Assistant Ranger

We're looking for a highly motivated individual with sound knowledge and experience of practical habitat, conservation and visitor management, preferably in a Country Park or visitor attraction setting, to join our small and friendly team at Avon Heath Country Park near Ringwood.

You will make a real difference and have a genuine impact across the 300 ha Country Park and outlying sites, which are home to all six British reptiles and rare birds such as Nightjar and Woodlark.

Come rain or shine, your love of wildlife will inspire others as you strive to deliver exemplary habitat management and visitor service.

We offer great training opportunities in practical habitat management, ecology and visitor services and invest in our staff's future.

If you're passionate about wildlife conservation and countryside management, want to work with others that share your passion and want to share it with others, then this is the role for you.

What you will be doing.

A key member of the park management team, you will work closely with the other Rangers to deliver the day to day running of a popular Country Park with 300,000+ visitors every year to ensure a great visitor experience and the 300ha of SSSI Lowland Heathland that we manage is kept in tip top condition (Dorset has around 2.5% of the world's remaining Lowland Heathland).

This is a wide and varied job role, involving the maintenance of public areas, repairs and installation of site infrastructure, conducting ecological surveys, delivering educational sessions and our events, as well as developing projects and interpretation materials. You will be working face to face with the public on a daily basis so a positive, can-do attitude is essential.
Under the leadership of the Senior and other Rangers you will work closely with the team to learn the role and tasks, to develop your skills and experience whilst bringing your own unique set of skills to the job. You will also be part of the wider Park team with our colleagues at the Cafe and Nature Nursery.
You excellent communication skills will help you deal with the myriad of enquiries we have from our visitors.
We are a friendly and welcoming team who collaborate together to develop ideas to improve our visitors and volunteers experience, and are always open to new ideas and ways of working.

We're passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

• provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents


• have ambitious aspirations


• are excited about our future


• care about Dorset and all the people who live here


• know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success

You will:

• have access to a range of employee benefits


• be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed


• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression


We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.