Contents 2

Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife TrustChief Executive Officer Recruitment Brochure

Protecting Wildlife for the Future

Contents 2

From the Chair 3

About us

• Leicestershire and Rutland 4

• The Trust 5

• Land and Habitats 6

• The People 7

The Opportunity 8

Job Description 9

Person Specification 10

Key terms and how to apply 11

Ross Hodinott/2020Vision

From the Chair 3Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is seeking a new Chief Executive to shape future strategy and develop our organisation, working to deliver the Trust’s charitable aims of protecting our wildlife and wild places, and bringing people closer to nature.

In a political and regulatory landscape beset with change, and with local wildlife in need of protection as never before, expanding the reach of our charitable work is crucial. The new Chief Executive’s task will be to ensure we meet this challenge.

We are looking for someone with a passion for nature conservation and wildlife, and an appreciation of the charity sector and its ethos. Inspiring and dynamic, they should have a proven track record of strategic leadership and delivery of major programmes of work, and have the confidence to represent the Trust externally at the highest levels.

The Trust has made significant and substantial progress during the tenure of our out-going Director, Simon Bentley. The successful candidate will build on this solid legacy, shaping a new path for the Trust in the face of future challenges to the natural world.

They will be supported by a strong and active Council of Trustees, and will lead a team of skilled and highly-motivated staff and volunteers.

My fellow trustees and I firmly believe that this post presents a tremendous opportunity to play a vital and rewarding part in helping to protect and restore wildlife in the heart of England. If you share this view, and are keen to take up a key role in an enthusiastic organisation wanting to move forward, then we look forward to receiving your application.

Andrew CottonChair, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust

About Us 4Why Leicestershire and Rutland?

Our two counties are at the heart of rural England. In a national landscape where wildlife and wild places are challenged as never before, Leicestershire and Rutland can be proud of important natural characteristics which make their environment unique and important, including:

• major river systems

• ancient woodland

• rare and threatened habitats

Our two counties provide a mix of highly-developed urban areas with vibrant multicultural communities, as well as traditional market towns and quiet villages. There is ancient history here, but we also have major industries and a fascinating industrial heritage. And throughout, the counties’ strong agricultural sector gives the Leicestershire and Rutland landscape its characteristic appearance of rolling hills and quiet valleys.

This varied combination of people and location, and the underlying geology, geography and biodiversity, makes our two counties an attractive area to live and work. And the diversity of features can be a challenge, but also real opportunity, to the Trust’s key work in protecting natural habitats and engaging people with nature.

Tom Marshall

About Us 5The TrustEstablished in 1956, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (‘the Trust’) is the leading nature conservation charity across our two counties, working to protect and enhance the wildlife and wild places of Leicestershire and Rutland and engage people with nature.

Governance is provided by a Council of 14 trustees, elected from the membership. The Council is responsible for overall strategy and policy, with day-to-day implementation led by the current Director and around 30 members of staff.

The Trust’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Leicestershire Wildlife (Sales) Limited, is the Trust’s trading arm for retail sales and consultancy work.

The Trust forms part of ‘The Wildlife Trusts’, a national movement which operates throughout the country, working at a grassroots level to put wildlife at the heart of modern life. This national partnership currently involves 46 individual Wildlife Trusts and more than 800,000 members. In addition, the Trust works closely with Wildlife Trusts in neighbouring counties on matters that affect us all.

6About usLand and habitats

The Trust’s landholdings have grown progressively over the years and we now manage 35 nature reserves covering 1,234 hectares (3,048 acres), including 19 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, two National Nature Reserves, and a Special Protection Area and Ramsar Site. Our land portfolio contains a rich diversity of animal and plant life within woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and heaths, many rare and endangered.

A number of our nature reserves are former quarries and mineral extraction sites - the legacy of industrial activity across the two counties now turned to the benefit of nature. In fact, the geological features of Leicestershire and Rutland mean that our two counties are famous for their globally important geological and fossil records. They include ‘Charnia’, a Precambrian fossil of one of the oldest lifeforms known to have inhabited our planet, which was first discovered in the rocks of Charnwood Forest.

The Trust has a well-developed Living Landscape programme, which currently concentrates on the major river systems of the Soar and Wreake, and the heathland of the Charnwood Forest area. This network is capable of expansion to cover even more habitats, including the Leighfield Forest of East Leicestershire, the limestone grasslands of North-east Leicestershire and Rutland, and the National Forest which is one of the most rapidly changing areas of Leicestershire.

Living Landscapes are a key part of the Trust’s wider conservation strategy to restore and enrich wildlife across the two counties. In addition to work on these projects and on land managed by the Trust, our Conservation Team works with and advises landowners how to manage their land for the benefit of wildlife.

