Senior Site Manager

Job Description

Sherwood Forest is one of the UK's most iconic destinations & a name recognised the world over. Each year, it attracts thousands of visitors from across the globe. But Robin Hood & the Major Oak are only part of the story.

Together with the heath of Budby South Forest to the north, Sherwood forms a National Nature Reserve where staff & volunteers work hard every day to protect one of Europe's few remaining ancient woodlands.

It is a diverse and complex site, which is what makes this an exciting opportunity for an experienced Site Manager. You'll be leading the day-to-day operations at Sherwood & Budby, as well as setting the strategic direction for one of the region's most important international visitor destinations.

Crucially, you will need to have experience of managing multi-disciplined teams, ensuring that we achieve our objectives for income generation, biodiversity, community engagement, inclusion & so much more besides.

As part of this role you will:

• Lead the vision & direction for the site.
• Head up & develop the site's management team to effectively deliver agreed objectives.
• Recruit, manage, develop staff & drive performance of the whole team.
• Lead the key partner relationships at a strategic level, & support your team to create and sustain constructive local partnerships.
• Work with the team to plan, organise & co-ordinate diverse activities to maximise visitor experience & income potential.
• Work with the team to proactively engage with the local community.
• Develop and manage the site’s budget plan to deliver RSPB & reserve-specific objectives.
• Be responsible for ensuring the safe management of all site operations.
• Work closely with the Visitor Operations team to increase footfall and income.
• Work actively with the RSPB Land Agency team to ensure that the reserve’s estate & its buildings are well-maintained, safe, secure and risk-free at all times.
• Work actively with RSPB colleagues & partners to secure external grant income for a range of projects, programmes on the reserve & the wider Sherwood landscape.
• Project manage large/medium projects to ensure all our strategic targets are achieved & objectives met.

Essential skills, knowledge & experience

• The ability & experience to be a natural leader with excellent communication skills, who can successfully engage & influence.
• Can motivate & inspire across multi-disciplinary teams (internally/externally) at all levels to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
• A diplomatic partnership worker who can successfully manoeuvre, influence & negotiate within a political environment.
• Can demonstrate experience of applying different leadership techniques to drive a high-performing team.
• Have applied or can apply a long-term vision approach to ensure best use of resources, balancing conservation management with visitor operations.
• Able to understand and manipulate data to inform operational decision-making and ensure sustainable business management.
• Computer literate – able to competently use Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OneDrive and Sharepoint.
• An experienced multi-disciplined budget holder with a track record of managing budgets in excess of £1.1m.
• Have led and monitored compliance in land management obligations and health and safety.
• Have led a large complex site with a multi-disciplined team.
• Experience delivering large scale projects.

As part of this application process you will be asked to provide a copy of your CV and complete an application form including evidence on how you meet the skills, knowledge, and experience listed above.

This is a full time role for 37.5hrs per week. We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from w/c 3rd July 2023. For further information please contact gemma.howarth@rspb.org.uk

During the application phase, we will be holding several open sessions to explain more about what the role entails and the RSPB’s work at Sherwood Forest. If you would like to attend, please contact Jenni Wilding (Jenni.Wilding@rspb.org.uk). Alternatively, individual discussion can be arranged on request. For further information or if you have any queries, please email Jenni.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

Before applying for this role, we recommend reading through the candidate guidance notes attached to the top of this advert.