Woodlands Manager
About The Role:
We are looking for an experienced Woodlands Manager to manage and grow our commercial operations, develop our fencing business and aid in estate management. This is a permanent, 39 hour per week, Monday – Friday role, based on the estate just outside Lockerbie.
The perfect candidate will be excited to work autonomously to develop and grow our established forestry business with innovative and creative ideas. This interesting and varied role encompasses, but is not limited to managing the following tasks:
- Managing our experienced in-house forestry team, associated income and operational budgets effectively, efficiently and safely.
- Supervising our woodlands management and new woodland creation projects.
- The preparation, negotiation and submission of Forest Plans and Grant Applications and other related permissions.
- The preparation and management of standing timber sales, monitoring harvesting operations and maximising associated returns.
- Ongoing organisation and supervision of the forestry and woodland contract operations using independent contractors including harvesting, ground preparation, new planting, restocking and a wide range of woodland maintenance operations.
- The conduction of woodland assessments, mapping, preparation of reports and long-term plans and the communication of these with the estate leadership team.
- Promoting and improving the overall health and safety framework and culture for our forestry team.
- Manage the experienced in-house team, including a forestry and fencing foremen, to deliver work programmes.
- Be a key part of building and maintaining working relationships with the other estate departments, the local community, statutory consultees and customers.
Benefits
- Salary: competitive, dependant on experience and open to negotiation,
- Company Pension,
- 30 days holiday,
- Appropriate ongoing training is actively encouraged and supported to fill gaps in knowledge, skills and develop relevant new areas of interest,
- Housing arrangements available.
As a family-run business we believe in our roles being family friendly. If you are interested in this position but require flexible working arrangements, please let us know and we’d be happy to discuss options.
Person Specification
Skills and abilities
- Experience and knowledge of the forestry industry, grant processes, woodland operations and forestry standards is essential.
- Proven operational experience in a similar role where you have been involved with the management of woodland creation, estate management, delivering forest plans as well as supporting others within both the management and harvesting teams.
- A good working knowledge of the FGS and UK Forestry Standard.
- Excellent working knowledge of Health & Safety Practices.
- Experience of managing teams and stakeholder relationships.
Personal qualities
- Highly organised, with excellent communication skills.
- Good IT skills, including knowledge of GIS applications in forestry.
- Professional acumen and commercial awareness with a sound understanding of the rural sector and opportunities to grow and diversify.
- Able to work as part of a team and individually.
- Motivated and hard-working.
- Polite and friendly to colleagues, contractors and stakeholders across the estate.
- Innovative, enthusiastic and self-motivated with good problem-solving skills.
- You will have a desire to drive, develop and contribute to our land and forestry portfolio whilst making a positive impact within our dynamic forward-thinking team.
Qualifications
- A relevant forestry or land management qualification.
- ICF membership or working towards professional membership.
- Full UK Driving Licence.
- Right to the work in the UK.
About us:
Set in the beautiful rolling countryside of Southwest Scotland, Castlemilk and Corrie Estates is a historic family-owned and managed estate near the town of Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire. The estate extends to around 28,000 acres with tenanted and in hand farms, residential properties, commercial premises and around 4,000 acres of forestry as its core activities.
Our forestry operation comprises of around 5,000 acres of mixed commercial woodlands. As a company we are committed to responsible land management and an holistic approach to our forestry enterprise. We take particular pride in our long-running woodland experiments, which we would like to develop over the coming years.
Applications in writing along with CV and sent to k.buchanan-jardine@castlemilk.net
If you have specific questions about the role and would like to reach out before you apply, please contact Jamie.bj@castlemilk.net.
