Nature Services Manager

Company The Parks Trust Location Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Functional Area

Management

Established as an independent charity in 1992, The Parks Trust expertly cares for over 6,000 acres of beautiful and inspirational green space in Milton Keynes including parks, ancient woodlands, lakes, river valleys and 80 miles of landscaped areas along the city’s grid roads.

In most towns and cities, parkland is owned by the local authority, but Milton Keynes’ founders were pioneers and decided to do things differently. Their vision was to create a new town where the parkland and landscapes would be protected forever by a charity that was separate from local government. Doing so would ensure that, as the new town grew, its green spaces would never be compromised or have to fight for funding.

That all became a reality when The Parks Trust was set up in 1992. The new charity was given a 999-year lease on a total of 4,500 acres of Milton Keynes and an endowment of property valued at £20m. Returns on these carefully managed investments generate the primary source of income required to fund the charity’s wide-ranging work today and forever.

Over 100 staff and 240 volunteers deliver the essential work of The Parks Trust. In addition to landscaping and maintenance tasks, that also includes providing valuable recreation and leisure facilities, connecting communities at over 500 outdoor events each year, and advancing public education around the wildlife, biodiversity, and the environment.

As Milton Keynes grows, so does The Parks Trust. Each year, the charity takes on new green spaces and endowments from developers to cover costs in perpetuity. This approach ensures that all new areas of the city benefit from the same quality of inspiring, connected landscape and Milton Keynes remains a great place to live, work and play.

We're looking for an experienced and passionate environmental professional to lead our Nature Services Team and play a pivotal role in delivering our ambitions for biodiversity, nature recovery and ecosystem resilience.

This is a unique opportunity to influence how nature is protected, enhanced and monitored across a diverse and nationally significant portfolio of green spaces. Working closely with senior leaders and a wide range of partners, you will help shape strategy, drive innovation and ensure nature recovery remains at the heart of everything we do.

As Nature Services Manager, you will provide leadership to a specialist team responsible for delivering biodiversity and nature recovery objectives across the Trust.

You will combine strategic thinking with practical delivery, leading the development of policies, plans and projects that achieve measurable environmental outcomes. You will also ensure decisions are informed by high-quality ecological evidence, monitoring and reporting.

The role involves working collaboratively across the organisation and with external partners to identify opportunities, manage priorities and maximise the impact of our work for both people and nature.

Location:

The Pavilion, Campbell Park

Contract Type:

Permanent

Working hours:

FULL JOB DESCRIPTION ATTACHED.

We are looking for someone who can bring technical expertise, leadership capability and a genuine passion for nature recovery.

You will have:

• A degree in Ecology, Wildlife Conservation or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience leading or managing a team.
• Strong knowledge of biodiversity conservation, ecological monitoring and nature recovery.
• Experience using environmental data and evidence to inform decision‑making.
• Project and budget management experience.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to engage a wide range of audiences.
• A…