Project Officer – South Yorkshire

A four day a week fixed term post is available for a period of two years. The employer is the
Waterlife Recovery Trust, and the post is funded by Yorkshire Water as part of their
Biodiversity Enhancement Programme. If follow-on funding is secured, as expected, the post may
be renewable. The purpose of the project is to remove invasive American mink from South
Yorkshire, to protect endangered water voles and other native wildlife and allow their
populations to recover. The post-holder will extend and develop a mink trapping network across
‘their area’ using ‘smart’ mink traps monitored by volunteers. The project will use adaptive
management techniques to maximise efficiency and effectiveness; the ‘best practice’ for humane
mink trapping is detailed on the WRT website.

The post will be home-based in South Yorkshire. The Project Officer (PO) will be expected to
use their own vehicle for travel and moving trapping equipment but receive a mileage rate for
doing so. Flexibility in working hours will be key; this is not a 9-5 weekday office job.
Although POs will not be expected to exceed 32 hours a week on average, some weeks will be
busier than others. At least a few minutes of work will be needed every day, including at
weekends, to support volunteers, ensure that our work is always carried out to the highest
animal welfare standards and keep our database fully up to date. The post holder will work in
close collaboration with other WRT Project Officers.

All necessary training and PPE will be provided.

Responsibilities and duties

• Maintain and extend an existing smart trapping network across ‘your area’.
• Seek, recruit and inspire new volunteers who wish to protect water voles and other wildlife
  by managing smart traps in their local area.
• Distribute mink rafts, cage traps and automated trap monitors and support volunteers in
  their safe and humane use.
• Use an air rifle to dispatch cage trapped mink humanely.
• Collect mink carcases, take measurements and tissue samples for DNA analysis.
• Accurately record data about trap locations and details of trapped mink and promptly upload
  those data to the project’s database.
• Travel throughout the area to deliver equipment and liaise with volunteers.
• Keep in contact with volunteers by telephone, email and in person.
• Provide advice to help volunteers operate safely.
• Provide written reports and feedback as requested.
• Liaise with other POs to ensure seamless coverage through the project area.
• Build awareness of the damage caused by American mink to native wildlife.
• Be an ambassador for the humane control and eradication of mink.

Personal specification

Essential criteria:

• Own transport, with business use insurance and full driving licence.
• Physically fit.
• Good attention to detail.
• An appropriate home location to deliver the project effectively.
• A good ‘team player’ with the ability to communicate and build good relationships with a
  wide range of partners, volunteers and landowners.
• Flexible, enthusiastic and self-motivated: able to work unsupervised, reliably delivering
  the requirements of a project.
• Desire to foster continual improvement within the project.
• Prepared to work out of doors, alone in the countryside and at weekends and outside
  standard office hours.
• Willing to humanely dispatch trapped mink.
• Degree in environmental subject or good wildlife knowledge and passion for conservation.
• Comfortable with the daily use of IT.
• Available to start in September 2025.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience in the safe use of air guns and other weapons.
• Practical experience of the control of mink or other invasive species.
• A knowledge of wildlife, farming and country pursuits.