National Regulations Development Team Manager

Forestry Commission are the Government’s forestry experts. We work with the forestry and environmental sectors nationally and locally on unlocking the full potential of woodlands, to expand, protect, improve, and connect England’s valuable woodland assets.We are looking to recruit a team manager (SEO) to provide maternity cover until 30 March 2027 with possibility of extension until 30 July 2027, to work within the Forestry Commission’s National Grants and Regulations (NGR) team. The NGR team is one of the Forestry Commission’s national teams and has responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of forestry regulations, for tree health, and for grant support for woodland management and woodland creation.

The team manager we want to recruit will line manage a team of 9 – four HEOs and five EOs, with all posts focused on delivering necessary reform of woodland and forestry legislation, regulation, policy guidance, process and digital systems used to govern forestry activity in England.

The chosen candidate will be key to leading the successful development and delivery of necessary regulatory and policy change, and regulatory digital solution development, and will be working closely with Defra’s forestry policy team and other bodies. As such we are looking to recruit someone with a passion for detail, highly self-motivated to drive change and improvement, with an excellent track record of managing teams to achieve high performance in a fast-paced environment.

The post holder will work closely with many internal and external stakeholders and so the ability to work closely and collaboratively with others is essential; as is the ability to influence key decision makers to achieve favourable outcomes for the team and wider FC.

This NGR National

Regulations Development team manager will

• Line-manage staff and work closely with other team managers in NGR, to ensure team cohesion and a shared understanding of the corporate strategy.
• Work closely with Defra and Forestry Commission policy leads and other public bodies to identify mechanisms that will improve the function of regulation and enforcement in forestry
• Manage the development of reforms to existing legislation, regulation, policy, guidance and process for an improved regulatory experience
• Ensure appropriate Subject Matter Expertise for the development of digital systems and associated support materials for delivering regulatory functions
• Ensure all work on forestry regulation reform is addressed in a manner which is timely, accurate, and collaborative across FC and Defra and seek legal advice when appropriate.

Responsibilities

This National Regulations Development team manager has the following responsibilities.

Team working and managing people

• Co-lead National Regulations team (Development) (approx.9 people).
• Have direct line management responsibility of four team members and manage and monitor individual workloads and performance of those managed.
• Work closely with other Forestry Commission team managers to ensure the effective delivery of Forestry Commission and Defra priorities.

Change and Development

• Lead and oversee project management of the Forestry Commission’s review and reform of legislation, regulation, and policy activity, and work closely with Defra forestry policy team and other stakeholders on legislative and other change.
• Use regulatory reform outcomes to inform the development of new digital systems, business process and guidance, and ensure appropriate regulatory SMEs are available to support system and guidance designers and developers.
• Keep abreast of changes in the operating and regulatory environments, such as from post EU Exit farming, feedback from customers, and identify opportunities for simplifications, efficiencies, and performance improvement.

Regulations

• Ensure change in forestry regulation contributes to the government’s forestry policy priorities.
• Ensure a consistent, procedure led, approach to implementing regulatory reform, seeking legal advice where necessary, to enables efficient, consistent, and timely delivery of BAU forestry regulation outcomes.
• Provide advice and expertise on forestry regulation and reforms to a range of Forestry Commission, Plant Health Forestry, Defra, and forestry sector stakeholders.

Networks

• Maintain a network of contacts across the Forestry Commission, Defra policy teams, other public bodies, and with the wider forestry and environmental NGO sector, to achieve better regulation objectives.

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