National Forest for Wales Liaison Officer

Be part of a team of dedicated National Forest Liaison Officers who directly engaging with a broad range of farmers, landowners and stakeholders in order to deliver the National Forest status for additional sites.

You will be the first point of contact for Farmers, landowners, land managers and community groups seeking advice and guidance around woodland management, woodland creation community engagement, and public access.

Work innovatively with other partners to bring in essential skills and knowledge where needed to particular sectors. Provide advice to stakeholders that supports the sustainable management of natural resources.

As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the NRW office at the above location and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. Any regular face to face meetings or training will be planned in advance.

To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact Stacey Delbridge at [email protected]

Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams.

Successful external applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. We aim to make offers of appointment within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

About us

The National Forest for Wales team sits within the Land and Nature group of the Natural Resources Management Policy Department within the Evidence Policy and Permitting Directorate.

The NRM Policy department owns and defines, for NRW, the single-voice environment and people outcomes for each ecosystem, land, water and marine, and cross-cutting areas of NRM policy, in order to facilitate delivery of the Corporate Plan vision of nature and people thriving together.

We will facilitate delivery of these outcomes through leading a process of integrated environmental planning, focussing resources on activity that will have the greatest impact, and working with, and advising other departments, delivery services and mechanisms across NRW, in Welsh Government and partner organisation.

The National Forest for Wales team are delivering the National Forest for Wales programme for Welsh Government as part of their programme for government commitment to develop a nationwide network of resilient woodlands for people and nature.

What you will do

• Engage and enthuse new and existing stakeholders including farmers, communities, and landowners from across Wales on how new woodland can deliver their aspirations while also delivering multifunctional benefits to the environment, society, and the economy.
• Provide advice to comply with the regulatory requirements, source funding streams and promoting best practice for woodland management and creation. Alongside supporting landowners and forestry agents in identifying consultees, sources of information and relevant contacts to facilitate the preparation of high quality UKFS compliant woodland creation design plans and woodland management plans.
• Act as the point of contact for National Forest proposals and queries. The Liaison Officers will proactively deal with complex and contentious issues relating to people and woodland interests, leading to the delivery of project outcomes and development of work areas as necessary.
• Advise on recommendations for additional National Forest sites outside of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate through a mixture of enhancement and new woodland creation.
• Liaise with relevant NRW staff regarding interactions between teams to ensure the timely and effective delivery of project, policy or strategy obligations.
• Support engagement with sectors, partners, Welsh Government, Llais Y Goedwig, Farming Connect and other stakeholders in Wales; and be the lead point of contact for customer queries
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post
• Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills

In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method.

1. Knowledge and experience of forestry/woodland creation/public access/community engagement at all stages of project development from inception to delivery.
2. Ability to communicate effectively with external stakeholders and the public, explaining complex issues and gaining support by influencing.
3. Member of relevant professional body or visible commitment to your own CPD (or be prepared to join).
4. Proven project management experience.
5. Able to work well as part of a team and lead virtual task groups.
6. Experience of managing contentious issues and community liaison and public engagement activities
7. Have strong and effective self-management, organisational and interpersonal skills. 
8. Able to analyse complex information and situations, solve problems and make sound judgements
9. Able to write clear and concise documents

Welsh language level requirements

• Essential:  Level A1 – able to pronounce Welsh and use basic phrases

Please note if you do not meet the A1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Benefits 

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
• generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
• commitment to professional development
• health and wellbeing benefits and support
• weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

Please keep reading

If you think you have what it takes to do this role, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch and we will be happy to discuss the role with you in more detail.

We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of disability, neurodivergence, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender expression and gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, culture, or religion.   We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

We are committed to equal opportunities and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.  

We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards. Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.