Project manager in England

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.

What you’ll do… You’ll help deliver a wide range of projects that improve our forests, estates and visitor facilities across the East of England. Working across the East England District, which covers around 35,000 hectares from Norfolk in the north to the Sussex coast in the south, and west to Buckinghamshire, you’ll manage a diverse portfolio of environmental projects that support Forestry England’s Growing the Future ambitions. As a Project Manager, you’ll lead projects from initial idea through to completion, working with colleagues, specialist advisers, contractors and external partners to deliver successful outcomes. You’ll ensure projects are safely delivered on time, within budget and to the required quality standards. You’ll be responsible for developing project plans, managing budgets, monitoring risks and reporting progress. You’ll also help develop business cases and investment proposals, providing clear recommendations that support decision making and secure value for money.

The projects you oversee could include:

• Replacing and improving operational facilities, such as game larders that support sustainable deer management.
• Delivering estate and infrastructure improvement projects across the forest estate.
• Enhancing visitor facilities to improve access and customer experience.
• Delivering projects that support Forestry England’s Net Zero ambitions, including renewable energy, low carbon infrastructure and initiatives that reduce emissions across the forest estate.

Success in this role will depend on your ability to build strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, bringing together different perspectives to deliver practical, lasting improvements across our forests and estates.

Where you’ll work… The role can be based at any Forestry England office within East England District. We particularly welcome applications from candidates who can regularly work from our office at Santon Downham, Suffolk (IP27 0TJ), or our office at Bedgebury, Kent (TN17 2SL). As the role will work across East England then occasional travel will be required including ad hoc overnight stays.

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.

Nationality requirements… Read more about nationality requirements here.

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.