Farm Wildlife Training and Education Project Manager

Nature- and climate-friendly farming practices need to be adopted at scale across the UK to drive nature’s recovery and help farm businesses increase their resilience in the face of climate change impacts. We know that nature’s recovery is essential to the UK’s long term food security, and over the last thirty years the RSPB has been working to understand how to do that. Together with our partners we have developed the Farm Wildlife approach, identifying six key actions to help support nature on UK farmland. To help increase the proportion of land managed well for nature, we have an opportunity to utilise this approach to help advance the knowledge and skills of those managing land in the UK through training and education.

This is an excellent opportunity to support nature- and climate-friendly farming outreach and engagement. We are looking for an effective advocate with experience in developing engagement programmes and training related to nature- and climate-friendly farming. You will be passionate about developing and securing the outcomes that help tackle the nature and climate crises. You will have strong communication and engagement skills, knowledge about nature- and climate-friendly farming, a deep understanding of farming audiences and farmer motivations and strong people skills to help drive this work forward. 

What’s the role about?

You will help shape how we support and inspire farmers and farm advisors to take positive action for nature. Through the development of bespoke training, you will ensure that high-quality nature conservation training is available to a variety of audiences, resulting in the delivery of high-quality farmland habitat management. You will oversee a programme of work that will involve convening farming and biodiversity experts, science leads and policy colleagues and partners to help deliver our shared advisory work on nature-friendly farming through:

• Engaging and consulting with Farm Wildlife partners to reflect the six key actions identified to support wildlife across different taxa groups
• Establishing relationships and consulting with contacts across the farm advice, education and training sectors to secure opportunities for delivering training and education
• Managing the co-design of relevant and accessible training and knowledge transfer resources

The Farm Wildlife Training and Education Project Manager will be responsible for:

• Effective management of the project to increase the availability and take-up of training to support high-quality habitat management on farmland
• Working with RSPB colleagues to identify and engage external partners, training and education providers to explore opportunities for co-designing training for advisors, farmers and agricultural trainees across the different farming sectors and four countries of the UK.
• Ensuring that relevant and accessible resources are developed, delivering practical advice that can work for farm businesses.
• Engaging with and reporting to relevant groups
• Establishing project teams with appropriate governance
• Working with the Farm Wildlife team to improve the Farm Wildlife website
• Ensuring project legacy by exploring and securing opportunities to deliver training on a paid-for basis or through other funding mechanisms.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience:

• Experience of working in an agricultural training or education setting
• Experience of developing high-quality, accessible training materials
• Good understanding of the role of farming in UK nature conservation
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to deliver complex technical information to a range of audiences
• Excellent organisational skills
• Able to lead without line management authority to deliver agreed outcomes
• Able to influence a wide range of people, both internally and externally
• Ability to manage change within projects and agree solutions with key stakeholders
• Competent IT user (MS packages including Excel, Outlook etc)
• Knowledge of Project Management approaches – Desirable
• Experience of working in partnership – Desirable
• Experience of managing websites – Desirable
• Video editing and social media skills – Desirable

This is a Fixed-Term (24 months) Part-Time role for 30 hours per week.The RSPB reserves the right to extend or make this role permanent without further advertising dependent on business needs at the end of the contract term.

We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 30 April. For further information please contact [email protected].

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

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.

The RSPB is a licenced sponsor. 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.