Wildlife conservation project jobs in canterbury, kent

Volunteering Development Officer - Local Groups
Reference: APR20257427
Location: Flexible in UK
Salary: £27,123.00 - £28,956.00, Per Annum Pro Rata
Hours: Part-Time, 22.5 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Benefits: Pension Scheme, Life Assurance Scheme, 26 days' Annual Leave (pro rata)

The RSPB strategy to 2030 is all about saving nature through people. Our aim is that our volunteers and Local Groups are embedded in this strategy and continue to deliver impactful work to save nature. To do this, we want to build on our existing relationships and ways of working and harness their enthusiasm, working as one team for nature.

This role would continue the smooth transition from the Saving Nature through Local Groups project into core delivery, taking responsibility of the Vision and Local Group action plan.

What's the role about?

The successful candidate will raise the profile of our groups externally as well as empower and support staff to build productive and collaborative working relationships with the groups.

You will develop resources and guides that will help groups run efficiently, improve their activity programmes and grow their membership. Working closely with country teams you will deliver workshops, training and support to Local Groups as appropriate.

You will raise awareness and understanding of volunteering, championing it to ensure that it is valued and seen as a positive way of meeting business needs.

You will also deliver a recognised and respected source of leadership, support and transformational advice to the UKHQ team seeking to develop new volunteering initiatives.

This role would have an individual specialism but with the ability to be flexible to cover the priorities required across the department and the UK wide needs, ensuring that they identify and own the ‘once for all volunteering work’, i.e. the information, processes, procedures and projects that affect volunteering across the whole organisation, and support this through funding, project development, training and resources.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience:

• Understanding and knowledge of volunteering innovation, best practice and sector standards.
• Demonstrable track record of having successfully and effectively developed a range of volunteering roles and schemes across an organisation.
• Experience of providing operational advice and guidance on volunteer involvement to people at all levels.
• Building effective stakeholder relationships with a focus on community groups.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills; ability to manage and deliver a portfolio of work and balance the priorities and needs of multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to be proactive, use initiative and work independently.
• Strong skills in identifying and analysing problems, issues and areas of improvement, working collaboratively to develop creative strategies and solutions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, successfully influencing, persuading, guiding, listening to, and negotiating with others, constructively challenging thinking.
• Experience of working in a customer-focused environment.

Desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Qualification in volunteer management.
• Good training, facilitation and coaching skills; ability to enthuse and inspire and increase others’ confidence.
• Experience of working in an HR/Customer database.

Closing date: 23:59, Wednesday 21st May 2025
We are looking to conduct interviews for this position from 4th June 2025.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

As part of this application process you will be asked to complete an application form including evidence on how you meet the skills, knowledge, and experience listed above. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

No agencies please.

Job Description

Job Title: Training and Development Officer

Location: Home-based, covering the South

Salary: £26,000 (pro-rata), you’d get £15,600 (gross)

Hours: 29.6 hours to be worked flexibly over 4 days

Contract: fixed-term to end of March 2028, Term Time Only

About us:

Learning through Landscapes is the UK’s leading school grounds charity, dedicated to enhancing outdoor learning and play for all. Our vision is a society where the benefits of regular time outdoors are valued and appreciated, and outdoor learning, play and connection with nature is recognised as a fundamental part of education, at every stage, for every child and young person.

We have unrivalled expertise based on three decades of experience, practical action and research. With offices in England and Scotland and staff based across the UK, our team and our accredited network of outdoor learning experts have the capacity to work nationally and internationally. Click HERE for more information.

What you’ll be doing:

As a Training and Development Officer, you will be working directly with teachers and other education staff supporting their journeys in taking curriculum learning and play outside and to utilise their school grounds. You will deliver LtL’s training and projects within diverse communities across a significant geographical area. This role is part of our exciting new climate change education initiative. It is essential that you are able and willing to travel the Southwest and throughout the UK, including overnight. For more details of the role see the Key Responsibilities document.

What you’ll need:

· Experience of delivering projects with diverse communities

· Experience of training and advising educational staff in primary or secondary schools.

· Experience of delivering outdoor nature-based and curriculum linked learning activities

· A passion for nature

· Experience of producing written materials; educational resources, reports, and similar project related communications

· Competent IT skills (particularly Microsoft Office, Teams and Outlook)

· Excellent planning and organisational skills with the ability to manage and deliver a varied workload

· Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to find creative solutions

· Good interpersonal skills

· An understanding of the role safeguarding plays in education

· Ability to work from home or suitable office-type venue

If you don’t have all of the above but feel it could be the role for you, talk to us!

