Project Officer - Species Volunteer Network

Volunteers are amazing. They enhance our organisational capacity and enable us to make a bigger and better impact for nature. This is an exciting project which empowers people to take conservation action for the UK’s most threatened species.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised individual with a passion for working with people to support species recovery projects in Scotland. You will help us to increase volunteer capacity, initially with existing work in our Cairngorms priority landscape.

What's the role about?

The Species Volunteer Network is already supporting the recovery of species across the UK. You will work with project teams in the Cairngorms and South Highland to support the development of projects primarily focused on farmland waders, but also for rare insects, Slavonian Grebes, Terns and Capercaillie. This will include providing capacity building and support for staff for initial species project set up, development and skills progression for volunteer teams.

You will work with Species Volunteer Network officers in other parts of the UK and support the SVN project manager to compile the annual project report and promote the project internally and externally.

The successful candidate will have proven experience of working as part of a team to deliver, monitor and report on projects. You will be a team player, with experience in training and supporting staff and volunteers in new ways of working and a range of tasks. You will have experience of volunteer management and be passionate about the vital role volunteers and communities play in delivering long-term, sustainable conservation.

You will be responsible for:

• Recruiting, managing and supporting, volunteer co-ordinators who will take on the day-to-day organisation of defined tasks in support of the species recovery projects
• Running training sessions on survey, data and mapping methods
• Working with staff and volunteers to ensure that actions are delivered to agreed standards of cost, quality, and time
• Helping to put in place the right governance structure to keep the project on track and assist area teams to identify roles and tasks for volunteers
• Lead on the recruitment and induction of volunteers with assistance of area teams
• Ensuring an inclusive experience for volunteers, adhering to RSPB’s EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) principles, through their whole journey; from recruitment through to any volunteer ending of role, liaising with our Volunteer Development team and EDI team as appropriate and contributing to the wider development of EDI across volunteer teams
• Producing relevant project documentation, such as contributions to reports, volunteer training guides and newsletters, as required
• Developing and delivering appropriate communication activities such as volunteer team ‘thank you’ events, media interaction, presentations and production of project promotional materials in association with communications colleagues to support delivery of the projects
• Coordinating meetings and reporting to the Cairngorms SVN steering group
• Ensuring that risks and issues are highlighted to the project manager/internal project boards
• Keep RSPB’s volunteer management system ‘Assemble’ updated to manage volunteers and process/approve volunteer expenses

Essentialskills:

• Experience of managing volunteers
• Ability to work well as part of a cross-functional project team, working with area teams, volunteers and other stakeholders
• Experience in developing and organising training events, workshops or facilitated discussions and meetings
• Ability to produce clear and written communications with experience of producing written materials e.g. reports, newsletters and similar project related communications.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to communicate about the project in a passionate and credible manner
• Ability to persuade and influence a wide range of people, both internally and externally
• Ability to work under pressure to deadlines as survey periods are fixed and adapt to changing circumstances
• Proven time management, organisational skills and attention to detail
• Competent IT user (e.g. MS packages, Outlook etc)

Desirableskills:

• Demonstrable experience of developing and working in partnerships to achieve shared outcomes
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to find creative solutions
• Experience of working with and engaging communities
• Data input and management
• Knowledge and experience of species and habitat management within the Cairngorms

Additional Information

This role covers the South Highland and may require travel to any part and on occasion short periods staying away. The focus in the contract period is in the Cairngorms, where the work is primarily in rural areas. The successful candidate will live within a reasonable travelling distance of the Cairngorms National Park and will be managing volunteers based in Strathspey, Deeside and round Inverness. It is an essential requirement that you can travel independently to sites where public transport may not be available.

The location of this role is flexible and will be home-based.

This is a fixed-term role until March 2026, part-time role for 30 hours per week, with possibility of an extension

We are looking to conduct interviews for this position on the 22nd and 25th July. For further information please contact Rhoda.Ludford@rspb.org.uk

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

The RSPB is a licenced sponsor. This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship.