Business Officer (Countryside Stewardship)

Job Description

Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England is excited to announce our new Business Officer - Countryside Stewardship opportunity.

Do you care about the rural environment? Do you want to make a difference for rural heritage?

This is an exciting time to join Historic England as we set up the newly-formed Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service to support applications to and monitor delivery of projects from Defra’s Higher Tier Capital Grants and PA2 Feasibility Study funding streams for rural heritage in stewardship.

This is a great opportunity to help owners of rural heritage in stewardship deliver environmental gains for their communities, heritage and the rural environment.

Initially to end March 2025 with potential for extension. The national hybrid remote team will be geographically spread across our regional offices with the Manager and Service Officers being the link for their region.

Members of the team will be expected to work nationally subject to expertise and case volumes and be based from one of the following offices, inclusive with hybrid working: Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle or York

National salary range: £23,277 per annum

Greater London + salary range: £24,866 - £26,500 per annum (Cambridge)

The Business Officer (Countryside Stewardship) will assist colleagues in the Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service in the delivery of Group and corporate targets.  They will facilitate the efficient provision of advice to owners and the Rural Payments Agency and will manage the pre-application processing and post application monitoring of individual grants, including assisting with negotiations and complying with grant administration procedures.  They will support the Central Partnerships Team in responding to external and internal requests for information and briefings. 

What you will be doing

In this role, you will act as the initial point of contact for customer enquiries concerning grant-aided projects and pre-application advisory work, ensuring high standards of customer service at all times.  You will assist colleagues in the Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service by managing requests for HE support in accordance with corporate standards, and to take full ownership for effective management of assigned processes including post-grant monitoring. 

This role will assist colleagues in the Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service with the delivery of advice and with the negotiation and administration of grant-aid.  You will monitor regularly and take ownership for progress-chasing to facilitate timely delivery of all Historic England advice, including establishing and maintaining operational links with external customers (e.g. owners and agents), and effective collaboration among colleagues within the local office. 

You will be an effective advocate for the benefits for local places of conserving heritage assets and will undertake role of ‘Super User’ as required for testing and staff training in the use of information management systems, as delegated by the Heritage Service Manager (Countryside Stewardship), supporting the delivery of all Action Plan activities (including assisting in activities such as capacity-building) as outlined with line management. 

What we are looking for

• Adaptable IT skills, including use of databases, GIS

• Aptitude for implementing detailed business processes

• Ability to work under pressure and use own initiative

• Proven financial aptitude with a high level of attention to detail

• Good interpersonal communication skills (written and verbal)

• Experience of interpreting and analysing information and using it to inform your judgement

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 26% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the county and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at [email protected] if you have any recruitment queries.

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Provisional interview date: 14th March 2024

To view the full job description, please visit:

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/xkglpzi3/zw-business-officer-countryside-stewardship-jd-feb-2024.odt