Area Director: Southeast & London

Your new company

Forest Services as part of Forestry Commission are the Government's forestry experts. They advise nationally and locally on how to unlock the full potential of woodlands and support land managers to protect, improve and expand England's valuable woodland assets, ensuring that they continue to provide benefits to people, the environment and the economy.

Your new role

You will be overseeing the operational delivery of grants and regulations, achieving woodland outcomes through partnership working and acting as a regional leader advocating sustainable and resilient stewardship of the growing tree and woodland resources.

The Area Director's overall purpose is to lead and inspire the South East and London Area team to be part of an outstanding organisation, working as one Forest Services with a dynamic, high-performing and inclusive workforce. As an operational delivery leader, you will be passionate about enabling and supporting the forestry sector to expand, protect and improve the woodland resource and its resilience. You will focus on providing a clear sense of purpose and direction for the team, managing change implementation and ensuring the full range of expertise in the Area team delivers effectively.

The key work areas of the job are:

• Leadership and direction of the Area team's 68 posts including level 6 apprentices, promoting the team's purpose, actions, and decisions. Communicate and provide direction on the management of changes and uncertainty. Manage and develop individual and team performance and business capabilities; support learning and development; manage corporate responsibilities including health and safety and local incident control.
• Plan, direct and report on South East and London Area's achievements on business plan programmes for protect, improve, connect and expand woodland outcomes. Promote our flagship England Woodland Creation Offer, including the planning and fast-track aspects to drive more woodland establishment, woodland management including Countryside Stewardship and new funding offers, and tree health grants.
• Direct and influence Area partnerships, strategic relationships including DEFRA group partners and local engagement. Handle media activity in close association with FC and DEFRA communications leads.
• Manage and develop the activity of the South East and London Forestry and Woodlands Advisory Committees to support Area delivery. Maintain a strong collaborative relationship with Forestry England and Forest Research managers working across the regions' business opportunities and issues facing the sector.
• Contribute to the wider work of the Forestry Commission, its key national projects and business plan delivery. Work as part of the Delivery and Forest Services senior leaders' groups in providing and demonstrating a strong and corporate senior leadership contribution.

What you'll need to succeed

ESSENTIAL

• A professional qualification, or extensive relevant experience, in forestry, a discipline concerning land-based enterprise or environmental management.
• Team management experience with a proven track-record of delivering successful business plan and leadership outcomes.
• Relevant experience and knowledge for planning, communication and delivery of forestry and woodland priorities at a regional level.
• Experience in leading and encouraging opportunities for business improvement change whilst maintaining delivery performance for customers.
• Excellent and inspiring leadership and strong inter-personal and presentational skills to build and manage inclusive teams.
• Experience and proven track record in building credible external stakeholder relationships in line with corporate values.
• Business management experience including budgetary, forecasting and analytical skills combined with strong judgement and decision-making capability.

DESIRABLE

• Forestry qualification coupled with membership of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.
• Ability to demonstrate a leader's commitment towards continuing professional development.
• Incident management and control experience.

What you'll get in return

• Annual salary (Grade 7 / Pay band 2) of £58,423 - £64,316
• A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Full-time, flexible working; a 9-day working fortnight would also be considered
• A range of family-friendly benefits
• Learning and development tailored to the role
• A range of wellbeing benefits including discounted Civil Service Healthcare, access to an Employee Assistance Programme 24/7, Bike to Work Scheme, plus many more...
• A total of 35.5 days holiday: 25 days annual leave, with 1 additional day for each years' service up to 5 years (pro-rata), plus 10.5 bank holidays/privilege days (pro-rata).
• Ability to buy/sell 5 days annual leave
• 3 days volunteering per year (pro rata)

A FULL JOB DESCRIPTION IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

What you need to do now

If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.

If this job isn't quite right for you but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion on your career.