What we offer:

· Flexible working

· Holiday, 28 days + bank holidays + a “birthday gift” day

· Laptop, phone and all travel & subsistence expenses

· Family & carer friendly policies

· Annual training package including: LtL Professional Accreditation in Outdoor Learning and Play, LtL Climate School 180 Network Training package

· Sick pay

· Pension scheme – 5% employer contribution

· Subsidised Christmas meal

· A supportive and welcoming team of colleagues, including our 20+ Delivery Team members.

We’re an equal opportunities employer. All suitable applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

We are actively seeking to increase diversity within our workforce and are committed to recruiting the best people on the objective basis of their skills, ability and experience. We offer a guaranteed interview to eligible applicants who choose to opt-in to the scheme and can demonstrate that they have at least 6 out of the 11 from the “what you need” list. To be eligible to apply via the Guaranteed Interview Scheme, you must be from an ethnic minority. Please state clearly in your covering letter if you are applying under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme.

We are happy to support with any reasonable adjustments that are needed within the recruitment process.

If you would like an informal chat about the role, please contact the HR Manager, Sarah Knott - see website for contact details.

To apply: Please send the following by email to our recruitment email - see website

· Your CV

· A covering letter explaining in no more than one side of A4, your interest in the role and the skills and knowledge you have that make you an ideal candidate

· Contact details (including email address and phone number) of two referees, one of whom should be your most recent employer.

The recruitment process:

The deadline for applications is 9 am on Monday 12h May 2025.

If you have not heard from us by 5 pm on Tuesday 13th May 2025, you have not been shortlisted.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview (either via TEAMS or at a venue in the South - TBC) on Tuesday 20th May 2025.

Candidates will be informed of the outcome of the interviews by Thursday 22nd May 2025.

Senior Education Officer

Are you passionate about environmental issues, in particular nature restoration, climate resilience and biodiversity?

Do you have experience working with young audiences, preferably within a wildlife or conservation setting? Do you have a good grasp of ecology and be willing to travel around the country to support learning education opportunities as well as being confident running sessions or delivering train-the-trainer sessions online?

We are looking for a Senior Education Officer, with the skill set to inspire people to connect with nature, support teachers, deliver talks, presentations and education sessions, while developing further opportunities within the team for learning through the subject of beavers.

Position: Senior Education Officer

Location: Remote (his role requires frequent travel and overnight stays)

Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)

Contract: Fixed (2 years)

Salary: £32,827 pa

Benefits Include:  25 days holiday, plus Christmas day through to New Year’s Day paid, plus 6 days of floating holidays, pro-rata. Flexible approach to hours of work. Pension contribution of 3% of your total pay each month. One-off contributions toward the cost of an ergonomic office chair and toward purchases of essential devices (laptop, mouse and smartphone), monthly home working allowance, plus an annual contribution toward the maintenance and/or replacement of the essential devices.

Closing Date: 5pm on Tuesday 20th May We reserve the right to interview candidates and close the ad ahead of the closing date, should a strong candidate be identified.

About the Role

We are looking to hire a skilled and engaging Senior Education Officer to join a busy team, to further develop and implement an educational outreach programme which reaches children in Wales, Scotland and England. At present, this post has funding for three years from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, one year of which is now complete and we are looking to deliver the second two years of the project.

The purpose of the role is to extend the passion and knowledge of beavers into communities around Britain, to engage and enthuse young people and to reconnect (or reinforce) their love of nature. Using current materials and resources you will do so by delivering high-quality learning sessions within schools, community groups or virtual training sessions, sometimes delivered in conjunction with our beaver site partners and their education teams.

You will also be responsible for developing further aspects of the programme according to the requirements for each country and in partnership with relevant organisations

Key responsibilities include:

• Deliver a range of exciting, curriculum-linked workshops, talks, school and group sessions associated with beaver release sites.
• Network and build contacts and relationships with key personnel in schools, youth groups and community groups in order to create engagement with the education programme and expand its reach.
• Develop further resources and engaging activities or projects for group learning.
• Deliver standard level beaver ecology training to a range of age groups.
• Ensure the education programmes are up-to-date, accurate and complement the wider delivery of our mission.
• Monitor, collate and report on impact, working with the communications team to support the effective evaluation of our programme.
• Support volunteers and build capacity working with partner staff in the delivery of beaver education programmes.
• Work with the team to allocate resources ensuring education initiatives are well planned, deliver maximum value for money and remain within budget.
• Consider equality, diversity and inclusion in the approach to all education initiatives, supported with external expertise.
• Follow policies, standard operating procedures and safe working practices to ensure our work with visiting education groups complies with all relevant guidelines and legislation, including health and safety, safeguarding, copyright and GDPR.

