Woodland and Countryside Manager

Job description

Woodlands & Countryside Manager

Sussex / Surrey

Glendale is a company with a turnover of £67 million, providing 'green services' across the UK. Its operations encompass grounds management, landscaping, countryside and estates management, horticulture, and arboriculture.

Glendale, founded in 1989, has a long and successful history of delivering green services to both local authorities and private sector clients. The company is renowned for its high-quality service provision, offering a wide range of green services including grounds maintenance, countryside and estate management, landscaping, tree services, and arboriculture.

Glendale anticipates further sales growth to £72 million in 2026. While public sector contracts remain our core business, private sector engagements are significantly contributing to our overall revenue. The Glendale brand is robust, with the majority of our income derived from grounds management and countryside activities via long-term contracts with public sector clients. Our current objective is to expand our order book to £250 million.

Glendale is a carbon‑neutral business dedicated to environmental improvement through its operations. We strive not only to maintain but also to enhance the planet, offering a comprehensive suite of professional landscape services. Our expertise ranges from maintaining local parks and open spaces to high standards, ensuring tree safety through our arboricultural teams, preserving mature trees with our Civic Tree business, and promoting sustainable design via our landscape architecture practice.

Clients from our Sussex base include Mid Sussex DC, Surrey Heath BC, Surrey CC, Elmbridge BC and Surrey Wildlife Trust, as well as numerous town and parish councils.

With a current turnover of c £250,000 p.a. and operating with a small team of direct labour, supported by a select group of subcontractors, the office is shared with other Glendale services, including grounds maintenance, arboriculture, countryside rangers and PRoW maintenance teams. The overall Glendale business in Sussex is c £3m p.a.

Glendale has an established woodland and countryside management business across the South, and this exciting role will spearhead our planned entry into countryside management in the area, with full access and opportunity to deliver services for clients across the Southern Home Counties.

The new role will link our business, connecting 6 other Arbor, Woodland & Countryside Managers based in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Weymouth and Guildford and offer unrivalled delivery to clients along the South Coast.

Services offered include woodland management & planting, invasive weed control, fencing, PRoW maintenance, furniture and signpost installation, scrub clearance and vegetation management, tree planting and habitat creation.

The woodlands & countryside manager is a pivotal position for the business, offering overall management of all areas of the business activities, including tenders and quotes pipelines, financial performance of all contracts and operational oversight regarding productivity, profitability, safety and quality.

The role of the woodlands & countryside manager can never be defined fully, but in all matters, they must demonstrate professionalism, leadership and command respect within the business and the sector. All decisions must be communicated clearly both to those responsible to the post holder and to those persons the post holder reports to.

The woodlands & countryside manager must be prepared to take the initiative and continually improve operational activity, requiring ambition and a high level of commitment. A manager in Glendale is critical to decision‑making processes within the business and must gain the trust and loyalty of all stakeholders in the company, whilst taking full responsibility for the operational and financial performance of the office.

The woodlands & countryside manager’s key responsibilities will be to:

• Provide the leadership required to meet company and client objectives, directing the commercial activity of the contracts under their…