Overview

Forestry England are actively growing the nation’s forests, planting around 1,000 hectares of new woodland each year to support carbon sequestration and biodiversity, produce sustainable timber and create resilient landscapes for future generations.

We are looking for a proactive Ecologist to join our fast-paced Woodland Creation team. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping the future of landscape-scale woodland expansion.

The role will support the evaluation, planning and delivery of woodland creation projects across England ensuring designs meet regulatory requirements and best practice. This will involve working closely with colleagues and external stakeholders throughout the development and delivery of projects. The successful candidate will provide technical expertise on a diverse range of ecological issues and opportunities and work across a variety of sites in all parts of the country. Some travel across England will be required with occasional overnight stays necessary.

Job description

  • provide ecological expertise and advice across new woodland creation sites in England from
    scoping potential land acquisitions to delivery.
  • lead on BNG requirements where full planning is required.
  • develop and maintain strong working relationships with internal teams, external partners and
    key stakeholders.
  • apply a risk-based approach to woodland creation and management, balancing the protection
    of ecological features with woodland creation objectives.
  • procure and oversee ecological surveys, ensuring quality assurance and specifications are
    appropriate for project needs. In some cases, undertake self-led surveys, such as Preliminary
    Ecological Appraisals.
  • review and interpret ecological data including LERC records and survey results, appraising risks
    and opportunities for woodland creation to develop proportionate responses to inform designs,
    in line with national guidance, such as the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS).
  • attend and support public consultations as a representative of the woodland creation team.

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

Person specification

Essential professional and technical experience

  • proven experience and demonstrable knowledge of working in the land management sector,
    preferably related to forestry and/or woodland creation.
  • up to date knowledge of the environmental regulations, standards and good practices relevant to
    forestry and nature conservation.
  • experience of appraising BNG options and completing BNG requirements for planning.
  • a knowledge of different ecological constraints to woodland creation in a variety of habitats and
    geographical locations.
  • a proactive attitude: to understand new technical areas, interpret emerging guidance and
    consider bespoke options for each woodland creation site.
  • strong communication skills with the ability to engage with key stakeholders.
  • experience working effectively with multidisciplinary teams.
  • able to manage a complex workload, effectively prioritising and meeting deadlines
  • confidence and experience in communicating technical information to diverse audiences.
  • experience using GIS systems.

Desirable professional and technical experience

  • specific survey experience, for example, Preliminary Ecological Appraisals, UKHab, National
    Vegetation Classification, bird surveys, GCN surveys

Qualifications

Essential

  • degree qualification in Ecology, Environmental Management or other closely related discipline.
  • membership (or working towards membership of) the Chartered Institute of Ecology and
    Environmental Management (CIEEM).

Behaviours

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

  • Delivering at Pace
  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Working Together
  • Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

  • You will be assessed on a technical skill during your interview. More information will be given to those successful at sift.
Alongside your salary of £32,089, Forestry Commission contributes £9,296 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

This is a Temporary Appointment for three years with the possibility of extension or permanency but no guarantee.

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 during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

  • Delivering at Pace
  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Working Together
  • Communicating and Influencing

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.

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

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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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 – Ecologist(PB5) Opens in new window(pdf, 78kB)
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