Development Officer - Countryside

Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership; Stafford; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council is seeking a Countryside Development Officer to drive project development and improvement across county countryside sites. It involves procurement, contract management, research and reporting to support environmental enhancements and service development.

Based predominantly in the office with hybrid working and occasional site visits, you will collaborate with the Development Manager and teams to deliver funded projects on time and to budget.

Qualifications

• A degree level qualification or equivalent in an environmental discipline.
• Knowledge of practice, policy and legislation relevant to country parks.
• Experience in project development, management, fundraising or service improvement.
• Experience in financial and contract procurement and management.
• Ability to prioritise workload and deliver to time and budget requirements.
• Experience in undertaking research and evidence gathering, with data analysis to shape project development.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills, with written and verbal presentation experience.

Responsibilities

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

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Data analysis

Written communication

Verbal presentations

Education

Environmental degree

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Stafford

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.

Main Responsibilities

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 Ideal Candidate

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 at [e-mail] .

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

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

Please note: The minimum criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes, detailed below.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as yourapplication meets the minimum criteria for the post.