The Role As our Senior Aboricultural Officer, you’ll lead on the delivery of arboricultural services across the borough, ensuring the effective management of tree contracts, operations, and strategy. With delegated responsibility for key budgets, team leadership, and operational decision-making, this role is pivotal in keeping Southwark green, safe, and thriving.You will: Take delegated responsibility for managing all operational aspects of tree maintenance and planting contracts. Lead and inspire a team of Arboricultural Officers and Assistants, supporting their development and performance. Oversee the procurement and contract management of external suppliers and arboricultural services, ensuring best value and compliance with council standards. Monitor and report on performance, quality, and budget outcomes—managing budgets of up to £1.5 million. Contribute to the development of Southwark’s Tree Strategy and champion sustainability, biodiversity, and climate resilience through your work. We're looking for someone with: A relevant arboriculture qualification (e.g. National Diploma or equivalent), or substantial experience in the field. Proven experience managing arboricultural services, including both in-house operations and external contracts. Strong contract management skills with experience overseeing services of £1m annually. A deep understanding of the role trees play in urban environments—both environmentally and socially. Excellent communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder engagement skills About Southwark: We are the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues and social enterprises and we have a young, diverse and growing population.At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities.? Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do. Benefits and more information: In your role, we want you to feel supported, challenged and rewarded. You will benefit from our family-friendly policies including flexible working, home working, and a local government pension scheme, plus many other staff benefits. You will join a motivated, driven and supportive team that strives for excellence and values its members. You will also be part of a successful and high-achieving development team that is making a real difference to the lives of residents in the borough. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our Staff Benefits page. Recruitment timetable Closing date 21/04/2025 Shortlisting 23/04/2025 Interview 29/04/2025 Guaranteed Interview Scheme: As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria: • Members of the Armed Forces and veterans• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council. Attachments Please click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification.