Communications Officer

We are Forestry England. We live and breathe forests. Join us. We’re foresters, professionals and experts. We are a passionate team who love to share our enthusiasm and want to make a positive difference for you and the environment. Together, we’re using our scale and expertise to grow the nation’s forests for everyone. We’re already adapting our landscapes for tomorrow, and getting stuff done today, like creating amazing places and experiences for you to enjoy. We’re providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner to breathe and producing sustainable timber.

Forestry England’s Biodiversity Plan sets out a bold ambition of nature recovery in the Nation’s Forests. Working across five principal focus areas, Forestry England aims to restore resilient biodiversity in the nation’s forests, delivering our vision to ensure that these forests provide the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England. This is an exciting opportunity to craft compelling narratives about our wild landscapes, species reintroductions, and conservation efforts across the nation’s forests. From ancient woodlands to innovative habitat restoration, you will engage diverse audiences, building awareness and support for our vital work.

You’ll work alongside colleagues whose focus is on improving designated sites management, establishing landscape-scale wild areas, reintroducing lost species, establishing nature networks, and improving the resilience of timber production across the nation’s forests. We are recruiting three roles: two with a regional focus (North and South) and one national role (location flexible). The regional posts will lead biodiversity communications activity within their assigned area. The national role will support biodiversity communications across the organisation, working closely with the national external communications team and providing support to regions without dedicated coverage. You will have the opportunity to select your preferred region(s) during the application process.

This is a full-time role for 37 hours a week, which will normally be worked from Monday to Friday. However, the nature of the work includes the requirement to provide occasional scheduled cover at weekends or during public holidays and evenings (with the exception of Christmas Day).

Where you’ll work… National: You can be based anywhere in the country from any Forestry England office, and we support hybrid working from home. The duties of this post require the post holder to travel across England occasionally, with overnight stays away from home, and regular visits to the national office in Bristol. North: You can be based anywhere in the north forest district, working from the Bellingham or other district office, and we support hybrid working from home. The duties of this post require the post holder to travel across the district regularly, with overnight stays away from home, and occasional visits to the national office in Bristol. South: You can be based anywhere in the south forest district, working from the Lyndhurst or other district office, and we support hybrid working from home. The duties of this post require the post holder to travel across the district regularly, with overnight stays away from home, and occasional visits to the national office in Bristol.

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.
• STaRis 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.

You will be asked to upload your CV and 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 a behaviour based questions at the interview. 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.

If you’re planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you’ve read our guidelines here first.

Working for the Civil Service… Forestry England is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service has a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). This means candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria during the application process will be guaranteed an interview. We also offer a Redeployment Interview Scheme to current civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the role. This role is also part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative.

Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to provide conversation in accurate spoken English. Our recruitment process makes appointments based on fair and open competition and merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in line with/according to these principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk.

This role is funded by DEFRA rather than through Forestry England generated revenue, and is therefore subject to government spending reviews. While DEFRA has indicated long term support for the Biodiversity Programme and we expect funding to continue, it is possible that funding levels may change at the end of any financial year depending on DEFRA’s budget allocations. In the event of funding changes, we would prioritise retaining staff posts wherever possible. This approach is consistent for roles within publicly funded organisations. We are committed to keeping staff informed and supported through any changes.