Team Leader Forest Operations

Team / Directorate: Mid North / Operations

Starting salary:  £45,367 rising to £50,877 per annum through annual increments being paid each year (pro rata for part time applicants)

Contract type: Permanent 

Work pattern:  Full time, 37 hours per week (Part time, annualised hours, compressed hours or term time working considered - discussions at interview stage welcome)

Interview Date: 28/07/2025

Post number: 200468 ENV

The role

As Team Leader Forest Operations, you’ll play a key role in delivering sustainable, multi-functional forestry across approximately 12,000 hectares of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE) in Mid Wales.

In this rewarding and challenging role, you’ll lead a team of nine skilled and passionate forestry staff, managing the western side of NRW’s Mid-North area — including Dyfi Forest, the surrounding woodlands near Machynlleth, Artists Valley, and Nant yr Arian. Your team’s work directly contributes to delivering high-calibre forestry operations that balance commercial production with conserving and enhancing habitats, improving water retention, and strengthening climate resilience.

Your responsibilities will include oversight of your team’s work programme, budget, health and safety compliance, and supplier contracts — ensuring delivery is on time, to a high standard, and safely in all weathers and terrains. You'll foster a culture of collaboration, mentoring, and continued professional development, helping your team grow their skills and expertise while delivering high-impact forestry operations across the landscape.

As Team Leader, you’ll work closely with colleagues in related teams — from Land Management and Integrated Engineering to Wildlife Management — and you’ll report directly to the Operations Manager for Mid-North Wales. You'll be a key contributor within the team, helping NRW achieve its goals for climate mitigation, sustainable forestry, and conserving nature for future generations.

As an organisation we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the NRW office at the above location 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 Julian Barnes at julian.barnes@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk.

Interviews will be held on Microsoft Teams. 

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.

About us

Natural Resources Wales has a broad remit, encompassing land and water management, regulation, and delivery across the country. This role sits within one of four forest operations teams in Mid Wales—a region that holds the largest share of managed forest land among NRW’s place-based teams. Mid Wales also contributes approximately half of NRW’s total sustainable timber harvest.

Our core priorities include the sustainable management of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE) to produce high-quality timber that supports carbon storage through long-life wood products. Alongside timber production, we are committed to enhancing and expanding habitats for wildlife, restoring ancient woodlands to native tree species over time, and improving water quality and retention on the land we manage. These efforts directly support NRW’s key objectives around climate change mitigation, biodiversity recovery, and water management.

This role is critical to delivering those goals on the ground. You will ensure that operations and contracts are delivered to a high standard, and that the land in our care is managed safely and responsibly in line with our environmental and organisational objectives.

What you will do

• Lead and develop staff and plan, monitor and manage resources to deliver workplan to budget and timescale. 
• Ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of team members by implementing and monitoring safe working practices and risk assessments.
• Be responsible for land management decisions and operational delivery’ at place level, ensuring adherence to the industry standards to adhere to all relevant legislation and certification schemes.
• Provide technical advice and guidance to enhance risk-based decision making. 
• Have budgetary control of team spending.
• 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. Professional membership (required, or to be attained within an agreed and reasonable timescale). Typically, MICEEM, MICFor, or MRICS).
2. Experience of a relevant scientific or technical subject to at least one of the programmes and staff group managed. 
3. Coaching and mentoring skills.
4. Good understanding of commercial business processes and pressures.
5. Extensive knowledge and experience of at least one of the following; conservation scientific subjects, land management, forest practise and forest operations.

Welsh language level requirements

• Essential: Level A1 – Entry level (able to use and understand simple, basic phrases and greetings, no conversational Welsh)

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. 

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