7About usPeople

The Trust is currently supported by nearly 16,000 members, and over 700 people volunteer to help us with a variety of tasks, including habitat management, wildlife recording, public engagement and learning events. Our income from membership subscriptions has grown strongly in recent years, as has our volunteer base.

The help of our volunteers increases our ability to undertake essential surveys and studies to inform conservation policy and practice, assisting the overall campaign for the protection of local biodiversity and allowing the Trust to play a key role in local decision-making (particularly key planning decisions) and advocacy. The Trust organises an annual conference for wildlife recorders and produces the annual Leicestershire and Rutland Recorder journal.

Public engagement is a key aim of the Trust, and we have developed a full and inclusive programme of events and activities to bring people of all abilities and backgrounds closer to nature. Our Education Team works closely with students and groups of all ages, and with parents, teachers and pupils of local schools, to raise their interest in the natural world. Our Wildlife Watch activities – part of an initiative carried on by Trusts across the UK - help young people find out more about nature, make friends and have fun.

Mindful that nature needs the conservation experts of the future, not just of the present day, the Trust runs activity and mentoring groups for young people to help them continue with their interest in wildlife after they have left school, and increase their practical experience to support a possible future career in conservation. We also maintain ‘Trainee Reserve Officer’ posts across the Trust for young people just starting out in their careers.

The Trust is particularly proud of its Volunteer Training Centre. This unique and superbly-equipped ‘state of the art’ facility, located at Rutland Water Nature Reserve, offers regular training events for volunteers, a well-equipped base for operations, and has the potential to act as a hub for practical nature conservation and activities across the region.

The Trust is known nationally and internationally through its management, on behalf of Anglian Water, of the renowned Rutland Water Nature Reserve, regularly voted as one of the best places to watch birds in the UK. The Reserve is also the location for the annual ‘Birdfair’- organised by the Trust and the first, and largest, event of its kind in the world. In 2018, Birdfair raised £322,000 for BirdLife International’s Mar Chiquita project, and over the course of its 30-year history it has raised more than £5 million for nature conservation worldwide (in itself leading to international projects obtaining further match-funding of around £50 million).

The Trust is also widely recognised for its long-standing and highly successful Rutland Osprey Project – the first to return ospreys as a breeding bird to England. Part of this project involves engagement with schools both locally and internationally, building a network of young nature-lovers across the world.

The Opportunity 8The Trust commands a high degree of respect for its conservation work which has both local and international impact on wildlife. We want to achieve even more.

• We want to push forward our plans for public engagement, helping more people of all ages and abilities get closer to and be inspired by nature, through events, education and volunteering.

• We want to make sure our important nature reserves remain exemplars of the very best in conservation management, and at the same time ensure we expand our work within the wider countryside, helping more landowners to improve habitats for nature, and extending our successful Living Landscapes projects to cover even more of our two counties.

• We want to engage more fully with supporters of all kinds, to help grow the Trust’s financial base and build the sustainable resources we need to support the level of work we want to do.

• We want our staff and volunteers to find satisfaction in the work they do to further the Trust’s charitable mission, and to allow them to develop and build their own competencies.

• We want our membership to be proud of our achievements and be enthused about their support for the Trust in whatever form that takes. And we want to build that membership even more.

• We want to ensure that our two counties, right in the heart of England, play their own important part in returning -nature to our landscape, and in bringing it back into people’s lives.

Our new Chief Executive will be spearheading the delivery of all of this, and will lead a process of change and growth within our organisation. This will be directed by:

• Our long-term Development Strategy;

• Our five-year Strategic Planning Cycle, with a new Plan to be developed over the coming year;

• Our recent Organisational Review, the findings of which now need to be implemented in full.

Taking forward these tasks is an exciting role that will require inspirational leadership, and imagination and enterprise in planning, implementation and delivery.

Claire Install

Job Description 9Strategic Leadership role, to include:• Strong and visible strategic leadership for the Trust as

a whole, and leadership and motivation of staff and volunteers

• Spearheading the development and implementation of the Trust’s long-term strategic plans, including its Vision and five-year operational strategy

• Identification and prioritisation of development opportunities and funding for the Trust in line with its strategic Vision

• Overall responsibility for supporter development and wider public engagement

• Development of strategic partnerships and alliances• Overall management of the corporate group

comprising Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary Leicestershire Wildlife (Sales) Limited

Organisational and Operational Management to include:Ensuring the Trust has appropriate and effective organisational and management structures, including:• Health and safety• Human resources management• Communications and public relations• Membership (CRM) systems• Data protection

Overall responsibility for financial management and internal financial controls, including:• periodic budgets, forecasting, management

accounting and delivering financial targets• compliance with all relevant legislation relating to

the Trust’s finances and to its statutory financial statements

• development and delivery of business plans for the corporate group

• effective liaison with auditors, bankers, investment managers and other appropriate institutions to ensure the most effective operation of the Trust’s finances

