Head of Landscape Recovery South

We’re looking for a Head of Landscape Recovery South to lead some of Derbyshire’s most ambitious and transformational landscape scale nature recovery programmes. This role sits at the heart of our vision for a Wilder Derbyshire, shaping the future of species recovery, ecological restoration, and resilient landscapes that benefit both wildlife and people.

You will play an important role in securing significant grant funding and investment to support delivery at county scale. You will identify funding opportunities, shape compelling propositions, and cultivate relationships with major funders, ensuring programmes are financially robust and ready for long term delivery.

This key role calls for a confident collaborator who can build strong, high-value relationships and bring creative thinking to securing investment in nature recovery.

What we can offer you:

• Flexible working options, we have adopted a 9-day working fortnight meaning all full time staff get a non-working Friday every fortnight
• 33 days annual leave including bank holidays, we also have a festive shutdown so all staff get the days between Christmas and New Year off in addition to their leave entitlement
• Sustainable Travel Employer (extra leave granted for staff using more green, sustainable transport)
• 9.5% employer pension contribution
• Electric bike and car salary-sacrifice schemes available
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Life Assurance Scheme
• Personalised Development programme designed to enhance your knowledge and progress your career
• A multi-disciplinary business, with opportunities to work on a wide range of projects, developing your experience and skills
• A close-knit, friendly and supportive team, with a relaxed office atmosphere

Our Values

Our work towards a Wilder 2030 is shaped by three core values:

Collaborative – We work together with colleagues, volunteers and communities because lasting change happens when everyone is involved.

Curious – We ask questions, explore new ideas and stay open to learning so we can keep improving and adapting for nature.

Courageous – We take bold action, challenge the status quo and stand up for what wildlife and people need.

If these values feel like you, you’ll thrive here.

About you

This role might be right for you if:

• You bring significant, proven experience in securing substantial grant funding—including leading major bids, cultivating funder relationships, and designing investment-ready programmes.
• You have led large-scale nature recovery, environmental or place-based programmes.
• You are a strategic leader, able to inspire, support and empower multidisciplinary teams to deliver ambitious, high-quality work.
• You create the conditions for others to excel, setting clear expectations, providing coaching, and fostering a culture of learning, collaboration and accountability.
• You have an excellent track record in stakeholder engagement, especially with public bodies, funders, landowners and strategic partners.
• You’re comfortable navigating uncertainty, shaping new opportunities, and inspiring colleagues and partners.
• You’re values-led—collaborative, curious and courageous—aligned with the Trust’s core values.

We are happy to talk flexible working!

This role will be based at our office in Middleton although a balance of home and office working will be allowed. We are a local charity so applicants should be easily able to access our office and other locations around the county.

Interviews are planned for Wednesday 20th May 2026.

For more information please refer to the job description and key terms. If you have any questions about the role which are not answered in the attached documents, or require adjustments to the application process, please either email [email protected] or call 01773 881188.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust

We’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and believe that everyone should have access to nature. We expect people to work harmoniously with each other and with volunteers, and to provide help and guidance to others when needed. As a small charity, our employees need to be willing to be flexible about working arrangements and willing to provide occasional cover for absent staff. We want people to develop professionally and personally while working with us and employees are encouraged to participate in the range of opportunities available to enable this.

We are proudly a Disability Confident Commitment employer. The scheme is helping us recruit and retain great people to meet our workforce needs. As a member of the scheme we interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the essential criteria for the role. You can request this and adjustments including accessible formats of this vacancy by emailing [email protected]

We recognise that AI is becoming part of daily life and you may want to use it to help you format your CV, create responses to application questions or even help you prepare responses. AI can be a powerful enabler and we are open to you using it to apply for roles with us, but we ask you to ensure anything you submit truly represents your capabilities and viewpoint. We value honesty, integrity and creativity and want to understand what you will uniquely bring to our team.