Project Manager, Program ​/ Project Manager, Operations Manager

Project Manager - Covid Commemoration

Salary: £40,388 – £43,382 per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Fixed term appointment to 30th June 2028

In this role, you will lead the delivery of a nationally significant programme to create Covid Commemoration spaces across the nation’s forests—places designed not just to visit, but to reflect, remember and reconnect. You’ll work with a team to bring together people, expertise and ideas to turn a shared vision into meaningful places on the ground. Working across multiple sites, you will coordinate delivery at pace while balancing sensitivity, quality and strong governance.

You’ll collaborate with colleagues from across Forestry England, as well as external partners, consultants and communities, ensuring each space reflects local voices and lived experience. This is a role where technical project delivery sits alongside thoughtful engagement. You’ll navigate complexity with confidence—managing risk, budgets and timelines—while also creating space for collaboration, co‑creation and inclusive design. Above all, you’ll play a vital role in helping to create accessible, welcoming places in our forests that support wellbeing, connection and remembrance for years to come.

This role can be based at any Forestry England office located centrally in England—blended working is a possibility. Travel across England will be required with occasional overnight stays. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.

• 25 days holiday a year, raising by one day every year of service up to 30 days (pro‑rated for part‑time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
• STaR employee benefits scheme offering discounts on supermarket shopping, 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 National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• Commitment to lifelong learning through career development, including continual professional development, learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension through the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

Forestry England is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service has a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), guaranteeing an interview for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The role also supports redeployment interview schemes for current civil servants at risk of redundancy and is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative.

Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, applicants must provide 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 these principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email englandhr