Country Parks Head Ranger

Following the establishment of Buckinghamshire Council as a unitary authority, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of our parks’ services. Since 2020, visitor numbers at Buckinghamshire Council’s Country Parks have grown from 1 million to 1.8 million per year. We are now entering an exciting period of growth for the Country Parks team, with some great new projects to be delivered including the opening of a brand-new Country Park.

Andrew, Head of Parks & Green Spaces, said: “All of our current team have secured positions in our new structure, and there are now great opportunities to come and join our team at this exciting time. I look forward to meeting highly motivated individuals who can bring their passion and skills to our growing team!”

The Country Parks Ranger team is dedicated to ensuring our beautiful parks are maintained to a high standard. As Head Ranger, you’ll manage the Site Management team to deliver high-quality practical site management, woodland management, conservation, and maintenance work across Buckinghamshire Council’s Country Parks. Based in Black Park Country Park, you’ll be surrounded by over 500 acres of woodland, heathland, and open spaces. Langley Park Country Park presents different challenges and opportunities, with over 100 veteran trees, and is a Grade 2 historic landscape. Denham Country Park is different again with rivers and meadows being the key features. If you have specialist knowledge and extensive experience in delivering site management, and want to work in a stunning outdoors setting, this could be the role for you.

About the role

You’ll be joining a close-knit team, who will support you to get off to a great start with us. In this fast-paced and dynamic role, just some of your responsibilities will be to:

• Manage, support, and develop the Site Management Team, consisting of a Lead Ranger and four Rangers
• Lead on-site management related health and safety, including tree inspections and safety work, site presentation, ecological surveys, and monitoring work
• Build excellent professional working relationships with your team, colleagues volunteers, contractors, and community groups
• Prepare and deliver management plans, develop and implement long-term work plans and lead on delivering conservation agreements such as ELMS
• Manage and monitor the performance of contracts and suppliers, including forestry, tree management and safety, infrastructure installation and repairs, grazing and invasive species control across the Country Parks
• Monitor operational budgets with delegated spending and approval authority for site management focussed activities and work delivery
• Deliver projects for site management related activities, in line with site management plans, spatial plans, and work programmes

Fixed

As a ‘fixed’ worker, you’ll spend most of your time in the same location, which will likely be a fixed office or location where your role is performed. Typically, you’ll be based in the same location as the rest of your team, because you provide a particular service from that fixed location or need access to information there.

About you

From arranging specialist management of veteran trees to developing and growing our dedicated volunteer groups, you’ll work to maintain the high standards of our Country Parks, making them safe and special places for visitors and nature. You’ll possess relevant qualifications and have substantial experience in delivering high-quality site management and operation, volunteering, maintenance, woodland management, tree safety and conservation, including specialist knowledge of relevant machinery and equipment, systems, policies, and regulations. You will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and an ability to maintain relationships is key, as well as being organised and solutions focussed. Above all, you’ll be enthusiastic and ready to lead our experienced team of Rangers.

Other information

We welcome a diverse range of visitors from Buckinghamshire and surrounding counties each day of the year. From our stunning Temple Gardens at Langley Park to our peaceful lakes at Black Park, you’ll be surrounded by natural wildlife and picture-perfect scenes to enjoy. Sam, Ranger at Black Park said: “No two days are the same; it’s a very satisfying job and a beautiful place to work!”

If that’s not enough reason to join us, you’ll be entitled to a range of benefits from Buckinghamshire Council including a very competitive employer pension contribution; a minimum of 25 days annual leave allowance per year; a flex-time scheme; and discounts in local shops, restaurants, and gyms.

This role requires working occasional evenings, weekends, and bank holidays. You'll also need to hold a full driving licence, have access to your own vehicle, and pass a Buckinghamshire Council driving test.

If you are interested in this position and would like to find out more about the current vacancies within the Ranger team, attend our Country Parks Ranger Team Recruitment Day at Black Park on Saturday 4th February. Find out more and register here.

For an informal chat about this role in more detail, please contact Dawn, Head Ranger, on 01753 511060.

Take a look at our dedicated career social media pages @bucks_careers to meet our Country Parks teams and find out more about life at Buckinghamshire Council.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day. 

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment. 

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme and the opportunity to gain membership to Costco. We have discounted gym memberships, Travel discounts with Arriva and Chiltern Railways and much more.