Wildlife Ranger

What you’ll do…

You will work as part of Central England’s forest resilience project team focusing on work within the Rockingham forest area, Northamptonshire. You will be responsible for protecting forests and supporting conservation priorities, including mammal management. The role will report to the Project Wildlife manager, but will be expected to also be part of the wider district wildlife team. You will be a champion for our health and safety culture by demonstrating our value of ‘look out and look after’.

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

Where you’ll work…

The role will be based within Central England FD, predominately based at:

Forestry England, Fineshade, Corby NN17 3BB

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• promote a positive and inclusive culture, and actively promote collaboration and support across the district and with stakeholders.
• champion our health & safety culture, using Forestry England’s systems and protocols.
• achieve a personal, variable cull of deer and other mammals to protect our forest crop and biodiversity led by District management plans and wider organisational objectives.
• make sure the deer larder, deer carcases and paperwork meet Forestry England standards, game dealer specification and the requirements of the British Quality Wild Venison scheme (BQWV).
• contribute to district conservation projects and schemes.
• build and maintain productive relationships with stakeholders.
• liaise regularly with district colleagues and help with beat planning, monitoring and delivery including restocking plans, species choice, tree protection and infrastructure requirements.
• do ecological and pre-operation site surveys, advising colleagues of protected species and features of ecological interest.
• liaise with sporting tenants and sporting rights holders.
• support district colleagues engaging with woodland users and promote positive behaviour for protecting forest habitats and infrastructure.
• produce hazard and constraints maps and risk assessments for deer management.
• maintain and be responsible for all equipment issued to you by Forestry England.
• supervise wildlife management and conservation contracts to Forestry England’s policy, procedure and guidance (PPGs), deer management-related policies and industry best practice.

And any other tasks, 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)

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

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 –

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Candidates will be expected at interview to also undertake a firearms skills test.

The firearms skills test will be held on the FE zeroing area at Sherwood Pines and will follow the format of the DMQ Level 1 skills test. Candidates should arrive at interview with an already zeroed rifle and known point of aim. They should bring all the equipment they require for a stalking outing e.g. shooting sticks, bipod etc, have enough Lead Free ammunition for which their rifle is zeroed to complete the skills test. The test will comprise of 3 shots into a zeroing target followed by 6 shots into a roe deer silhouette target (chest shots), three different positions at 3 different ranges. There will be a final 2 shots into a roe deer head silhouette target to simulate close range dispatch. A second attempt at the targets will be allowed if the candidates are not happy with their first attempt. The candidates will be judged as much on their firearms handling, safety and behaviour on the range as their marksmanship.

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

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

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.

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