Farm Lead – North Surrey

Farm Lead – North Surrey

£30,000-£33,000 per annum dependent on experience plus Farmhouse accommodation and £2,000 pa on call allowance (1 week in 6)

Do you care passionately about exemplary agricultural land management that goes hand in hand with nurturing wildlife, healthy soils, and biodiverse ecosystems? If the answer is yes, then look no further!

Surrey Wildlife Trust are excited to announce a new position within our Conservation Grazing team as “Farm Lead – North Surrey” following an agreement with the landowner to enter a 35yr FBT on a 422-acre mixed farm. The successful applicant will report to the Farms and Livestock Manger and work closely with the Conservation Grazing team, other Surrey Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers to deliver first-class farming practices which support SWT’s livestock whilst maximising biodiversity on-farm. This will be achieved through a blended finance model of ELMS and Natural capital so knowledge of one or both would be advantageous.

Despite the focus of the role being delivered on-farm, supporting the conservation grazing team to deliver naturalistic grazing using 350 Belted Galloway cattle and 100 mixed breed sheep over 2700ha on 35+ sites across the county is a major component of the role. In doing so you’ll get to see some incredible nature reserves whilst monitoring the health and welfare of the livestock and monitoring the impact they are having on habitat management.

If you want to know more about this exciting opportunity to be part of an enthused and committed conservation grazing team delivering high standards of conservation grazing whilst helping support nature conservation in Surrey please do apply.

This is the ideal opportunity to combine strong farming knowledge with the desire to benefit the land for biodiversity and bioabundance.

The successful candidate will need experience of livestock management (running a farm or with principal responsibility), welfare procedures and legal requirements around livestock movements, be able to manage budgets and resources, work within a team and in isolation, hold strong ecological knowledge and a passion for nature.  A full driving licence is essential as there will be considerable travel and stock movements across the whole county.

The full job profile, including the person specification, and application form are on our website www.surreywildlifetrust.org

The salary offered to successful applicants will form part of a benefits package including: farmhouse accommodation, above minimum pension contributions, life assurance of 4 x salary, employee support schemes, 22+ days holiday (plus all Bank Holidays).

We are committed to having an inclusive and diverse workplace and encourage applications from backgrounds which may be underrepresented in our sector, including people from minority ethnic backgrounds and people with disabilities.  We aim to offer an interview to all candidates that meet the essential criteria for the post. Please let us know if you require any adjustment to make our recruitment process more accessible.

If you can fulfil the criteria for this role, please apply using the Application Form, or send a covering letter and full CV to James Herd, Director of Reserves Management, james.herd@surreywt.org.uk by midday Friday 30^th August 2024. Interviews will be in mid September 2024 to include a site visit to the Farm.