Native Woodland Partnership Officer in Edinburgh

The National Trust for Scotland is Scotland’s largest membership organisation and charity land manager. We manage many of Scotland’s significant woodlands, from the extensive Caledonian pinewoods of Mar Lodge to rainforest hazelwood’s in the Hebrides and endemic Whitebeam woodlands on Arran. We are recruiting a post to help drive native woodland restoration across Scotland, developing several large scale projects.

You will lead the Trust’s outreach for native woodland restoration, building partnerships with private landowners, communities of place and interest, including other eNGOs and conservation organisations. You will have the backing and support of our nature, fundraising, planning, community engagement, estates and media teams.

The focus of your work will be developing two Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest landscape scale projects in West Lochalsh and on Arran and provide initial contact and support to pinewood managers who look after threatened remnants, to bring their sites into recovery.

We are looking for strong communication & diplomacy skills, which can be influential at a network scale. Someone who can build trust and influence in land management situations, across a diverse range of partners with different interests and objectives. You will develop partnership project plans, acting as the bridge between our internal expertise and existing and new partners.

Key Responsibilities:

• Making initial contact, maintaining and/or developing ongoing communication and liaison with external landowners, stakeholders and related organisations.
• Understanding external landowner’s and communities’ values, objectives and constraints and communicating the Trust’s vision.
• Develop partnership operations and memoranda of understanding with both internal and external stakeholder input and support.
• Liase with internal NTS expertise across multiple disciplines.
• Develop collaborative landscape scale funding bids across multiple estates and landholdings.
• Support applications for government grants including Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme, Agri Environment Climate Scheme, Nature Restoration Fund etc.
• Coordinate delivery of landscape scale nature restoration projects across multiple estates and landholdings.
• Procure and manage contracts associated with landscape scale nature restoration projects.
• Organise partnership meetings and events to strengthen networks and collaboration.
• Write reports for partners and funders showing progress against agreed objectives and funding obligations.

Required Qualifications, Skills, Experience & Knowledge:

Essential:

• Strong, effective communication skills.
• Influential at a network scale.
• Ability to build trust and influence in a land management situation.
• Developing project plans.
• Understanding of land management relevant to the partnership project type.
• Basic ecological understanding of the habitats and species of relevance to the project.
• Strong time management and prioritising skills.
• Safe working experience in an outdoor situation.
• A driving licence valid for driving within the U.K.
• Ability to travel throughout Scotland regularly.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications or similar.

Desirable:

• Experience of applying for government land management grants.
• Experience of developing fundraising applications.
• Experience of chairing meetings.
• Experience of procuring & managing contracts.
• Experience of community engagement and consultation.
• Well-developed ecological understanding of the habitats and species of relevance to the project.
• Prior delivery of landscape scale nature restoration projects in a coordination role.
• Experience of working in rural sectors relevant to the partnership project type.
• A relevant degree, MSc or PhD.
• GIS proficient.

Dimensions and Scope of Job Scale:

• Responsible for developing and coordinating large multi-landowner landscape scale partnership projects.
• Responsible for the external reputation of the Trust.
• Responsible for partnership relations of the Trust.
• Responsible for undertaking work safely in outdoor areas.

People Management:

• Contract management for land survey and management operations.
• Developing, maintaining and leading networks of landowners, agencies, communities and charities.

Finance Management:

• Developing multi-million pound landscape scale funding bids.
• Budget management of above projects.
• Budget reporting, both internally and externally to partners and funders.

Key Performance Indicators and Targets:

• Building partnerships to help deliver the Trusts Plan for Nature.
• Deer impacts reduced, INNS reduced and Trust Priority Species and Trust Priority Habitats regenerating.
• Maintaining and improving the Trusts’ reputation as an impactful nature conservation organisation.
• Maximise financial income for nature conservation.