Wildlife Ranger

Job summary

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

Job description

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.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• experience in wildlife (deer) management and wildlife conservation.
• experience in land management and conservation.
• good understanding of woodland management and woodland ecology.
• experience of using effective communication skills to convey messages to a variety of audiences.
• competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications.
• be able to manage a deer dog to Forestry England’s standard.

Desirable professional and technical experience

• experience of building management.

Qualifications
Essential

• DMQ Deer Stalking Certificates Levels 1 and 2, including Trained Hunter status, and/or an equivalent recognised industry qualification
  • current police firearms certificate.
• full UK driving license.

Desirable

• qualification in wildlife or conservation land management such as a BTEC National Diploma.
• European protected species (EPS) handling licences.
• driving license category B E or be willing to obtain this during your probation.
• appropriately trained in the safe use of Sit-Astride ATVs (Quad Bikes) or be willing to obtain this within the probationary period.
• Forestry First Aid F+.

Behaviours

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

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

Technical skills

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

• Candidates will be expected at interview to also undertake a firearms skills test.Full details in advert

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,793, Forestry Commission contributes £10,079 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 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