About You

You will have the skill set to inspire people to connect with nature, support teachers, deliver talks, presentations and education sessions, while developing further opportunities within our team for learning through the subject of beavers. The successful candidate will have experience working with young audiences, preferably within a wildlife or conservation setting. You will have a good grasp of ecology and be willing to travel around the country to support learning education opportunities as well as being confident running sessions or delivering train-the-trainer sessions online.

Essential:

• A degree in a zoology, biology or conservation-related field, or a teaching/education qualification or equivalent experience in teaching across a wide range of ages and abilities, using different delivery methods including virtual delivery.
• The ability to communicate complex concepts in an innovative and engaging way to a wide (and/or young) audience.
• Good organisation skills including time management, administration, workload planning and meeting deadlines.
• A strong interest in nature, conservation and restoration and an understanding of the role beavers can play in our landscapes’ recovery.
• Working knowledge of safeguarding legislation and policies and procedures.
• Be prepared to undergo an Enhanced DBS with barred list.
• Experience in confidently using IT packages for teaching delivery, including the use of tablets, presentation software and audiovisual.

You will need to have a full valid UK driving licence and the right to work in the UK.

About the Organisation

Join a nature restoration charity, restoring beavers to regenerate our landscapes. Beavers were once a common and influential part of the British countryside, and as such, the team wants to reconnect people to this part of our heritage. As we continue to reintroduce beavers and support their expansion across Britain, it has never been more important to help people learn to coexist with this dynamic and impactful species.

The charity strives to be diverse and inclusive and a place where we can all be ourselves and we positively welcome applications from people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and encourage applications from individuals regardless of their religion, beliefs, age, gender, race, disability or sexual orientation.

You may also have experience in areas such as Education, School, Programme, Campaign, Advocacy, Education Officer, School Officer, Programme Officer, Campaign Officer, Advocacy Officer, Conservation Officer, Nature, Trainer, Teacher, Coach, Mentor, Programme Manager. #INDNFP

PLEASE NOTE: This role is being advertised by NFP People on behalf of the organisation.

Fundraising Development Executive

Salary: £26,500.00 Per Annum, Plus Desirable Benefits

Full-Time, Permanent Position

Based at Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve

The Fundraising Development Executive is an important part of The Aspinall Foundation’s small fundraising team. The Fundraising Development Executive will drive donor engagement through strategic management of adoptions and lottery programmes, enhancing acquisition, retention and income.

The role involves crafting compelling communications, leading social media planning, and delivering excellent supporter stewardship. Collaborating with internal teams and external partners, they ensure accurate reporting, manage merchandise, and support compliance with fundraising regulations. This varied role combines creativity, data-driven insight and strong relationship-building to support The Aspinall Foundation’s mission and grow sustainable income streams.

A full job description is available on request.

Who we are looking for:

We are seeking a candidate who has a proven track record and passion for delivering exceptional customer support. The successful candidate will possess excellent IT skills, including proficiency in MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint), and have prior experience using CRM databases. A broad education, combined with outstanding communication skills and meticulous attention to detail, is essential.

The candidate must be adaptable, able to respond to changing demands, and collaborate effectively within a busy team environment. While knowledge of GDPR and previous experience in the charity sector are preferred, they are not mandatory. Above all, the candidate should be dedicated to providing an exceptional experience to our supporters, ensuring they feel valued and appreciated.

A warm, engaging personality, a team-player attitude, and a genuine passion for animal conservation and rewilding are key. If you have a personal connection to our cause and a desire to make a real difference, we’d love to hear from you!

Contract details:

This is a full-time, permanent position, working 40 hours per week, Monday – Friday, 9-5pm. This role is based at Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near Folkestone and Ashford. All applicants must have the right to work in the UK. A reliable mode of transport is recommended due to our remote location

About The Aspinall Foundation:

The Aspinall Foundation’s mission is to prevent the extinction of endangered animals.  Our overseas project teams work with communities and Governments in Gabon, Congo, Madagascar, South Africa and Java to develop a balanced and sustainable future with wildlife and people living harmoniously side by side.  By working in partnership with our two wild animal parks in Kent we have rewilded hundreds of captive-born endangered animals back to their natural habitat to support and restore native wild populations.

Why you should join us:

As well as walking to work surrounded by the calls of Howler monkeys and the roars from our pride of Lions, you will also join a supportive team who are passionate about their place of work.

You can also expect a host of other benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave inclusive of bank holidays, rising with length of service. (Pro-rated to start date)
• Comprehensive training and development opportunities, including workshops and e-learning
• Unlimited free entry for you and a person of your choice into both of our parks as well as friends and family tickets.
• Exceptional discounts on food, retail and accommodation at our parks.
• Numerous retail discounts and access to a 24-hour counselling line through our Healthy Extras Scheme.
• Company Pension.

Please note, this role may close early if we receive a high volume of applications.