Forest Operations / Land Management Paid Placement x 2

Team / Directorate: Forest Operations Team / Operations Directorate

Starting salary: £25,898.00

Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment until 28 August 2026

Work pattern: Full Time, 37 hours per week (Monday to Friday)

Interview date: Week commencing 10 February 2025 (To be confirmed)

Post numbers: 202361, 202700

The role

Kickstart Your Forestry Career with NRW 

 Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is excited to offer two paid placement opportunities starting September 2025, tailored for students pursuing a forestry or land management undergraduate degree with a mid-year placement. 

Successful candidates will join professional teams managing the Welsh Government Woodland Estate and National Nature Reserves. Placements are available in either mid Wales, covering the Cambrian Mountains and Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, or north west Wales, including Eryri National Park. 

From harvesting operations and habitat management to ancient monument restoration, this is your chance to gain hands-on experience across diverse land management practices in some of Wales’ most iconic landscapes. 

We are looking for someone with enthusiasm and passion for forestry and land management who can demonstrate drive to learn and deliver their work whilst working alongside our teams and wider customers and contractors. 

To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact Michael Cresswell at Michael.Cresswell@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams

Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. We aim to make offers of appointment within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

About us

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has been hosting paid placements in the Forest Operations and Land Management teams since 2020. Through this process, we have seen numerous students join and complete our programme, return to complete their studies and have since entered the forestry sector.

We're extremely proud of our offer, to help students develop the skills they have already learnt at university and practically apply them in the everyday management of our land. Through this role, you'll be exposed to numerous teams and operations, whilst also gaining hands-on experiences yourself, which will be invaluable in the future when purusing your chosen career path after university.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

What you will do

• Support delivery of work plans, created by the team, which contributes towards the delivery of business plans.
• Assist with monitoring survey work and data collection.
• Maintain records and information in line with regulations/legislation and agreed standards.
• Participate in team meetings.
• Participate in external meetings with other members of the team.
• Interact with peers in NRW to understand and team delivery.
• Contribute towards the teams delegated responsibility for delivery of work programmes.
• Other work as directed by the line manager.
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post
• Be committed to your own development *and that of your staff through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills

In your application and interview you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method.

1. Currently undertaking an undergraduate degree in either a forestry or land management discipline from a higher education institution. Your undergraduate degree must require a mid-year placement (essential).
2. A good understanding of working in land and forestry management disciplines, including sustainable forest management.
3. Good communication and inter-personal skills with a customer focus. Ability to build effective working relationship with colleagues and partners.
4. Good ICT skills (essential).
5. Full UK driving licence (essential).

Welsh language level requirements

• Essential: Level 1 – able to pronounce Welsh and use basic phrases

Please note if you do not meet the level 1 requirement i.e., ability to understand basic phrases and ability to pronounce Welsh names correctly, then NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Benefits 

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

• agile and flexible working
• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 26.6% to 30.3%
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
• generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
• commitment to professional development
• health and wellbeing benefits and support
• weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose

See full details for all the employee benefits you will receive.

Please keep reading

If you think you have what it takes to do this role, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch and we will be happy to discuss the role with you in more detail.

We’re passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of disability, neurodivergence, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender expression and gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, culture, or religion.   We put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

We are committed to equal opportunities and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.  

We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards.  Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills. 

Apply for this role