Community & Participation Consultant - Swindon
Summary
***INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY PLEASE***
Are you passionate about working with communities to protect and connect with nature?
The National Trust has embarked on a major programme of work involving a number of natural landscapes in our care. Landscapes with the biggest opportunity to restore and make more space for nature, to reduce the impacts of climate change, to work with partners and local communities and to provide access to nature for millions of people.
We have an exciting opportunity to recruit a Community and Participation Consultant to join the national programme team to support colleagues working at places across the country to engage communities and restore nature.
The role will be a full-time fixed term contract initially for 2 years (with the potential to extend subject to funding). You’ll support teams across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, ensuring communities are at the heart of our plans for nature recovery.
You’ll work from an agreed National Trust Office with regular travel to rural locations. We make use of in person and virtual meetings.
What it's like to work here
You’ll be a member of the national programme team with our Land & Nature directorate and linked closely with the Community and Participation team who are spread across the organisation supporting a wide variety of projects and places.
As this is a national role, there is flexibility on your contractual place of work. Our hybrid working policy means you can balance office and home working with regular travel to rural locations and meetings at other National Trust places. We’ll talk about this in more detail at interview, but you should expect to be at a National Trust site for 40–60% of your working week
What you'll be doing
Working in a multi-disciplinary national programme team who are leading the restoration of natural landscapes. You’ll support this team to work closely with countryside properties and their local communities, so we get the best outcomes for people and nature to thrive together.
You’ll support our teams to build participation into project planning, so we involve communities at the right time. You’ll be great at building trusted relationships with a range of stakeholders, both internal and external.
You’ll use community mapping and data to guide your planning and to influence others. You’ll be able to lead places to develop community engagement plans.
Working closely with General Managers, Estate Managers and Property Leadership Teams, you’ll build confidence and capability working with communities, through coaching, training and workshops. Gathering case studies to share best practice and developing guidance and resources to help teams to engage with communities.
You’ll collaborate with national, regional, and local teams to create high-quality, exciting and meaningful opportunities for a diverse range of people to be involved in nature restoration, sharing best practice.
Who we're looking for
* Strong understanding and experience of innovation in community engagement and different approaches to participation.
* Experience in consulting on and delivering different approaches to community involvement, managing complex stakeholder relationships and partnership working.
* Coaching facilitation and training skills as well as presentation skills.
* Proven consulting skills of listening, building trust and acting to deliver a high-quality service to colleagues in external and internal networks.
* In-depth knowledge of our cause and the ability to inspire others to support our work.
The package
The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.
Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary
Free entry to National Trust places for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
Rental deposit loan scheme
Season ticket loan
EV car lease scheme
Perks at work discounts such as gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts
Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.
Flexible working whenever possible
Employee assistance programme
Free parking at most Trust places
Click here to find out more about the benefits we offer to support you.