Responsible to :  Chief Executive

Hours:  Full time, 35 hours per week 

Annual Leave:  23 days a year + 3 taken between Christmas & New Year

Location:  Battersea, South London. Office based.

Salary:  £27,000 - 30,000 pa depending on experience

Pension:  Pension contributions matched up to 5% of salary

Closing date:  Monday 24 June 2019

Background

A unique opportunity to help the nation’s hedgehogs, currently in alarming decline. People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is seeking a Hedgehog Officer to run Hedgehog Street, a co-funded joint campaign with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) to reverse the fortunes of hedgehogs. The Hedgehog Officer is an employee of PTES. The majority of the work falls under the joint campaign.

PTES exists to combat the decline in endangered species in Britain and throughout the world. Passion drives our work but it’s grounded in science. We invest in research and test the best ways to protect endangered species in their natural habitats. And we enlist thousands of citizen scientists to find out more about how wildlife species are faring. Hedgehogs are one of our priority species in the UK.

We have 20 staff, five trustees and thousands of volunteers helping us.

Job Purpose

• Implement our existing conservation strategy for hedgehogs and influence future strategy, consolidating our position as part of the central hub of hedgehog conservation in the UK.
• Manage the Hedgehog Street campaign.
• Liaise closely with campaign partners ensuring parity of recognition and clear communication.
• Represent Hedgehog St on behalf of PTES and BHPS externally, pursuing opportunities for cooperative working within the conservation sector and beyond, influencing stakeholders and building existing relationships.
• Be an authoritative voice for hedgehog conservation to the media, the public, conservation professionals and other stakeholders (including building developers, fencing manufacturers, planners, architects etc).

Duties and responsibilities

Managing Hedgehog Street website

• Maintaining and developing the website ensuring that it’s up-to-date, regularly refreshed and external content curated
• Responding effectively to public queries and producing monthly e-news of events and top tips.
• Maintaining the Big Hedgehog Map and implementing the associated app.
• Running citizen science projects to add to our understanding of hedgehog ecology and provide an outlet for volunteer enthusiasm.
• Working alongside the PR company to promote messages across media platforms including social, online and traditional media and at events.    
• Working with colleagues to ensure well-coordinated fundraising communications and activities across all on- and off-line channels and liaising with partners as necessary.

Conservation training

• Organising and marketing hedgehog ecology and management training courses for managers of public green spaces across the country
• Supporting trainers delivering courses and leading or assisting at training courses on occasion
• Enabling courses to be held by other appropriate organisations (such as Wildlife Trusts), agreeing terms and generally facilitating
• Periodically updating course content and recruiting new trainers.

Managing partnerships

• Maintaining and initiating relationships with developers, local planning authorities and fence manufacturers to encourage hedgehog-friendly housing and other building developments
• Managing the sale and distribution of Hedgehog Highway signs for developers to install
• Enlisting key individuals to support this and other aspects of the campaign, including The Rt Hon Chris Grayling, MP (hedgehog ‘species champion’).

Other tasks

• Organising a presence at appropriate external public events to promote hedgehog conservation
• Maximising relationships with external communities and stakeholders, involving other staff and PR team where suitable
• Liaise with colleagues to produce the biennial State of Britain’s Hedgehogs reports
• Helping with other tasks as advised by the Chief Executive

Relationships

Internal:

• Report to the Chief Executive and work closely with the Grants Manager (who manages the research programme) and the Mammal Surveys Officer (who coordinates our mammal monitoring schemes).
• Work with all colleagues to promote relevant aspects of our work to external audiences.

External:

• BHPS, the campaign Steering Group, Hedgehog Champions, and PTES supporters
• Hedgehog Officers in other wildlife NGOs, and groups such as Garden Wildlife Health Forum, Wildlife Gardening Forum and State of Nature partnership
• Website developer and other web-related service providers
• PR/communications agency

Person Specification

Essential knowledge and experience

• University degree or equivalent in a conservation-related field
• Interest in and passion for ecology and the conservation of British wildlife
• Experience of networking and influencing stakeholders in the conservation sector and general cooperative working
• Experience of using a CMS (content management system), ideally WordPress
• Experience of writing copy for public consumption (ideally online and offline) that is engaging, clear and concise.

Essential skills

• Excellent oral and written communication skills adaptable to relate and converse confidently with a wide range of people with diverse backgrounds face to face and remotely
• Excellent organisational skills with ability to work on own initiative and without close supervision, and to manage several projects at the same time, often with conflicting priorities
• Ability to manage a large volume of public interaction from the website, and judging priorities in responding
• Self-motivation, a general ‘can do’ cooperative manner, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a close-knit team with a passion for conservation
• Proven ability to manage projects and events, meeting objectives on time and on budget
• Ability to think strategically, prioritise tasks and influence strategy
• Ability to work with consistent accuracy and attention to detail
• Flexibility to be able to work out of hours on occasion when travelling to and attending external events.

Desirable selection criteria

• Good knowledge and understanding of hedgehog ecology and conservation issues
• Interest in engaging the public in conservation as well as working with stakeholders such as building developers and material manufacturers, landowners and farmers etc.
• Experience of working with website designers on structuring websites for specific audiences
• Experience of productive interaction with the media
• Commitment to our goals and values as an evidence-based conservation charity
• Full UK driving licence