Senior Land Management Agreement Officer

This is a unique opportunity to lead Natural Resources Wales’ Land Management Agreement (LMA) programme, a Grant in Aid funded initiative at the heart of protecting and restoring Wales’ most important natural places. Your work will directly contribute to tackling the Nature Emergency and delivering the ambitions set out in NRW’s Corporate Plan, making a tangible difference to the future of Wales’ environment.

You’ll work closely with Area Teams and colleagues across multiple Directorates to drive the programme’s delivery, ensuring objectives are met and progress is clearly tracked. You’ll oversee governance, monitor milestones, and provide confident, timely reporting that supports transparency and strong programme management.

Drawing on your technical expertise, you’ll interpret and apply relevant legislation to ensure the LMA programme remains compliant, effective and forward‑looking. You’ll help shape the systems, processes and ways of working that keep the programme robust and efficient, enabling NRW to secure long‑term, positive outcomes for nature across Wales.

As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the closest NRW office to your home 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 Chris Lindley at [email protected]

Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams 11th – 13th March 2026.

Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

What you will do

• Lead and co-ordinate specialist technical advice and guidance from a range of sources, including specialists within NRW, to ensure that options developed and decisions made are based on sound technical judgement, in line with current legislation, evidence and best practice
• Work with a virtual team, other NRW staff and external stakeholders, to plan and monitor the detailed programme of Grant-in-Aid funded Land Management Agreements for Protected Sites.
• Develop and manage contracts covering specific aspects of the programme.
• Maintain detailed records of programme progress and deliver reports to agreed timescales and milestones.
• Collate and analyse monitoring data to quantify the effectiveness of the programme. Present and share results and learning via written reports, dashboards and presentations, internally and externally.
• Support and actively contribute to regular meetings of the related governance group.
• Communicate effectively both at a local and national level with a variety of internal and external audiences.
• Manage the allocated programme budget and associated contractors to meet value for money and spend profile requirements.
• 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. Educated to a minimum of degree level in an environmental subject, or equivalent demonstratable experience.
2. Awareness of Welsh and UK legislation, drivers and opportunities relating to Protected Sites in Wales and knowledge and experience of land management approaches and Land Management Agreements to deliver related outcomes.
3. Significant experience of programme and/or multi-project management including planning and monitoring of budgets and risk management.
4. Strong ICT skills including Microsoft Office and data collation, analysis and management skills essential and knowledge of GIS desirable
5. Excellent communication skills including report writing, presentation and use of performance dashboards for a variety of audiences.
6. Excellent team working skills including the ability to work in a matrix management style with multiple teams and individuals across places, functions and Directorates.
7. Experience of developing and managing contracts effectively.

Welsh Language level requirements

• Essential: Level A1 – Entry level

Welsh language levels

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

We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

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.