Country Parks Lead Ranger

Following the establishment of Buckinghamshire Council as a unitary authority, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of our parks’ services. Since 2020, visitor numbers at Buckinghamshire Council’s Country Parks have grown from 1 million to 1.8 million per year. We are now entering an exciting period of growth for the Country Parks team, with some great new projects to be delivered including the opening of a brand-new Country Park.

Andrew, Head of Parks & Green Spaces, said: “All of our current team have secured positions in our new structure, and there are now great opportunities to come and join our team at this exciting time. I look forward to meeting highly motivated individuals who can bring their passion and skills to our growing team!”

The Country Parks Ranger team is dedicated to ensuring our beautiful parks are maintained to a high standard for our visitors to enjoy. As a Lead Ranger, you’ll co-ordinate and supervise the work of the Ranger team in the delivery of high-quality visitor services across Buckinghamshire Council’s Country Parks. Based in Black Park, you’ll have the opportunity to work in all of our Country Parks, from woodlands to heathland and open spaces. If you have specialist knowledge and the practical experience required to develop your team’s skills and deliver the day-to-day management and maintenance of our Country Parks facilities, this could be the role for you.   

About the role

You’ll be joining a close-knit team, who will support you to get off to a great start with us. In this fast-paced and dynamic role, some of your responsibilities will be to:

• Support site health and safety, visitor management and engagement, parks presentation and operational management on-site through appropriate inspection and monitoring, including maintenance and service contracts and on-site contractors
• Ensure operational safety of the Country Parks at weekends and other times, engaging with visitors through web and social media and responding appropriately to incidents and emergencies
• Plan and deliver work programs supporting site management plan objectives, ensuring work is delivered on time and safely to a high specification through on-site supervision
• Support the development of your own and the team’s professional skills, knowledge and behaviours through engagement with performance review processes and professional development plans in conjunction with Head Rangers
• Support the effective delivery of income-generating activities, including operational delivery of the events programme, monitoring licensed activities, planning and onsite management of filming productions

Please note, we are recruiting for two vacancies – Lead Ranger (On-Site) and Lead Ranger (Off-Site). The successful candidate for the Lead Ranger (On-Site) position will be required to live on site in a three-bedroom semi-detached property to enhance the performance of duties and contribute to the on-call rota and respond to incidents as required.  Please state your preference for the role you are applying for within your application.

Fixed

As a ‘fixed’ worker, you’ll spend most of your time in the same location, which will likely be a fixed office or location where your role is performed. Typically, you’ll be based in the same location as the rest of your team, because you provide a particular service from that fixed location or need access to information there.

About you

In this unique role, you will work to maintain the high standards of our parks through effective work planning based on site management plans, ensuring they remain a safe place for our visitors to enjoy.  You will possess relevant qualifications and have practical experience in countryside management and visitor engagement. Excellent communication skills and the ability to manage relationships are key, as well as being organised and solutions focussed. Above all, you’ll be enthusiastic and ambitious to learn new skills.

Other information

We welcome a diverse range of visitors from Buckinghamshire and surrounding counties each day of the year. From our stunning Temple Gardens at Langley Park to our peaceful lakes at Black Park, you’ll be surrounded by nature and picture-perfect scenes to enjoy. Sam, Ranger at Black Park said: “No two days are the same; it’s a very satisfying job and a beautiful place to work!” 

If that’s not enough reason to join us, you’ll be entitled to a range of benefits from Buckinghamshire Council including a very competitive employer pension contribution, a minimum of 25 days annual leave allowance per year, a flex-time scheme, and discounts in local shops, restaurants, and gyms. 

The on-site role requires contributing to a rota that covers seasonally extended hours, working alternate weekends, and bank holidays. There is a weekend working enhancement of 9.9% to the salary for alternate weekend working. The off-site role requires contributing to a rota that covers seasonally extended hours and working occasional weekends. You'll also need to hold a full driving licence, have access to your own vehicle, and pass a Buckinghamshire Council driving test for both roles.

If you are interested in this position and would like to find out more about the current vacancies within the Ranger team, attend our Country Parks Ranger Team Recruitment Day at Black Park on Saturday 4^th February. Find out more and register here: here.

For an informal chat about this role in more detail, please contact Dawn, Head Ranger, on 01753 511060. 

Take a look at our dedicated career social media pages @bucks_careers to meet our Country Parks teams and find out more about life at Buckinghamshire Council.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day. 

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment. 

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme and the opportunity to gain membership to Costco. We have discounted gym memberships, Travel discounts with Arriva and Chiltern Railways and much more.