Overall responsibility for risk management relating to the corporate groupOverall responsibility for public engagement programmes, including education

Governance to include:• Overall responsibility for compliance with relevant

legislation and policy, in particular that relating to health and safety, employment, charities, data protection and the environment

• Establishing and maintaining excellent and supportive working relationships with the Chair of Council and other Honorary Officers, Trustees, President, and Vice-Presidents, and with volunteers and the membership as appropriate

• Facilitating meetings of Council and ensuring that other Trust committees operate effectively

• Undertaking all other duties appropriate to the post, as delegated by the Chair of Council

People Contacts and Representation to include:• Representing the Trust in a wide range of local,

national and international settings, acting as an ambassador to promote the organisation and its work, and to raise its profile

• Ensuring positive relationships with key partner organisations, including Statutory Agencies, Local Authorities, corporate bodies, funders, NGOs and others, seeking to influence their policies and activities for the benefit of wildlife, and to secure resources for the Trust to deliver its objectives

• Engaging with key decision-makers including MPs, Local Authorities and local councillors, industry leaders, and community champions, to position the Trust and promote its objectives

• Ensuring the Trust effectively participates in the work of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, including cooperation with other Wildlife Trusts as appropriate

Job TitleChief Executive Officer, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (‘the Trust’)

Working BaseThe Old Mill, Leicester

Overall ResponsibilitiesTo provide inspirational and effective leadership, including the setting and delivery of strategic goals, providing clear direction, and managing change, for Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, in accordance with the Trust’s charitable objects, and in line with its Vision and Mission Statement.

Accountable toCouncil of Trustees through the Chair of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust

Line ManagementUltimate overall responsibility for staff within the Trust’s organisational structure, together with direct reporting lines from the Head of Conservation, and from key staff responsible for Membership Support, Public Engagement and Education, Supporter Development, and Finance.

Person Specification 10Strategic Leadership and Management Skills

• Initiative to take the Trust forward, and to develop policies and strategies to achieve this

• At least 5 years’ experience in a senior management position

• Proven track record of:• leadership• strategic planning • delivery to specified targets• managing organisational change

• Proven record of developing projects and raising funds

Specialist Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline• Substantial experience of working within the voluntary

or charitable sector (Desirable)• Experience of working in the environmental sector

(Desirable)• Experienced in financial management, including

budgeting, financial controls and reporting• Experienced in managing charity finances (Desirable) • Proficient in the use of information technology

(including the Microsoft suite) and communication media

• Experience of Customer Relationship Management systems (Desirable)

All criteria are essential unless otherwise stated.

Communication and Representation Skills

• Ability to foster external relationships: influencing, negotiating and building alliances and partnerships

• Excellent communication skills in a range of contexts

• Experience of representing an organisation to a wide variety of audiences including the media (Desirable)

Personal Qualities

• The ability and dynamism to inspire and motivate others

• Excellent organisational and self-management skills

• Appreciation of the charity sector and its ethos

• Enthusiasm for nature conservation and the wider environmental movement

• High level of personal integrity and professional standards of behaviour

• Confident public speaker

Key Terms & How to Apply 11Key Terms

• Employer: Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust

• Primary place of work: The Old Mill, 9 Soar Lane, Leicester LE3 5DE

• The package will include a salary of £63,000 pa

• The post is permanent and full-time, with a standard working week of 35 hours excluding lunch breaks, and with flexible working to include evenings and weekends

• The Trust operates an Auto-enrolment Pension Scheme and pays an employer contribution of up to 7% of gross salary contingent on a 50% matching contribution from the employee. Annual Leave entitlement is 25 days plus bank holidays and concessionary days

• Death in Service cover is provided at three times annual salary

• There will be a need for regular travel across the two counties, particularly to our various nature reserves and to our offices and the Volunteer Training Centre at Rutland Water Nature Reserve. There will be occasional travel across the country

• A full, current driving licence is essential

How to Apply

Applications should be made through the Networx portal and include a CV together with a supporting statement (no more than two sides of A4 in length) to demonstrate your suitability against the Job Description and Person Specification.

If you require further information about the role, please contact Dr Anthony Biddle (Vice Chair) antjbid21@gmail.com or Maggie Morland (Honorary Secretary) 07531 569 566.

No agencies at this stage please.

Closing date for applications is 09:00 Tuesday 2nd July 2019

Interviews will take place on Thursday 25th July at our Volunteer Training Centre at Rutland Water, Oakham Road, Hambleton, Oakham, Rutland LE15 8AD

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is an equal opportunities employer

Thank you for your interest in Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust