Sandlings East Beat Work Supervisor

As a Beat Works Supervisor in Rendlesham, Tunstall, Dunwich Forest and also a wider Beat, you will play a key role in ensuring the safe and effective delivery of forest operations that protect the forest, produce timber, establish restocking, maintain SSSI/SPA habitats for rare Sandling's fauna and flora, safeguard our unique heritage, and provide extensive public access.

At Rendlesham, Tunstall and Dunwich Forest, we work at a landscape scale. The 5,500 hectare of forest is divided into three main blocks and also several smaller outlaying woodlands in the Lavenham area, contributing to the districts timber production and a planting programme each year. The Sandling's and Lavenham Beat has a small team managed by a Forester.

You will be the Work Supervisor in The Sandling's and Lavenham Beat, part of the East District operational delivery team, using your forestry knowledge and experience to support the Forester in planning and organising large-scale, wide-ranging beat programmes, including harvesting, restocking, vegetation management and hazardous tree work. These programmes are delivered by Beat Craftspeople and contractors; your understanding of operational forestry will ensure their work meets UKFS, UKWAS and FISA standards.

Please see attached Job Description for more details.

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

Work practices and methods evolve over time, they will generally be related to:

• Assisting the beat forester in all aspects of the day-to-day management of the beat and in planning, organising and supervising forest operations by staff and contractors to ensure agreed work is delivered to required standards safely, effectively and efficiently
• Being a visible presence on site, championing our health and safety culture and consistently demonstrating our core value of “look out and look after”.
• Developing and coaching the beat team through demonstration and clear verbal communication
• Collecting accurate site measurements and observations and use these in informing decisions, monitoring outcomes and updating records
• Communicating appropriately with colleagues and all stakeholders including landowners, neighbours, contractors, customers and members of the public

Typical Beat Work Supervisor tasks are listed below, and although the focus shifts depending on the season and priorities they will include:

• Carrying out forest surveys, assessments, marking and measuring to inform work programme decisions and monitor achievement of outcomes
• Ground truthing and updating forest inventories and mapped features
• Assisting forester to plan and organise work programmes
• Drafting job specifications for staff and tender documents for contracts
• Promoting a culture of safe working
• Working collaboratively, maintaining strong relationships to support effective site operations
• Monitoring and supervising staff and contractors to ensure full compliance with work specifications and health & safety requirements, maintaining a site monitoring diary
• Carrying out FISA checks and audits, ensuring forestry operations meet relevant safety and competency standards.
• Providing craftspeople with direction and support, ensuring high quality work across all assigned tasks.
• Maintaining yard and estate safety and security
• Overseeing stock control of materials and maintenance of equipment
• Organising legally compliant handling, storage and disposal of waste
• Lead on hazard tree surveys, including organising and overseeing associated remedial works where appropriate.
• Undertake any other duties reasonably requested by your line manager.

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)

How to apply…

You will be asked to upload your CV and 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 –

• Seeing the big picture.
• Managing a quality service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at pace

You may also be assessed on Experience, Strength based questions, and/or the Technical Success Profile at the interview. The technical element could include a presentation, practical or written task.

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.

The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.

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