Volunteering and Community Engagement Officer

Forestry England; Bristol; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 39,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Civil Service Pension

25 days holiday

STaRis discounts

Free parking

Free arboretum entries

Career development

Job summary

Forestry England is recruiting a permanent Volunteering and Community Engagement Officer to drive community engagement across the West district. You will work with local communities, groups and partners to facilitate visits, improve understanding and support for forestry work, and develop volunteering opportunities at forest beats and recreation sites.

The role includes travel across West districts, a comprehensive pension, generous holiday allowance and ongoing professional development within

Responsibilities

• Coordinate community engagement across forest beats to welcome and engage local communities.
• Support volunteering opportunities at forest beats and main recreation sites, ensuring best practices.

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - West district

Volunteering and Community Engagement Officer

Job Reference forestryengland/TP/2429/795

Number of Positions:

1

Contract Type:

Permanent

Working Hours:

37

Location:

Closing Date:

18/10/2026

Job Category:

Recreation

Region:

West

Business Unit:

West

Job Introduction

We are Forestry England.

We live and breathe forests.

Job title – Volunteering and Community Engagement Officer

Salary- £33,854 per annum

Contract type – Permanent

Vacancy closes - 18th October, 23:58

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, like creating amazing places and experiences for you to enjoy. We're providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner to breathe and producing sustainable timber .

What you’ll do…

The Volunteering and Community Engagement Officer’s role balances these two pivotal and complementary areas of work.

Community engagement is our work across all forest beats to ensure our woods are welcoming and safe for local communities to use and enjoy, reaching out to community groups to facilitate visits and increase understanding and support for our work.

The volunteering part of the role provides specialist support to those offering volunteering opportunities at both our forest beats and our main recreation sites, adding value and ensuring best practice as we increase the number and quality of volunteering opportunities in line with Growing the Future to 2031.

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

Where you’ll work…

Coleford, Forest of Dean, or Haldon, Devon, or another local office within West.

This role is based in the West district of Forestry England, which extends from the Shropshire Hills National Landscape to the majestic oak and beech woods of Savernake Forest in Wiltshire and to Idless Woods near Truro in Cornwall. You can be based anywhere in the district, but travel across the district is an important part of the role.

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.
• STaRis 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.

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] .