Understanding of and experience of managing contracts.

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in Forestry or significant equivalent experience in forestry, land management, or the environment.
• Full UK driving license.

Desirable

• Membership of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) or a commitment to achieve membership.

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• 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 (opens in a new window).

• 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.

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 a technical skill and behaviour-based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Working Together
• Seeing the bigger picture
• Making effective decisions
• 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.

“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.”

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.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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 - Resilience Project Forester (PB5) Opens in new window (pdf, 111kB)