Harvesting and Timber Marketing Manager

Forestry England; Santon Downham; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension benefits

Holiday entitlement

STaR discounts

Free parking

Arboretum access

Career development

Job summary

Forestry England invites applications for a Harvesting and Timber Marketing Manager in Santon Downham. This is a significant operational leadership role overseeing the East Forest District, uniting people, contractors and programmes to deliver safe, sustainable and commercially successful harvesting and timber supply.

You will lead a specialist team, manage large budgets, balance safety, environmental and customer priorities, and contribute to the wider Forestry and Land Management leadership

Qualifications

• We are interested in experienced operational leaders who can bring strong people leadership, commercial judgement and delivery experience.
• Your background could be in forestry or land management, but equally in construction, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, manufacturing or another safety‑critical industry.
• What matters is that you can lead people, manage complex operations and make good decisions, while being motivated to develop your knowledge of forestry and timber.

Responsibilities

• Lead our Harvesting and Timber Marketing function across the East Forest District, delivering safe, sustainable and commercially successful harvesting and timber supply.
• Oversee a specialist team and contractor network, manage significant budgets and programmes, balancing safety, environmental, commercial and customer priorities.
• Play a key role in the wider Forestry and Land Management leadership team.
• Lead people and contractors across diverse operations with a focus on safety and performance.

Job description

We live and breathe forests.

Harvesting and Timber Marketing Manager

£41,802 to £44,830 per annum

Hours – 37 hours per week (Part-time considered)

Contract type – Fixed Term Appointment until 31st March 2029, with the possibility of extension or permanency

Vacancy closes – 1st December 2026, 23:58

We are Forestry England. We live and breathe forests.

Join us. We're foresters, professionals and experts. We are a passionate team who love to share our enthusiasm and want to make a positive difference for you and the environment.

Together, we’re using our scale and expertise to grow the nation’s forests for everyone. We’re already adapting our landscapes for tomorrow and getting stuff done today, from creating amazing places and experiences for people to enjoy, to providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner and producing sustainable timber.

What You’ll Do…

This is a significant operational leadership role at the heart of how we manage our forests.

You will lead our Harvesting and Timber Marketing function across the East Forest District, bringing together people, contractors, customers and operational programmes to deliver safe, sustainable and commercially successful harvesting and timber supply.

You will lead a specialist team and contractor network, oversee significant budgets and programmes, and balance safety, environmental, commercial and customer priorities. You will also play an important role in the wider Forestry and Land Management leadership team.

You don’t need to have spent your career in forestry. We are interested in experienced operational leaders who can bring strong people leadership, commercial judgement and delivery experience. Your background could be in forestry or land management, but equally in construction, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, manufacturing or another safety‑critical industry.

What matters is that you can lead people, manage complex operations and make good decisions, while being motivated to develop your knowledge of forestry and timber.

Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.

Although offered as a full time role, part‑time working or compressed hours would be considered.

Where you’ll work…

The office location is Santon Downham, IP27 0TJ.

This role offers a flexible mix of office, home and site‑based working.

Getting out into the forests and spending time with your team, contractors and partners across the East Forest District will be an important part of the job, alongside opportunities to work from home where this fits with operational needs.

The role requires regular travel across the District and occasional overnight stays, so visible and flexible leadership will be important.

Benefits…

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, raising by one day every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
• STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app.
• free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• a commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

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

Working for the Civil Service…

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 who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the role. This role is also part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative.

Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to provide conversation in accurate spoken English.

Our recruitment process makes appointments based on fair and open competition and merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in in line with/according to these principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email: [e-mail].

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email [e-mail].