Job Description
Permanent, Full Time
£25,959 - £29,820 per annum
Location: Essex
Working Style: Operational field-based worker
We have an exciting opportunity for a Roaming Ranger to join our dedicated team, based at Danbury Country Park and working across all eight Essex Country Parks, as well as the county's associated rail trails and woodlands.
Essex is a diverse county, home to both highly affluent communities and areas experiencing significant deprivation. Culture and Green Spaces play a vital role in enhancing residents' quality of life by providing exceptional outdoor spaces and visitor experiences. Through the effective management of our green spaces, we aim to maximise the benefits of Essex's unique landscape while supporting a financially sustainable operation.
As a Ranger, you will help manage and maintain a range of green spaces across Essex, ensuring high standards of conservation, horticulture and land management. You will play a key role in creating safe, welcoming and well-presented environments for visitors while helping to protect and enhance the natural landscape.
This is a varied and rewarding role where no two days are the same. Alongside practical land management and conservation work, you will deliver excellent customer service, support community engagement initiatives, and assist with activities, events and special interest groups that connect people with Essex's parks and open spaces.
If you're passionate about conservation, enjoy working outdoors, and are committed to delivering outstanding visitor experiences, we'd love to hear from you.
To read more about us please visit: Candidate Pack | Explore Essex and Place and Customer
Accountabilities
- Support the requirement to build and maintain effective relationships with neighbours, stakeholders and partners by liaising with other landowners and community groups.
- Undertake and participate in a range of projects to contribute to the effectiveness of activities and share knowledge and expertise on all country park activities.
- Contribute to creating a safe environment for visitors by conducting regular checks of the country parks and to ensure it is a clean and safe environment for all visitors and users.
- Responsible for aspects of the day-to-day operation of the sites and their facilities, ensuring the sites are well presented and maintained at all times, good repair regimes and clear work programmes are followed.
- Contribute to the management of the land to enhance its nature conversation, habitat and landscape management, historic features and structures, for recreational and amenity value to achieve a high quality of land management to support the sites management plan and contribute to maintaining the Greenflag status across all sites.
- Contribute to ensuring country parks meet all legislative requirements including all byelaws, health and safety and other relevant legislation, carrying out regular Health and Safety checks and completing all relevant paperwork/reports in line with the parks procedures
- Responsibility for the management of casual staff, volunteers and work experience placements to ensure they are fully supported in their daily tasks.
- Engage with customers to consider and improve the visitor’s experience; dealing with issues and problems involving visitors that occur within a country park.
- Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
The Experience You Will Bring
- Educated to degree level in countryside management or equivalent by experience in country park management.
- Have a selection of industry relevant national governing body accredited qualifications. Examples could be First Aid, Tractor Operations, Chain Saw, Brush Cutter etc.
- Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to demonstrate good customer service.
- Evidence of delivering excellent customer service across a wide range of people.
- Understanding and experience of ecological/habitat management and the Country Parks ethos and commitment to promoting enjoyment of the countryside.
- Evidence of working within a team to achieve joint objectives.
- Experience of planning and managing resources, including staff and services, arranging for purchases as required, in line with procedures and maintaining records.
Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a dr