Location: Broadstone Building, 50 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9LD/Appropriate NTS Regional Office. Flexibility to include some working-at-home under our hybrid working arrangements

Type of Contract: Full-Time, 40 Hours Per Week. Fixed-Term Until January 2029.

JOB PURPOSE

The National Trust for Scotland is Scotland’s largest membership organisation and Scotland’s largest charity land manager. We manage many of Scotland’s most significant woodlands, from the extensive Caledonian pinewoods of Mar Lodge to rainforest hazelwood’s in the Hebrides and endemic Whitebeam woodlands on Arran.

As a founding member of both the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest and Caledonian Pinewood Partnership and as a key delivery partners with the Scottish Government for landscape scale ecological restoration of native woodland in Scotland, we are recruiting a post to help drive this exciting work.

You will lead the Trusts outreach for native woodland restoration across Scotland, developing several large scale projects. You will build partnerships with private landowners, communities of place and communities of interest, including other eNGOs and conservation organisations. You will have the backing and support of our nature, fundraising, planning, community engagement, estates and media teams.

The focus of your work will be developing two Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest landscape scale projects in West Lochalsh and on Arran and provide initial contact and support to pinewood managers who look after threatened remnants, to bring their sites into recovery.

We are looking for strong communication & diplomacy skills, which can be influential at a network scale. Someone who can build trust and influence in land management situations, across a diverse range of partners with different interests and objectives. Someone who can develop partnership project plans, acting as the bridge between our internal expertise, existing and new partners. In particular you will develop delivery project content to a “shovel ready” stage, so your fundraising colleagues can draft applications.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Making initial contact, maintaining and/or developing ongoing communication and liaison with external landowners, stakeholders and associated organisations.
Understanding external landowner’s and communities’ values, objectives and constraints and communicating the Trusts, with a view to building trust, understanding and cooperation in relation to collaborative, nature positive land management.
Develop collegiate partnership operations and memoranda of understanding with both internal and external stakeholder input and support.
Liase with internal NTS expertise across multiple disciplines, to inform your delivery of external communications and advice to stakeholders.
Develop collaborative landscape scale funding bids across multiple estates and landholdings, including both NTS land and externally owned land, in association with the Trusts fundraising team.
Supporting applications for government grants including Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme, Agri Environment Climate Scheme, Nature Restoration Fund etc.
Coordinate delivery of landscape scale nature restoration projects across multiple estates and landholdings, including both NTS land and externally owned land, including budget management.
Procure and manage contracts associated with landscape scale nature restoration projects, monitor delivery of grant conditions and complete grant claims & reports.
Organise partnership meetings and events to strengthen networks and collaboration within the partnership.
Write reports for partners and funders showing progress against agreed objectives and funding obligations.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE

Qualifications and Experience

We are looking for someone with strong communication and diplomacy skills, with good interpersonal and team building skills. Someone who can develop understanding and consensus in partnerships which bring people together with an agreed purpose. And who can then deliver these projects effectively in a coordination role. These skills can be developed from a wide range of backgrounds.

Essential

Strong, effective communication skills.
Influential at a network scale.
Ability to build trust and influence in a land management situation.
Developing project plans.
Understanding of land management relevant to the partnership project type.
Basic ecological understanding of the habitats and species of relevance to the project.
Strong time management and prioritising skills in a multifaceted situation.
Reporting project activity or similar.
Safe working experience in an outdoor situation.
A driving licence valid for driving within the U.K.
Ability to travel throughout Scotland regularly, including remote, wild and rugged locations.
Profficient in Microsoft Office applications or similar.

Desirable

Experience of applying for government land management grants, for example Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme, Agri Environment Climate Scheme, Nature Restoration Fund etc.
Experience of developing fundraising applications.
Experience of chairing meetings.
Experience of procuring & managing contracts.
Experience of community engagement and consultation.
Well-developed ecological understanding of the habitats and species of relevance to the project.
Prior delivery of landscape scale nature restoration projects in a coordination role.
Experience of working in rural sectors relevant to the partnership project type e.g. forestry/farming/stalking.
Developing budgets in a relevant situation.
Managing budgets in a relevant situation.
A relevant degree, MSc or PhD.
GIS proficient.

DIMENSIONS AND SCOPE OF JOB

Scale

Responsible for developing and coordinating large multi-landowner landscape scale partnership projects.
Responsible for the external reputation of the Trust (in the relevant projects).
Responsible for partnership relations of the Trust (in the relevant projects).
Responsible for undertaking work safely in outdoor areas.

People Management

Contract management for land survey and management operations.
Developing, maintaining and leading networks of landowners, agencies, communities and charities (in a project development and management situation).
No direct line management responsibility.
The role reports to Head of Nature Conservation at the National Trust for Scotland.

Finance Management

Developing multi-million pound landscape scale funding bids involving several external partners.
Coordinating delivery of multi-million pound landscape scale funding bids involving several external partners.
Budget management of above projects (Budget holder).
Budget reporting, both internally and externally to partners and funders of above projects.

Tools/equipment/systems

Standard IT equipment for office work.

Key performance indicators and targets

Building partnerships to help deliver the Trusts Plan for Nature at our places and achieve wider impact at a landscape scale.
Deer impacts reduced, INNS reduced and Trust Priority Species and Trust Priority Habitats regenerating.
Maintaining and Improving the Trusts’ reputation as an impactful nature conservation organisation.
Maximise financial income for nature conservation, including operations and cost recovery of salaries.

The Purpose, Context, Key Responsibilities, and Person Specification reflect the requirements of the job at the time of issue. The Trust reserves the right to amend these with appropriate consultation and/or request the post-holder to undertake any activities that it believes to be reasonable within the broad scope of the job or his/her general abilities.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants should forward their CV by clicking the apply button.

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