Community and Communications Lead (Temperate Rainforest)

Full time (35 hours per week)
Contract type: Fixed Term to 31 August 2030

About Us

The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 944,000 members, over 38,000 volunteers, 3,600 staff and 600 trustees. There are 46 individual Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a place-based independent charity with its own legal identity, formed by groups of people getting together and working with others to make a positive difference to wildlife and future generations, starting where they live and work.

Every Wildlife Trust is part of The Wildlife Trusts federation and a corporate member of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, a registered charity in its own right founded in 1912 and one of the founding members of IUCN – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Taken together this federation of 47 charities is known as The Wildlife Trusts.

The next few years will be critical in determining what kind of world we all live in. We need to urgently reverse the loss of wildlife and put nature into recovery at scale if we are to prevent climate and ecological disaster. We recognise that this will require big, bold changes in the way The Wildlife Trusts work, not least in how we mobilise others and support them to organise within their own communities.

About You

Are you passionate about nature’s recovery across the UK and telling this story to inspire others? Do you believe that community voices are central to nature’s recovery? Then this may be the role for you. 

As the twin nature and climate crises continue to accelerate, communities are already feeling the effects of increased flooding, drought and soil loss. At the same time, nature disconnectedness is causing many people to feel powerless to act. This role seeks to redress that balance, by telling the stories of nature recovery from those that it is affecting directly. To give a voice to local communities and amplify these messages in ways that inspire others to take action be that through direct action, policy making, funding or wider support.

The Temperate Rainforest Restoration Programme is a £38.9 million, 100-year programme working in a long-term partnership with Aviva. Native to the British Isles, temperate rainforest is an incredibly rare and biodiverse habitat, rarer even, than its tropical counterpart. This programme is going beyond traditional habitat restoration and creating new rainforests on eligible sites across the bioclimatic envelope (the area along our Atlantic coastline with the specific conditions needed for rainforest to thrive). 

This post will work across teams within The Wildlife Trusts’ to tell the story of this restoration and promote the importance of temperate rainforests based on connecting with people and telling their first-hand accounts of the work of Wildlife Trusts along the west of the UK, with a particular focus on Wales. This role will need to relay stories of how nature restoration benefits communities helping them adapt to our changing climate. Your work will give a voice to living memories of the land but also look ahead, effectively and compassionately communicating the need for a just transition to create more resilient landscapes that benefit future generations.

You are a passionate science communicator with a demonstrable ability to inspire action in others for nature’s recovery. Your strong communications skills include the ability to create clear, audience-specific messaging and use digital tools to engage and connect with people wherever they are. You can build coherent narratives so that stories gather momentum over time and balance personal storytelling with the need to maintain brand consistency. Your outgoing and collaborative working style also makes you comfortable engaging with people face to face, going to meet people where they are and using these relationships to share real-world stories which foster a sense of shared ownership of content produced.

Experience of working in rural or farming contexts is beneficial, particularly in terms of Welsh culture and while knowledge of UK nature conservation, particularly woodlands, is helpful, it is not essential. What matters most is your ability to build rapport quickly and tell stories with conviction whoever the audience.

The Wildlife Trusts value passion, respect, trust, integrity, pragmatic activism and strength in diversity. Whilst we are passionate about promoting our aims, we are inclusive, not judgemental. We particularly encourage applications from underrepresented people within our sector, including people from minority backgrounds and people with disabilities. We are committed to creating a movement that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.

The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk. For applicable roles,
applicants must be willing to undergo checks with past employers and Disclosure and Barring Service checks at the eligible level. RSWT take our Safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to offering an interview to anyone with a disability that meets all the essential criteria for the post. Please let us know if you require any adjustments to make our recruitment process more accessible. RSWT are committed to increasing diversity of its staff through its Levelling the field recruitment pledge and will offer an interview to any ethnic minority applicants that meets all the essential criteria for the post.

Please do not use artificial intelligence tools to assist you to complete the application form. We may not accept applications that have been completed utilising AI tools

Closing date for applications: 17th November 2025