We are Forestry England.
We live and breathe forests.
Job title – Species Recovery Officer
Salary- £32,089 - £32,724
Contract type – Fixed Term Appointment (3-years)
Hours – 37 hours/week
Vacancy closes - 23:58, 31st August 2025
Join us. We're foresters, professionals and experts. We are a passionate team who love to share our enthusiasm and want to make a positive difference for you and the environment.
Together, we’re using our scale and expertise to grow the nation’s forests for everyone. We’re already adapting our landscapes for tomorrow, and getting stuff done today, like creating amazing places and experiences for you to enjoy. We're providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner to breathe and producing sustainable timber.
What you’ll do…
As Species Recovery Officer, you will lead innovative nature recovery projects that deliver Forestry England’s national Biodiversity Plan.
Your role will lead on projects to restore ecosystem engineers and keystone species that help to build fully functioning ecosystems. In Yorkshire, our focus is on restoring wild living beaver populations in the Derwent Catchment and delivering a pine marten recovery feasibility project for Northeast Yorkshire. You will also lead and/or coordinate other approved species recovery projects, such as soil fungi translocations and recovery of Northern Hairy Wood Ant populations.
Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.
Where you’ll work…
The species recovery officer will work in Forestry England's Yorkshire Forest District which covers an area from Teesside to Spurn Head, stretching over the North York Moors National Park, and the Leeds metropolitan area to the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The role will be based at our district office in Pickering. You can expect to spend up to one third of your time outdoors, often independently and remotely and you will usually be expected to manage your own time to maximise efficiency and effectiveness.
This role is funded by Defra, rather than by Forestry England generated revenue, and as such is subject to regular government spending reviews. While we expect funding to continue, Defra funding may be reduced at the end of any financial year depending on Defra’s budget allocations. In such cases, we would prioritise the retention of staff posts wherever possible. The position is being offered on a 3-year Fixed Term Appointment (FTA), as we are confident in the likelihood of continued funding.
Benefits…
Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension. You will become a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.
- 25 days holiday a year, raising by one day every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
- STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app.
- free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
- a commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.
Read more about the benefits on the Forestry England website.
How to apply…
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.
You will be assessed on behaviour-based questions and experience-based questions during your interview.
The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –
- Making effective decisions
- Working together
- Communicating and influencing
- Delivering at pace
Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.
If you have any questions about the role, please contact:
tom.andre@forestryengland.uk.
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.
Nationality requirements…
Read more about nationality requirements here.
Working for the Civil Service…
Forestry England is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service has a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). This means candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria during the application process will be guaranteed an interview. We also offer a Redeployment Interview Scheme to current civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the role. This role is also part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative.
Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to provide conversation in accurate spoken English.
Our recruitment process makes appointments based on fair and open competition and merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in in line with/according to these principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk.