District Ecologist

What you’ll do…

As District Ecologist with Forestry England in Yorkshire, you will play a leading role in helping nature recover across some of England’s most treasured landscapes.

You’ll provide expert ecological advice that shapes how we manage our forests for wildlife, people and climate, ensuring we protect designated sites, conserve protected species and deliver nature recovery at a landscape scale. Working closely with colleagues across the district and national organisation, you’ll develop and implement management plans for protected sites, guide the ecological aspects of operational and long-term forest planning, and help create resilient, nature-rich forests for future generations.

Covering a varied district, including over 1,000ha of SSSIs and 2,000ha of ancient woodlands, the District Ecologist role will coordinate the planning and delivery of nature recovery operations on protected sites. You’ll design and oversee monitoring programmes, analyse evidence to inform land management decisions, manage nature recovery projects and contracts, and build strong partnerships with conservation organisations, landowners, and academic institutions. The role will also involve supporting volunteering and exploring new ways to engage with the public to improve our understanding of the forests we care for. You’ll be part of a supportive Yorkshire team as well as a wider national network of ecologists and nature recovery specialists, with opportunities to develop your expertise in ecology, monitoring, conservation management and sustainable forestry.

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

Where you’ll work…

The post will initially be based at Forestry England’s Yorkshire Office in Pickering. It will move to the Dalby Forest Office in spring/summer 2028. Regular travel around Forestry England’s estate in Yorkshire will be required. There will be occasional trips outside of Yorkshire for Forestry England-wide meetings, which may require an overnight stay.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Take a leading role in designing, coordinating, and delivering Yorkshire district’s nature recovery work, working with specialists with a range of ecological and operational skills.
• Provide expert ecological advice to inform operational plans, forest plans, and other enquiries, to ensure our statutory duties for the environment are met and that legal/UK Woodland Assurance Standard compliance is maintained.
• Create, implement, and monitor designated site management plans (including SSSI management plans).
• Procure, set-up, and manage contracts and operational delivery projects.
• Manage existing nature recovery projects and provide support as required for new projects. This will include identifying projects in the nation’s forests suitable for funding opportunities.
• Deliver strategic ecological monitoring and analysis, supporting the district’s developing evidenced based and natural capital approach to making decisions.
• Build and maintain good relations with partners in statutory and NGO conservation organisations.
• Build and maintain better links with local academia to support an evidence-based approach to management of the nation’s forests.
• Provide ecological support to the district colleagues working on planning applications, post-minerals restoration projects, infrastructure upgrades, renewables projects, development mitigation and biodiversity offsetting opportunities.
• Support and grow volunteering in district by organising ecology/nature recovery volunteering sessions and citizen science programmes.
• Line management of an Assistant Ecologist, and possibly other staff.
• Any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

General responsibilities

• Display Forest England’s values & behaviours across all aspects of work.
• Minimise filing backlogs and prioritise workload to meet targets.
• Present a friendly and professional appearance.
• Be familiar with and appropriately adhere to Forestry England policies and procedures.
• Keep Health and Safety matters as the overriding determinant at all times and in all circumstances.
• Undertake any other duties, reasonably requested by the Planning and Environment Manager or Forest Management Director.

The duties of this post require the applicant to sometimes travel to remote locations that are not accessible by public transport. You will therefore need to hold a full and current driving licence that enables you to drive in the UK. We are willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the

job by other means.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours.

How to apply…

We cannot accept applications via email. Please follow the steps outlined below. Any CVs and/or personal statements sent outside the system will not be considered for shortlisting.

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Changing and improving
• Working together
• Delivering at pace
• Making effective decision

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

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

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

If candidates pass the interview but are not the leading candidate they can be placed on a reserve list. We may offer candidates on the reserve list for this role the opportunity to be considered for other roles at the same or lower pay bands.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.