Area Director

Job summary

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.

Their staff engagement levels are consistently well above average, and staff turnover is well
below, for the Civil Service. They value their people, look after them, and they will look
after you.

Job description

This Area Director role will lead the South East and London Area team within Forest Services
Delivery.

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.

You will lead and champion the work of a team of passionate, committed and expert colleagues to
deliver their aims for woodland expansion, protection and more woodlands into management. Your
team’s work will also help connect more people to the vision in the Forestry Commission’s
strategy: Helping to tackle some of society’s biggest challenges with thriving trees, woods and
forests. You will also make your mark through your senior leadership contribution across the
Forestry Commission, working alongside colleagues in Forestry England, Forest Research and FC
Commissioners Office.

If you strongly believe in the role that forestry and woodlands have in creating a better, more
resilient future for England, and you want to play a key part in leading and realising our
ambitions for the South East region, we want to hear from you. They hope you will join them for
the challenge.

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 also be leading the team in connecting people
with trees and woodlands as well as supporting the green economy. 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.

Area Director led teams are successfully delivering many of the benefits of the long-term plans
for environmental improvement and nature restoration, including helping create a successful
timber and ecosystem services market. In leading a large team that is tasked to deliver these
programmes you will direct our delivery focus and tools: our expertise and professional advice,
partnerships, incentives and regulations, all underpinned by the UK Forestry Standard, the Tree
Health Resilience Strategy, and training and development for our staff.

Our values set out how we deliver: through teamwork, professionalism, respect, communication,
learning and creativity. We have a strong network of partners and stakeholders helping us to
develop innovative and practical solutions.

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.

Person specification

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.