Woodland Creation Engagement Manager

Forestry England are using our scale and expertise to actively grow the nation’s forests. The Woodland Creation Team is working to deliver an ambitious target of planting around 1,000 hectares of new woodland each year to support carbon sequestration and biodiversity, produce sustainable timber and create resilient landscapes for future generations; using funding from Defra.

The Engagement Manager role requires a dynamic and skilled individual to communicate and engage with neighbours and local stakeholders as new woodlands are designed and delivered. The role supports woodland creation projects through stakeholder engagement, consultation management, communications planning and community involvement, helping build awareness and support for Forestry England’s woodland creation programme.

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Creating communication and engagement plans for individual woodland creation sites.
• Liaising with colleagues from a wide range of teams in Forestry England, Forestry Commission and Defra as well as external stakeholders.
• Working closely with communications colleagues to draft press releases and other content to support engagement activities.
• Leading early engagement and consultations activities for some woodland creation sites, including the use of the Forestry England consultation platform.
• Reviewing and analysing responses from consultations and making suggestions and recommendations based on the insight.
• Working with project teams to respond to consultations and prepare consultation reports.
• Attending some consultation events.
• Support community engagement events on woodland creation for example community or corporate tree planting.
• Work to improve the consultation process and experience for colleagues and communities.
• Support other communication and engagement work which might include other Defra-funded programmes.
• 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)

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 –

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• 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.

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