Farming and Countryside Development, Delivery and Compliance Manager

Animal & Plant Health Agency; Preston; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

Animal & Plant Health Agency seeks a proactive leader to drive service improvements and compliance across the farming community. You will coordinate with Defra and APHA regulators, promoting collaboration and shared training initiatives while guiding the Eyes and Ears app rollout.

You will line manage the Farming and Countryside Delivery Manager (HEO) and provide oversight of RACE compliance functions, strengthening engagement and delivering positive outcomes for regulatory affairs.

Qualifications

• Experience leading cross‑agency projects with clear outcomes.
• Ability toEngage farmers and regulators through written and verbal comms.
• Strong understanding of regulatory and compliance practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects across Defra agencies to improve engagement with farmers.
• Gather customer insights to inform service improvements.
• Promote joint learning across Defra regulators and identify training opportunities.
• Oversee Eyes and Ears app usage and effectiveness.
• Contribute to Defra Joint Service Improvement Plan delivery.

Skills

Project leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Data analysis

Regulatory knowledge

Job description

Are you passionate about improving services, compliance and outcomes for the farming community?Are you motivated by leading collaborative change across APHA, Defra and the wider regulatory network? If so, we would love to hear from you!

Key Responsibilities to include:

• Leading projects across Defra agencies to improve engagement with farmers and establish best practice in written and verbal communications
• Working closely with the APHA Delivering Sustainable Future programme to gather and utilise customer insight to inform service improvements
• Supporting joint learning and development initiatives across Defra regulators, identifying opportunities for shared training, particularly in generic and interpersonal skills
• Managing and promoting the use of the Eyes and Ears app, identifying opportunities to improve its effectiveness and uptake
• Leading APHA's participation in Regional Field Officer Forum pilots, working with Defra regulators to expand the initiative and deliver positive outcomes
• Contributing to the development and delivery of the Defra Joint Service Improvement Plan, including implementation of data-sharing and geospatial improvement initiatives
• Evaluating current regulatory practices and identify opportunities to strengthen engagement with the farming community and improve compliance outcomes
• Line managing the Farming and Countryside Delivery Manager (HEO)
• Providing management oversight of Regulatory Affairs,Compliance and Enforcement (RACE) team compliance functions and associated teams where required