Nature Recovery Manager

Job Title: Nature Recovery Manager

Location: East England District (Santon Downham, Chilterns, Bedgebury)

Salary: £40,388 - £43,482

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: 37 hours per week

Final date to receive applications: Wednesday 17th June 23:58

As Nature Recovery Manager, you will work across the East England District, covering around 35,000 hectares. The district spans from Norfolk in the north to the Sussex coast in the south, and extends west to Buckinghamshire.

You will lead a programme of ambitious nature recovery projects and build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Your work will include restoring habitats to improve ecological connectivity (e.g., chalk streams), restoring plantations on ancient woodland sites, improving the condition of the district’s two largest Sites of Special Scientific Interest (Brecklands and Sandling Forests), and assessing opportunities to reintroduce pine marten.

You will oversee the strategic development and delivery of wild area and species recovery projects under the Forest Wilding Programme. This includes initiating, overseeing existing projects, developing new ones, ensuring project lifecycle progress, reporting to boards, and managing dedicated project officer staff.

The role can be based at any Forestry England office within East England District. We welcome applications from candidates who can work from the main office at Santon Downham in Suffolk, or from sub-offices at the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire or Bedgebury in Kent.

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, increasing by one day each year’s service, up to 30 days; pro‑rated for part‑time employees plus additional days such as bank holidays.
• Employee benefit scheme (STaR) offering discounts on supermarket shopping, hotel stays, clothing, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, and Wellbeing app.
• Free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• A commitment to lifelong learning through career development, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans, and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

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 at risk of redundancy. This role is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative.

Applicants must be able to provide conversation in accurate spoken English as required under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016.

If you have questions about the role, please contact the recruitment team. The role is funded by DEFRA; funding levels may change with the DEFRA budget.