Woodland Creation Engagement Manager

Any Forestry England office. Blended working arrangements will be considered. Some travel across England will be required with occasional overnight stays necessary.

Job Summary

Forestry England are using our scale and expertise to actively grow the nation’s forests. The Woodland Creation Team is working to deliver an ambitious target of planting around 1,000 hectares of new woodland each year to support carbon sequestration and biodiversity, produce sustainable timber and create resilient landscapes for future generations; using funding from Defra.

The Engagement Manager role requires a dynamic and skilled individual to communicate and engage with neighbours and local stakeholders as new woodlands are designed and delivered. The role supports woodland creation projects through stakeholder engagement, consultation management, communications planning and community involvement, helping build awareness and support for Forestry England’s woodland creation programme.

Job Description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Creating communication and engagement plans for individual woodland creation sites.
• Liaising with colleagues from a wide range of teams in Forestry England, Forestry Commission and Defra as well as external stakeholders.
• Working closely with communications colleagues to draft press releases and other content to support engagement activities.
• Leading early engagement and consultations activities for some woodland creation sites, including the use of the Forestry England consultation platform.
• Reviewing and analysing responses from consultations and making suggestions and recommendations based on the insight.
• Working with project teams to respond to consultations and prepare consultation reports.
• Attending some consultation events.
• Support community engagement events on woodland creation for example community or corporate tree planting.

Work to improve the consultation process and experience for colleagues and communities.

Support other communication and engagement work which might include other Defra-funded programmes.

And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Creating communication and engagement plans for individual woodland creation sites.
• Liaising with colleagues from a wide range of teams in Forestry England, Forestry Commission and Defra as well as external stakeholders.
• Working closely with communications colleagues to draft press releases and other content to support engagement activities.
• Leading early engagement and consultations activities for some woodland creation sites, including the use of the Forestry England consultation platform.
• Reviewing and analysing responses from consultations and making suggestions and recommendations based on the insight.
• Working with project teams to respond to consultations and prepare consultation reports.
• Attending some consultation events.
• Support community engagement events on woodland creation for example community or corporate tree planting.
• Work to improve the consultation process and experience for colleagues and communities.
• Support other communication and engagement work which might include other Defra-funded programmes.
• And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.
  
  

Person specification

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Experience in developing and delivering stakeholder engagement and communications plans for site based projects with multiple stakeholders.
• A confident communicator who can translate complex information for a range of audiences.
• A self-starter with the ability to manage multiple tasks, highly organised and able to bring clarity to processes and thinking.

Successful record of developing and managing communication and engagement across many channels, providing integrated solutions for different audiences.

Demonstrable experience of working positively with diverse people across different pay grades, work areas and locations. Strong interpersonal and influencing skills.

Excellent writing and editing skills.

Competent IT user with experience of MS Office.

Desirable

• Working experience of using and integrating mainstream social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.) professionally for an organisation.
• Knowledge of forestry relating to land management, climate emergency, sustainability, public access and wildlife and conservation.
  
  

Alongside your salary of £40,388, Forestry Commission contributes £11,700 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
  
  

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

How To Apply…

We cannot accept applications via email. Please follow the steps outlined below. Any CVs and/or personal statements sent outside the system will not be considered for shortlisting.

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Communicating and Influencing

Working Together

Managing a Quality Service

Delivering at Pace

You may also be assessed on Experience, Strength based questions, and/or the Technical Success Profile at the interview. The technical element could include a presentation, practical or written task.

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk
  
  

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.