Woodland & Countryside Manager

Sheffield City Council; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Sheffield City Council’s Parks and Countryside Service is hiring a Woodland and Countryside Manager to lead a portfolio of woodlands and countryside sites across a third of the city. You will line-manage staff, volunteers, contractors and partners to meet standards and delivery plans.

You should be experienced in woodland/forestry and countryside sectors, with the ability to multitask day-to-day operations while delivering strategic ambitions for the city’s green spaces.

Qualifications

• Experienced in Woodland/Forestry and Countryside sector.
• Ability to multitask and deliver strategic ambitions.

Responsibilities

• Manage sites across a third of the city and line-manage staff, volunteers, contractors and partners to meet standards and management plan objectives.
• Coordinate with contractors, partners and stakeholders to meet standards and objectives in the Parks and Countryside Service.

Skills

Woodland management

Team leadership

Stakeholder management

Job description

Location: Sheffield – Centre in the Park (Norfolk Park) and various sites around the city

We are excited to be recruiting to this important role, which will join the award-winning Parks and Countryside service within Sheffield City Council! We are looking for someone who loves working within the environmental sector with applied experience in woodland and countryside management. Equally important is someone who will bring their energy, passion and drive to this varied and valuable role for Sheffield.

Sheffield is an amazing city with a proud heritage and a prosperous future. We’re a city on the up, alive with activity and energy and bursting with talent. We want to create the right environment for everyone to thrive with great neighbourhoods where communities have healthier lives in our Outdoor City. We’re passionate about responding to the nature and climate emergencies and are committed to ensuring our green spaces support nature recovery.

As part of our wider green space network the Parks and Countryside Service are responsible for the management of over 181 woodlands, three of which are Green Flag and all of which are managed to the UK Woodland Assurance Standard. Our service’s wider green space network includes 95 parks, recreation grounds and gardens, three Visitor and Education Centres, more than 150 children’s playgrounds, 15 bike tracks, 81 allotment sites and 262 Nature Conservation sites.

We’re deeply proud and passionate about our woodlands and the wider countryside estate as we know how important these spaces are to our communities – they bring ecological, social and economic benefits to the whole city. Our woodlands (particularly ancient woodlands) provide some of the most valuable wildlife habitats in the city and receive hundreds of thousands of visits each year. Our productive conifer woodlands fall largely within the Peak District National Park and also form a key part of the estate.

As the Woodland and Countryside Manager you will be responsible for managing sites in a third of the city alongside supporting your colleagues managing the other two. You will line manage a team of staff who directly work on these sites alongside volunteers, contractors, partners and stakeholders to ensure they meet key standards and management plan objectives.

You must be experienced in the Woodland/Forestry and Countryside sector and a confident and organised leader. You will have the ability to multitask day to day operational duties alongside delivering strategic ambitions and the varying needs of a range of partners and stakeholders.

Details about the Parks and Countryside Service are available on the Council’s internet pages:

You can find Sheffield’s Tree and Woodland Strategy and Green and Open Space Strategy

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under‑represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.