Technical Support Officer

Overview

Forestry Commission – Forest Services – which the Technical Support Officer (Admin) will be part of, are the government\’s forestry experts facilitating delivery of government policy to protect, improve and expand England\’s woods and forests. We advise nationally and locally on how to unlock the full potential of woodlands and the forestry sector to protect, improve and expand England’s valuable woodland assets. We encourage good practice through professional advice, partnerships, advocacy and grants while discouraging damaging or inappropriate forestry practice through regulations and standards.

There are two roles available – one is full time (5 days/week) and one is a part time (3 days/week) role. Please indicate in your application which role you are interested in.

The Yorkshire and North East Area contains over 212,000 hectares of woodland ranging from important habitat networks of Ancient Woodlands through to large productive conifer forests. In the North East the predominant woodland type is conifer (64.5%) whereas in Yorkshire and the Humber broadleaves form the most significant component (41.5%).

This diverse range of woodland types extends over 4 National Parks and 3 Areas of Outstanding National Beauty and through the urban woodland resource is also connected to Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle.

The Area Team operates from the Defra Office (Kings Pool, Foss House) in York with a further office located with the Environment Agency in Newcastle. Our work involves engagement with an enormous range of people and organisations, from small landowners and wood business through to large corporations and other public bodies.

We are seeking a dynamic individual who can learn quickly to provide admin and technical support to our Woodland Officers, Woodland Creation Officers and 5 Field Managers.

Responsibilities

• Casework facilitation – provide technical support to the Yorkshire and North East Field Team to help optimise the deployment of their skills and knowledge:
  • Prepare and process case files using various platforms and systems to ensure the field team’s time is optimised. Tasks include:
  • Downloading applications for various schemes.
  • Preparing template documentation.
  • Preparing supporting information.
  • Uploading completed case files.
  • Updating case work trackers using Excel and Sharepoint Lists.
  • Systems and platforms used include Forestry Commission internal mapping system, customer relationship management, grant management system and Sharepoint.
  • Communicate clearly between local and national teams.
• Take ownership of the Technical Support Officer inbox – working with colleagues on the daily prioritisation and completion of tasks.
• Support the field team with queries on case work, process guidance and systems queries using guidance documents, knowledge of systems and own initiative.
• Maintain and develop the area team’s PowerBI report tracking in-progress casework.
• Ad hoc data collation, reporting and file preparation tasks. upport field team with updates to National regulations and process changes.
• Support field team with updates to National regulations and process changes.
• Provide basic admin support including dealing with phone queries from the public surrounding felling of trees.