Senior Reserve Manager – South Cumbria (Ref: 5259)

The team  

Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment? 

If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature. 

The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:

• Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive;
• Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change;
• Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods;
• Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature, and
• Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing.

We are the Government’s Adviser for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Benefits

Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.

Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days to volunteer.

You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us.

You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events.

Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated.

We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan

Locations

Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Full time staff are expected to attend their associated office for a minimum of one day a week.

Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.

View a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations

This role will be linked to the Kendal office with regular travel to  our National Nature Reserves in South Cumbria.

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.

Job description  

About the job

Natural England Cumbria Area Team is seeking a Senior Reserve Manager to join the South Cumbria Area Team as part of its National Nature Reserve (NNR) group of staff. The successful candidate will contribute to the delivery of Natural England’s programmes, particularly ‘Creating resilient landscapes and seas’ and ‘Connecting People with Nature’.  In addition, there will be a need to contribute to the delivery of Natural England’s wider work, to secure Nature Recovery in the broader landscape by working with stakeholders and colleagues.

NNRs are exemplars of conservation management.  The job requires a combination of technical and practical land management skills and knowledge of the ecological requirements of the habitats and species for which the sites are declared.  The successful candidate will help to ensure the NNRs are managed to maximise their contribution to biodiversity and to the wider landscape. 

National Nature Reserves also contribute to our objective of connecting people with nature, for example, through volunteer groups and events. The postholder will be required to use their conservation expertise to identify opportunities, promote and deliver engagement and education activities for the NNRs, including through partnership projects. 

Working with another Senior Reserve Manager, the post holder will have overall responsibility for the management of a suite of NNRs in South Cumbria and North Lancashire.  The two Senior Reserve Managers will ensure each relevant Reserve has an approved Management Plan in place and will prioritise work and resources to enable a clear work programme to be followed.  Together, these posts, functionally manage two Reserve Managers and a Reserve Warden.

The Senior Reserve Manager will be responsible for budget management on their reserves and for procurement, including writing specifications, letting and overseeing contracts. They will be responsible for ensuring health and safety legislation is adhered to at all times. 

The principle NNRs covered by this team are:

• Duddon Mosses
• Gait Barrows
• Great Asby Scar
• Hallsenna Moor
• Roudsea Wood and Mosses
• North Walney

The post will be based at Natural England’s Kendal office and will require some weekend, public holiday and evening work. 

Key tasks and responsibilities

• Identify how sites interact with the surrounding landscape, habitats, and local communities and help deliver our landscape scale ambition for Nature Recovery, with our NNRs at the heart of our work in places
• Lead the development and implementation of NNR management plans to enhance our NNR suite and strive to achieve Favourable Condition for SSSI’s on our sites.
• An understanding of the importance of people accessing and engaging with the natural environment, how to balance their needs with nature conservation objectives and the promotion of equality of access to nature
• Identification of research and monitoring opportunities to support the delivery of NNR Management Plans along with contribution to relevant site condition monitoring work
• Lead the development and delivery of the NNR work programmes
• Financial management of the allocated NNR budget and attraction of additional resources through external funding opportunities and commercial income generation.
• Oversight and implementation of Health & Safety (H&S) procedures, ensuring that staff, volunteers and contractors are working safely
• Collaborate with colleagues to ensure that Area Team priorities, including strategic solutions and projects are delivered effectively.
• Provide advice to and work in partnership with, colleagues, stakeholders, volunteer groups and the local community
• Functional Management Responsibilities for two Reserve Managers and One Reserve Warden

How to Apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We’ll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:

• Resilient Landscape and Seas
• Putting people at the heart of the environment
• Working Safely
• Personal Effectiveness
• Technical Knowledge

A full driving licence is essential

Competencies

Competence 1  

Professional competency

Resilient Landscapes and Seas (Practitioner)

• Recognise, identify and interpret environmental features on NNRs
• Identify how a site interacts with the surrounding landscape, habitats and local communities
• Understand and apply appropriate management techniques to maintain or enhance the condition of sites

Competence 2  

Professional competency

Putting People at the Heart of the Environment (Practitioner)

• Understand the importance of people accessing and engaging with the natural
  environment, and how to balance their needs with nature conservation objectives

Competence 3  

Professional competency

Working Safely (Practitioner)

• Understand the duty of care owed to all visitors, contractors or others on our NNRs, and adhere to appropriate legislation and Natural England policies and procedures

Competence 4  

Professional competency

Personal Effectiveness (Practitioner)

• Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and Natural England and inspire others to act
• Progress your personal development and take responsibility for keeping your knowledge and expertise current
• Through your networks, offer strategic solutions to financial implications and share best practice to influence informed decision making

Competence 5  

Professional competency

Technical Knowledge (Practitioner)

• Strong working knowledge of applied conservation and land management practices (Essential).
• Natural history skills, including experience and competency of identifying biodiversity features e.g. plant i.d. (Essential)
• Experience of managing the health and safety of those undertaking practical habitat management (Essential)
• Competent IT skills, use of MS Office and social media. Knowledge of GI mapping skills and Conservation Management System (CMSi) will be an advantage (Desirable)

Contact information

For further information contact Sarah Wilson on Sarah.Wilson@naturalengland.org.uk or Helen Smith on Helen.c.smith@naturalengland.org.uk

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

• Name : Sarah Wilson
• Email : Sarah.Wilson@naturalengland.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@gov.sscl.com