Wild Heart Site Manager

Do you want to help shape the future of landscape-scale ecological restoration in Southern Scotland?

Borders Forest Trust (BFT) is a leading Scottish conservation charity dedicated to restoring native woodland and natural habitats for the benefit of both wildlife and people. We are seeking an enthusiastic, experienced and highly organised Wild Heart Site Manager to lead delivery of habitat restoration and community engagement across our inspiring Wild Heart sites in the central Southern Uplands and across other BFT sites when required.

This is a rare opportunity to combine practical conservation, team leadership and strategic land management within some of Scotland’s most beautiful wild landscapes.

About the Role

The Wild Heart Site Manager will lead the delivery of land management and engagement activity across BFT’s four Wild Heart ecological restoration sites: Carrifran Wildwood, Corehead & the Devil’s Beef Tub, Talla & Gameshope and Ericstane North. Together these sites cover 3,250 hectares of hills and valleys in the Central Southern Uplands and are the focus of the “Reviving the Wild Heart of Southern Scotland” landscape scale nature recovery initiative. Our other sites will also need Site Manager oversight and coordination, where you will work collaboratively with our community and education and landowner outreach team members.

Reporting to the Head of Land Management, you will manage a small and dedicated team consisting of two Wild Heart Site Officers and a Wild Heart Project Officer. You will also manage the operational collaboration between the Land Management team and our community and education team. You will play a key role in ensuring our sites are safe, accessible, well-maintained and delivering BFT’s vision for landscape-scale ecological restoration.

The role combines indoor and outdoor working and requires a mix of practical land management expertise, excellent communication skills, strategic planning ability and a passion for working with people.

If you have experience in practical land management, strong people management skills, excellent project management, and have a proactive and collaborative approach to problem solving, we would love to hear from you.

Why Join Borders Forest Trust?

You will join a small, dynamic and passionate team directly contributing to restoring native woodland and reviving woodland culture in the South of Scotland. This is an exciting opportunity to make a lasting impact on people, wildlife and landscapes at a meaningful scale.

Benefits

• 5% employer pension contribution
• 24 days statutory holiday + 10 bank holidays annually
• Employee assistance program to support wellbeing, including free counselling sessions
• Benefits package is currently being improved

We support all our staff with training and development, hold monthly team days, and other team building days to build a positive team experience in an organisation where many staff work remotely out on site throughout the week.

Location, Working hours & Travel

• Based across BFT’s sites with an office base at Borders Forest Trust’s main office near Jedburgh. The post holder must have flexibility to be able to work in the BFT office and/or on BFT sites 3-4 days a week. Some home working will be considered with exact work place to be agreed on appointment.
• Permanent, full-time role 37.5 hours per week, regularly including evenings and weekends. Core hours are flexible and weekend/evening work is acknowledged through time off in lieu (TOIL), overtime will not be paid.
• A driving license and car are required with agreed mileage expenses (in accordance with BFT’s mileage policy) re-imbursed at a rate of 45p/mile. Staff are responsible for recording their own mileage. A shared BFT vehicle is available for use for site travel.

Closing date: Noon on Monday 29 June 2026

Interviews are expected to take place on 20 July in Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway and will include a panel interview and site visit – so several hours will be needed.

Further information, including the full job description with person specification, can be found on the Borders Forest Trust website via the link below.

Email [email protected] for any enquiries about the post.