Development Officer - Countryside

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The Countryside Development Officer role provides an exciting opportunity to get involved in a range of project development, project management and improvement activity, on both a site-specific and service-wide basis.

Significant investment has been committed to enhancing the visitor offer at the County Council’s largest countryside sites, whilst we continue to improve the Council’s wider countryside estate of green spaces for communities, visitors and environmental benefit.

With a focus on the County Council’s countryside sites, this diverse role will involve project development and procurement, project and contract management, report drafting, research and analysis and collaboration – making a difference to these sites and their users through service development and improvement.

This post is fixed-term for 18 months and is predominantly office-based, with opportunities for flexible and hybrid working. Occasional travel to countryside sites across the county and attendance at site-based meetings will be required.

Reporting to the Development Manager, you will work closely with the team’s existing Development Officer, as well as managers and other colleagues in the Cannock Chase and Country Parks teams.

The Countryside Development Officer will be involved in developing and managing a range of projects to support the improvement of County Council countryside sites and the wider Environment and Countryside service.

More specifically, this will include:

• Undertaking research and analysis and presenting clear findings and recommendations.
• Developing written, evidence-based project proposals, reports, briefings and supporting funding bids in collaboration with colleagues.
• Commissioning desk-based studies and on-site projects; developing written specifications, associated procurement documents and overseeing procurement processes.
• Managing contracts for commissioned studies and projects; and supporting the management of lease and licence agreements located on countryside sites.
• Supporting the drafting and review of new and existing processes and procedures within the Environment & Countryside service.

The minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be:

• A degree level qualification or equivalent experience in a relevant environmental discipline.
• Knowledge and understanding of practice, policy and legislation relevant to the management of country parks.
• Significant knowledge and experience of project development, project management, fundraising and/or service improvement within the environment sector.
• Knowledge and experience of financial and contract procurement and management.
• Experience of effectively prioritising and managing your own workload, taking an organised and flexible approach to ensure projects are delivered to time and budget requirements.
• Experience of undertaking research and evidence gathering, with an ability to analyse and interpret data and information to shape project development and delivery.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills, with a proven track record of producing high-quality written documents and verbal presentations.
• Experience of working with multi-disciplinary teams, partner organisations and stakeholders to deliver collaborative projects.

Don’t feel you meet all the requirements? We value transferable skills, experiences and qualifications, so consider applying anyway. For an informal chat about the role please contact Ruth Shufflebotham, Development Manager ffl .

Interviews and candidate assessments are provisionally scheduled for 16 November 2026.

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only…