Managing Director

COMMUNITY FOREST TRUST; Manchester; Remote; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job description

Hours: Full-Time – 36 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Location: Remote (travel to London, Birmingham and Forests required monthly)

This is the opportunity to play an influential and impactful role in one of the most important causes of our generation – the climate emergency. Trees will enable 25% of the UK's 2050 net zero ambition and this role sits at the heart of this, supporting one of the UK’s largest woodland creation partnerships, England’s Community Forests.

The Community Forest Trust (CFT) is a charity that supports, enables and champions England’s Community Forests (ECFs). Across England, there are 15 Community Forests that deliver social, economic, and environmental impact through woodland creation and restoration. In 2024/2025, they will plant over 2.5 million trees, most of which are funded through Defra’s national tree planting programme, the Nature for Climate Fund Programme.

The Managing Director will have the drive, rigour, and organisational and stakeholder management skills to develop and deliver a new CFT Business Plan. The current Business Plan was developed in 2022 and runs to March 2025. It has now been delivered.

The Managing Director will be responsible for providing the overall leadership and management of CFT and ensuring effective governance and compliance with all legal requirements. To fulfil this aim, the Managing Director must ensure that robust structures and systems are in place to deliver CFT’s strategic priorities and CFT’s charitable aims and objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Take ownership of delivering the future direction and shape of CFT and deliver the CFT vision.
• Provide organisational leadership for CFT, establishing and implementing business objectives through a business plan.
• Work closely with the Chair of the Board, Trustees, and staff, building positive working relationships in a constructive and consultative environment.
• Manage the agreements (service delivery) with the ECFs with whom CFT has a specific and formal arrangement.
• Deliver the services and outcomes to the ECF Network, the Forests that CFT supports, and those Forests that CFT runs.
• Support project development work taking place at the local level to support the Northern Forest programme.
• Develop and lead funding strategies and write or assist with writing funding bids when required.

This list is not exhaustive; please see the full job description attached to this advertisement.

Minimum Requirements:

To be successful in the role, the postholder must have previous senior management and leadership experience gained at an organisation of comparable scale and complexity. A track record of developing and implementing Business Plans is also a must, along with experience of representing an organisation to external stakeholders and forming effective partnerships, working effectively with a board of trustees or equivalent, and managing contracts and service providers.

The postholder will have outstanding leadership skills with the ability to develop strategic plans and motivate and inspire others, knowledge of financial management, including budgets/cash flow, income generation and writing successful funding applications, and knowledge of community engagement and mobilisation.

Benefits:

• Competitive rates of pay.
• Remote and flexible working.
• 25 days annual leave per year, plus bank holidays.
• An enhanced pension scheme.
• Possible funded training opportunities.

We welcome individuals with a general interest in the environment and its preservation. We are also an equal opportunities employer who considers applications from all communities.

Should you be interested in this role, we would be pleased to hear from you via a CV and a covering letter. Please submit this by the closing date of 18th April 2025.