Volunteer Officer (Richmond Park & Bushy Park)

The Royal Parks; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Pension scheme

Medical insurance

Healthcare plan

Employee assistance

Learning & development

Cycle to work

Beautiful offices

Job summary

The Royal Parks in London is seeking a Volunteer Officer to lead and train conservation volunteers across Richmond and Bushy Park. You will organise regular sessions, develop flexible volunteering opportunities and ensure high standards of safety and inclusivity in all activities.

You will mentor the Volunteer Assistant and champion volunteering best practice while coordinating with park teams to deliver habitat management projects and educational outreach.

Qualifications

• Proven experience working with, managing and training volunteers, especially conservation volunteers.
• In-depth knowledge of safe use and maintenance of hand tools.
• Awareness of equality, diversity, health & safety and safeguarding.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate volunteer groups for habitat management tasks across Richmond and Bushy Park.
• Develop flexible volunteering opportunities and manage Volunteer Assistant role.
• Champion volunteering best practices and inclusivity across the organisation.
• Record data and ensure safeguarding guidelines are followed by volunteers.

Skills

Volunteer management

Training volunteers

Conservation knowledge

Microsoft Office

CRM systems

First Aid (Desirable)

Job description

Overview

Duration of contract (if relevant) 12-months Location ///ready.owls.heat Region Richmond Park Office Salary £34,743 - £37,500 per annum, depending on experience Vacancy Type Full Time Application Deadline Wednesday, November 11, 2026 Job Profile document

About us

The Royal Parks (TRP) is a charity that manages over 5,000 acres of diverse parkland, rare habitats and historic buildings and monuments in eight Royal Parks across London. These are: Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Green Park, St James's Park, The Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park and Bushy Park.

We also manage other important public spaces including Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens. Our eight Royal Parks and other public spaces are among the most visited attractions in the UK with tens of millions of visits every year.

The Benefits

• Salary £34,743 - £37,500 per annum, depending on experience
• 26 days' annual leave plus public holidays
• Hybrid/ agile working options available
• Pension scheme (3% employee contribution; up to 10% employer contribution)
• Private medical insurance and healthcare cash plan
• Employee assistance programme and access to mental health first aiders
• Learning and development opportunities
• Cycle to work scheme
• Offices in a beautiful location

This is an exciting opportunity for a Volunteer Officer with experience in leading and training conservation volunteers to join us, in some of the most stunning green spaces in London.

We are committed to tackling the increasing challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, and this role will be vital in achieving this. You will be working in some of the best green spaces that London has to offer visitors alongside a passionate and friendly team of staff and volunteers.

The Role

As a Volunteer Officer, your main focus will be to manage volunteers to carry out important habitat management tasks at regular conservation group sessions and develop one-off flexible volunteering opportunities. This role is varied and will see the successful applicant working primarily in the Richmond and Bushy Park, but with work in all of the parks when support is required.

This role involves a lot of in park time, working with and supporting volunteers on the ground in physical conservation work. The ideal applicant will be friendly, open, enjoy spending time outdoors and have experience working with and managing volunteers, in a hands-on conservation or park setting.

This role will also be responsible for the line management of the Volunteer Assistant role. You will support their development and training. The Volunteer Assistant role is a funded entry level role, which works to support you across activities in Richmond Park and already has a staff member in place.

You will champion volunteering best practice, inclusivity and diversity across the organisation, develop volunteer resources and ensure the appropriate support and training is in place for volunteers, partners and the staff who manage volunteers.

Additionally, you will:

• Work with the Volunteer and Programmes Manager to plan, develop, deliver and evaluate other volunteer projects and programmes
• Write volunteer role descriptions, work plans, policies and robust risk assessments
• Ensure appropriate and accurate data on volunteers and associated activities are recorded
• Be aware of safeguarding children and adults at risk, and follow guidelines at all times

About You

• Proven experience of working with, managing, and training volunteers, especially conservation volunteers. With a strong knowledge of safe use and maintenance of all hand tools.
• In depth knowledge and practical skills in conservation, park, horticulture or nature reserve management
• Awareness of equality and diversity, health and safety and safeguarding
• Excellent people skills including team working, negotiating, problem solving and the ability to be calm and decisive in challenging situations
• Excellent operational use of Microsoft Office, CRM systems and other IT solutions to support the planning, delivery and evaluation of the volunteer programme.
• Commitment to The Royal Parks’ values of being responsible, excellent, inclusive, open and respectful, and a commitment to supporting diverse and inclusive teams
• A flexible approach to work including significant evening and weekend working.
• A valid and current clean UK driving licence is essential.

Additional

A First Aid Certificate would also be desirable.

We want to put everyone in the best possible position to succeed so if you think that you may need more support to complete our application process, please do in touch.

Equality and Diversity

The Royal Parks is strongly committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and is an equal opportunities employer. We value diversity and encourage applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

Tips before applying

• This vacancy closes at 11:45 pm on the advertised closing date. Applications received after this time will not be considered
• Save down each section so you don’t lose your completed sections
• Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action and Result) to answer the criteria
• Explain how and why you can do a certain responsibility
• Use the job description to help you frame your answers
• Don’t answer just 'yes' or 'no' to a criteria selection
• Use specific experiences to reflect your role

Reasonable adjustments

• Support with written materials
• We understand that you might need to see the interview questions in advance, for a number of reasons. We’re always open to discussing with you if this could be an adjustment which would help. We can provide written questions in the interview itself and if you have a written assessment to take, then we can allow you extra time, if you need it.
• Audio assistance: For interviews online all the audio is subtitled and can be automatically captioned.
• Adapting settings for mobility issues: For anyone with mobility issues, if you let us know ahead of time, we’ll work to ensure your interview/assessments are held in spaces that are accessible. If your interview is at one of our properties and an unpaved path might cause you discomfort or difficulties, we’ll aim to provide you with access to a paved path on the property. If you have any other questions about the interview, please ask us and we’ll do what we can to make an adjustment.

Safeguarding Notice

The Royal Parks is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk from harm, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment and follow the organisation’s policies and procedures. The Royal Parks provides an awareness training programme on Safeguarding for all staff, and further in depth training for those working with children, young people or adults who may be at risk of harm.