Heathland Officer, Hook (North Hampshire)

Heathland Officer, Hook (North Hampshire)
Full Time – 35 hours per week
Salary: £29,190 - £31,600 gross per annum depending on skills and experience
Permanent Contract
Location: College Copse Farm, Rotherwick, Hook, RG27 9AU

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is shaping a wilder future for our counties – protecting special places, restoring habitats and inspiring people to act for nature. As part of the UK’s fastest-growing movement for nature’s recovery, we lead with passion, integrity and bold thinking. Join a team where your work has purpose, your ideas matter, and you can help create lasting change for wildlife and people. 
We are seeking a Heathland Officer, Hook (North Hampshire) to join our cause.
North Hampshire is an amazing place to live and work, and you will be part of a friendly team working from our farm, College Copse. North Hampshire has some of the best heathlands in the south of England which are home to some incredible wildlife species including adders, Dartford warblers, purple emperor butterflies and woodcocks.
This post offers a great opportunity to play a major role in managing Hook Common and Bartley Heath, a 123-hectare open heathland and woodland nature reserve, which supports a range of amazing wildlife, including basking reptiles, purple hairstreak butterflies, great crested newts and plants such as marsh gentians. The postholder would also be responsible for a few of our other smaller heathland sites in North Hampshire too.
What you’ll be doing
The variety of work that you carry out will involve managing scrub, tree management, building and maintaining fences to ensure they are stock proof, managing livestock and working with our local dedicated volunteer teams. You will also be responsible for estate and machinery maintenance, health and safety, infrastructure and access checks on the reserves you’ll be managing.
Each season will bring a new set of tasks and challenges, and you will be working on some of the best heathlands here in the south of England. The postholder will also have the opportunity to attend various training and development opportunities, work across our other nature reserves in Hampshire to develop their knowledge and expertise and support our conservation grazing programme based at College Copse Farm.
About you
You’ll be a proactive problem solver with a passion for conservation land management. You’ll enjoy hands-on work and be confident using machinery, with a genuine passion for protecting and restoring heathlands. You will bring energy, commitment, and a solid understanding of practical conservation management.
Wild About Inclusion!
As an inclusive employer we recognise that our workforce needs to better reflect the communities in which we live and work.  We encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly those underrepresented within our sector, including people from black, Asian, minority Ethnic backgrounds and people with disabilities. We are committed to creating a Movement that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.
Disability Confident. We are proudly a Disability Confident Committed employer. The scheme is helping us recruit and retain great people to meet our workforce needs. As a member of the scheme, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. You can request adjustments including accessible formats of this vacancy by emailing.
To be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme you must:
Identify as being disabled which under the Equality Act 2010 means a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial*, long term** adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities; or a long-term health condition; and;
 (*Substantial is more than minor or trivial **Long-term means 12 months or more)
Set out how you meet all the minimum qualifying criteria set out in the person specification for the post at the application and testing stages. This is a requirement for all candidates, not just those applying under the scheme.
We offer a wide range of benefits including a competitive salary, generous annual leave allowance, a contributory pension scheme, life assurance, learning and development support, 24-hour access to our employee assistance programme, discounted staff travel with our corporate partners Wightlink (subject to T&Cs), free parking at our sites and more.
Closing date:  15 April 2026
Interviews:  To be confirmed
To apply for the role, please click on the 'Apply Now' button at the top of the page. In the ‘supporting information’ section, you’ll need to demonstrate, with detailed examples, how you meet the job requirements using the Job Description and Person Specification below. Please note that we may occasionally close vacancies early when we have received enough applications that meet the required criteria.
Please do not use artificial intelligence tools to assist you to complete the application form. We may not accept applications that have been completed utilising AI tools. If you would usually use tools such as these to assist you in filling in a form, please contact us to discuss this further and understand other options.