Deputy National Parking Manager

Job summary

Forestry England is part of the Forestry Commission. We look after more land and more trees than any other organisation in the country, shaping landscapes for people, wildlife and timber. It's a job that never stops growing. We are the biggest provider of outdoor recreation in the UK. We manage landscapes for wildlife to
thrive, people to enjoy and as a source of sustainable wood.

Paid parking is in place across a number of our forest sites, with income generated reinvested into maintaining and enhancing visitor facilities such as visitor centres, play areas, and cycling trails. Parking is a key service for our visitors, and this role will support the National Parking Manager in delivering effective national operations.

Working within the National Parking Team and collaborating with colleagues across the organisation, the postholder will drive efficiency and effectiveness of our Parking Services function through structured workload planning, organisation, and the provision of expert guidance and support. This role plays a critical part in shaping and delivering organisation-wide parking objectives, as well as supporting key projects and continuous improvement initiatives.

The Deputy National Parking Manager will have direct line management responsibility for the Parking Services team, ensuring high performance, consistency, and excellent service delivery across the team. This is a permanent full-time role for 37 hours per week which will be worked across 5 days from Monday to Sunday each week. The nature of the work includes requirement for regular rota'd weekend, public and privilege holiday and evening working. To accommodate this, a rostered 7-day contract will be issued as standard. There is also an expectation that this role may be required to be on-call on a rota’d basis to act as a weekend and evening escalation contact.

This role is offered on the basis of blended working, a combination of office based and the flexibility of some virtual working. The location of this post is at The Business Centre, Croxton Road, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 1JD. The post responsibilities cover the whole of England, and the post holder may need to travel (including some overnight stays) to sites across England as required by the role.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Line management of the Parking Services team, including supervising, planning, and monitoring workloads, and devising and managing a 7-day staff rota covering evenings and weekend shifts.

• Clearly communicate team objectives, priorities, and deadlines to ensure effective service delivery.

• Oversee the delivery of all responsibilities that fall within the Parking Services team remit, including customer service, supplier liaison, provision of support to district colleagues with their parking operations, transaction reporting and complaints handling, ensuring high standards and deadlines are consistently met.

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, staying informed of sector developments and identifying opportunities for improvement.

• Monitor team performance, conduct regular 1-2-1s, performance reviews, and provide constructive feedback to support individual and team development.

• Lead recruitment activities and coordinate comprehensive induction programmes for new staff.

• Act as the primary escalation point for complex visitor enquiries, complaints, and correspondence.

• Maintain and continuously improve administrative processes and systems to support operational efficiency.

• Provide operational and technical parking guidance to district teams.

• Collaborate with the Customer Relations team, utilising CRM systems (including Connections) to support service delivery.

• Work in partnership with the Membership team on projects, operational issues, and complaint resolution.

• Provide operational cover for Parking Services team during peak periods or staff absence as required.

• Undertake any other parking-related duties as reasonably requested by the line manager.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Proven experience of managing or supervising a team.

• Strong leadership and communication skills in dealing with internal and external stakeholders.

• Exemplary customer service skills, including experience of complaints handling.

• Excellent organisational and time-management skills.

• Decision-making skills.

• Competent IT user with experience of Microsoft suite of applications (Word Excel, Teams and Outlook).

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Experience of planning team shifts and rotas, preferably across a seven-day operation.

• Knowledge of applicable technology, systems and operating practices; for example, car parking systems or CRM databases.

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent professional experience gained in a related role.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,854, Forestry Commission contributes £9,807 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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

How to apply…

You will be asked to upload your CV and 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 experience and technical based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Managing a quality service
• Making effective decisions
• Leadership
• Changing &