Species Recovery Manager

Species Recovery Manager

• Home-based with regular travel to locations across the UK
• up to £39,000 per annum
• Fixed Term contract for 1 year, until 31 March 2027, with the possibility of extension (subject to funding) - 35 hours per week

This role is predominantly home-based with regular travel to locations across the UK. Office facilities are available at our Newark office (Tuesdays to Thursdays) for those within easy travelling distance.

• Closing date for applications: 19th May 2026
• First interview: 1st June 2026 (Online)
• Second interview: 12th June 2026 (Online)

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 945,000 members, over 33,000 volunteers, 4,100 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

Do you think that something is missing in British wildlife? Do you envision a future for the UK’s landscapes where ecosystems are resilient to the effects of climate change through functioning natural processes driven by keystone species? A future where local people are in awe of the species returning to the wild places around them. Do you have the knowledge and passion to help drive this change? This may be the role for you.

For decades, Wildlife Trusts and other Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (“eNGOs”) have worked tirelessly to conserve and restore precious habitats across the UK and whilst there are many examples of success, we have not managed to reverse the decline in wildlife. What is needed is far greater scale and restoration of processes that enable habitats to be managed more effectively with less human intervention. This requires the return of missing species to drive those ecological processes. This includes extensive grazing with large herbivores like bison and elk, plus cattle and ponies (as proxies for extinct aurochs and tarpan), reinstatement of predator prey relationships with wildcat, lynx and white tailed eagles plus a host of translocations at local scales to help occupy empty habitat niches and increase ecosystem complexity.

This post will work across teams within The Wildlife Trusts to support species reintroduction efforts, share best practice, develop new programmes and work towards species recovery being built into day to day conservation practices.

You are an inspiring and engaging nature recovery professional who is comfortable testing novel approaches to improve species recovery efforts, learning as you go and sharing lessons learnt with others to constantly improve the understanding of teams and across organisations. Your outgoing and collaborative working style makes you adept at building working relationships that lead to positive action.

You will have a good understanding of the complexities of species reintroduction efforts in the UK, understand the reasons for and against and be able to build support from a place of deep understanding and respect for others views. You will be used to managing complex projects in an adaptive way to achieve results.

The Wildlife Trusts value passion, respect, trust, integrity, pragmatic activism and strength in diversity. We are passionate in promoting our aims, and we pride ourselves on being inclusive. We particularly encourage applications from people who are underrepresented 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.

RSWT take our Safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Please click here to read our commitment statement. 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 are committed to increasing the diversity of its staff through its Levelling the Field recruitment pledge and, as a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming recruitment experience for all applicants. Applicants with disabilities and from ethnic minority backgrounds, will be considered for the next stage of the selection process should they meet all the minimum criteria for the role outlined in the person specification detailed as essential criteria in the recruitment pack. As part of our Disability Confident Scheme, RSWT offers an interview to a fair and proportionate number of applicants with disabilities and therefore not all applicants with disabilities would be entitled to an interview as they must still satisfy the minimum requirements for the job. This commitment is designed to help reduce barriers and promote equal opportunity. We actively work to remove barriers throughout the recruitment journey and are dedicated to creating an accessible and supportive recruitment experience by offering reasonable adjustments at every stage of the recruitment process, as well as within the workplace. If you would benefit from any adjustments to support you during your application or interview process, please let us know and we will be pleased to put the appropriate support in place.

At RSWT, we are committed to creating a safe environment where discrimination, bullying, and harassment are not tolerated. We expect everyone to uphold, respect, and support our zero-tolerance policy. Please be aware we may not accept applications if we have reason to believe they have been wholly produced using generative AI tools.