Deer Officer
| Dyddiad hysbysebu: | 31 Gorffennaf 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cyflog: | £39,135 i £42,133 bob blwyddyn |
| Oriau: | Llawn Amser |
| Dyddiad cau: | 17 Awst 2025 |
| Lleoliad: | Bristol |
| Cwmni: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Math o swydd: | Dros dro |
| Cyfeirnod swydd: | 419644/1 |
Crynodeb
The Forestry Commission is committed to ensuring that wild deer remain a valued part of sustainable forestry in England. However, when deer populations become too high, they can negatively affect woodland health—hindering the regeneration of young trees, damaging mature trees, and altering the structure of woodland habitats. Overgrazing by deer can significantly reduce ground flora and biodiversity, impacting the overall resilience of our forests. This role plays a vital part in managing those impacts and supporting the long-term sustainability of England’s woodlands.
You will be part of the South West Area team and line managed by one of their Partnerships & Expertise Managers, with the Deer Advisor (from the national Policy Advice team) as your countersigning officer. This means your work will be delivered and directed locally, while benefiting from national oversight and strategic guidance.
If you are passionate about the role of trees, woods, and forestry in creating a better future for England—and understand the importance of managing wild deer as part of that vision—then we want to hear from you.
By joining the Forestry Commission, you will become part of a team of passionate, committed colleagues, and be able to build on a wealth of expertise to take this ambitious work forward. You will have the opportunity to make your mark by helping the Forestry Commission to revolutionise how we work together and reach new stakeholders.
The Deer Officer plays a critical role as the interface between Forest Services and landowners, land managers, and forestry agents, providing advice and facilitation for the management of wild deer to reduce their impacts on woodland condition and establishment.
The role involves engaging with woodland owners, agents, and stakeholders to provide guidance and advice on deer impacts and how they can be managed—with the aim of encouraging and enabling collaborative, landscape-scale deer management activities. The role will also involve sharing best practice within the deer community to ensure the sustainable management of deer populations in a safe and humane manner.
You will be expected to have strong experience and understanding of deer management issues, and to demonstrate either an existing or rapidly developed understanding of how these issues impact the objectives and activities of the Forestry Commission (both Forest Services and Forestry England, which manages the nation’s forests), Natural England, Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), and wider government. You will be expected to show initiative, work autonomously, and establish excellent working relationships with colleagues.
You will work with the South West Area Team, Policy Advice Team colleagues (specifically natural environment specialists), woodland owners and managers, stalkers, and deer interest groups—using your knowledge, experience, and sound judgement to reduce the long-term impact of deer on woodland condition. You will work alongside Woodland Officers and specialist delivery colleagues (such as Woodland Creation Officers) to ensure the delivery of Government forestry policy through the interpretation and effective use of advice, incentives, and regulations when advising woodland owners and their agents in reviewing or developing deer management plans.
Coordinating your work with other Deer Officers and the Deer Advisor, you will feedback lessons learned to Area and National Teams to help refine and promote best practice.
This role will require some evening and possibly limited weekend work for which overtime or time off in lieu may be payable.
If your home lies out-with your work area you will be expected to travel to your work area or designated parent office in your own time and cost.
Note: This is not a field-based deer stalking or culling role. The Deer Officer provides strategic advice, facilitation, and coordination to support sustainable deer management across landscapes.
Key Work Areas
1. Facilitate effective woodland management planning that incorporates active deer management measures:
Using influencing skills and your knowledge and experience of forestry and deer management, engage with woodland owners and their agents to encourage them to undertake deer management in their woodlands and at the landscape scale.
- Raise awareness among landowners, managers and agents as to the importance of deer management, individually or via group events – tailoring messages to the audience and their interests.
- Encourage collaboration between neighbouring landowners, recognising that landscape-scale approaches provide the more effective outcomes.
- Provide advice and guidance on suitable deer management and control measures, and facilitate their implementation.
- Empower Woodland Officers to make better decisions in their advice to woodland owners and their agents when reviewing/developing plans to manage deer in their woods.
- Encourage owners to produce or update existing UKFS-compliant management plans. This could include encouraging applications for Countryside Stewardship woodland management planning grant.
2. Support area team colleagues with Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier applications and deer management plans:
- Take the lead on reviewing species management plans that involve deer for any new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CS HT) applications.
- Review and respond to deer management plans received as part of existing CS HT agreements.
- Provide expert specialist advice to area team colleagues to facilitate their work in managing deer impacts on woodlands.
3. Develop and disseminate good - or best - working practices:
Working as part of the Area team, you will share knowledge and experience through working with operational staff, policy makers, owners, agents and stalkers to:
- Work closely with national and Area colleagues to build networks and run events to effectively build and disseminate best practice among the landowner/manager and the deer management community.
- Engage with woodland owners, managers and contractors, and specialist deer and wildlife management groups such as the Deer Initiative Partnership to represent the FC position and share your expertise.
- Use your experience on the ground to contribute to national FS discussions on the management of deer including recommending updates to policy, guidance and regulation where these are proving a barrier to engagement or uptake.
- Make active personal use of social media to raise awareness and share best practice and advice.
4. Identify priority areas for deer management with Area team:
Working with the Area team and local stakeholders, you will identify priority areas where deer are having an acute impact on the health and vitality of woodlands (particularly SSSI and other high value woodlands) and where there are opportunities to influence the decisions of woodland owners.
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