Current Vacancies

We are delighted that you are considering joining our passionate and committed team, working towards a common goal of protecting and restoring our designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for everyone to enjoy. Discover our current job opportunities below, and join us in the rewarding journey of safeguarding the Kent Downs and ensuring a vibrant future for generations to come.

Putting Down Routes Project Manager

Salary: £32,485 – £36,693 per annum

Contract duration: 27 months

Working hours: 37 hours per week

Closing date: 17th March 2024

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Kent Downs National Landscape as a Project Manager for the new Putting Downs Routes Project championing inclusivity and diversity in the countryside.

The North Downs Way National Trail Partnership is embarking on an exciting project that seeks make the countryside more inclusive & welcoming to all people. We want to both encourage new audiences to the trail and upgrade parts of the trail so that they are more accessible to a wider range of people. This will include working with Project Partners to develop new audiences, delivering enhancements on, and around the trail and supporting the recruitment and training of North Downs Way Ambassadors to make the trail more accessible to groups who currently do not use the North Downs Way.

To be successful the post holder will have excellent project management skills with a clear passion for making the countryside a more accessible place for more people. Ideally you will have worked in the outdoors, countryside or heritage sectors and have a track record of successfully engaging with partners and communities. You will be able to demonstrate how you have delivered projects on time and to budget and are able to report and evidence your work for project funding purposes. You will be able to drive our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives.

The North Downs Way National Trail is hosted by the Kent Downs National Landscape Team, itself hosted by Kent County Council. You will benefit from the terms and conditions of the Council but operate independently and in support of the North Downs Way National Trail; building wide ranging relationships and collaborations.

You will work either remotely or in the Kent Downs National Landscape office in Brabourne, Ashford, with a small and friendly professional team supported by a much wider partnership of people and organisations. We welcome flexible working to suit employee needs and job requirements.

The post holder will be required to attend and organise regular events throughout the North Downs Way National Trail in Kent and Surrey and must be able to demonstrate that they can attend events and visit communities within this geography.

Putting Down Routes Communications and Engagement Manager

Salary: £32,485 – £36,693 per annum

Contract duration: 24 months

Working hours: 37 hours per week

Closing date: 17th March 2024

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Kent Downs National Landscape as a Communications and Engagement Manager for the Putting Downs Routes Project championing inclusivity and diversity in the countryside.

The North Downs Way National Trail Partnership is embarking on an exciting project that seeks make the countryside more inclusive & welcoming to all people. We want to both encourage new audiences to the trail and upgrade parts of the trail so that they are more accessible to a wider range of people. This will include working with Project Partners, Black Girls Hike and Wild with Wheels, to develop new audiences, deliver enhancements on and around the trail, and support the recruitment and training of North Downs Way Ambassadors to make the trail more accessible to groups who currently do not use the North Downs Way.

To be successful the post holder will have excellent communication, marketing and community engagement skills and have a clear passion for making the countryside a more accessible place for more people. Ideally you will have worked in the outdoors, countryside or heritage sectors and have a track record of successfully engaging with partners and communities. You will be able to demonstrate how you have delivered projects on time and to budget and are able to report and evidence your work for project funding purposes. You will be able to drive our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives.

The North Downs Way National Trail is hosted by the Kent Downs National Landscape Team, itself hosted by Kent County Council. You will benefit from the terms and conditions of the Council but operate independently and in support of the North Downs Way National Trail; building wide ranging relationships and collaborations.

You will work either remotely or in the Kent Downs National Landscape office in Brabourne, Ashford, with a small and friendly professional team supported by a much wider partnership of people and organisations. We welcome flexible working to suit employee needs and job requirements.

The post holder will be required to attend and organise regular events throughout the North Downs Way National Trail in Kent and Surrey and must be able to demonstrate that they can attend events and visit communities within this geography.

View full job description and apply

National Landscape Planning Manager

Salary: £36,866 – £43,011 per annum

Contract duration: 12 months

Working hours: 37 hours per week

Closing date: 18th March 2024

The Kent Downs National Landscape (Previously AONB) is one of the Nation’s finest and most pressurised landscapes.

Getting planning right is one of our most important and most challenging tasks. We seek a Planning Manager able to work in close partnership with our local authority partners positively to influence the strategic policy framework for the AONB. We also want you to make constructive and robust comments in appropriate development management cases.

You will be confident to be able to work at many levels and to represent the Kent Downs National Landscape in an authoritative, helpful and confident manner, sometimes in stressful conditions. You will join our highly experienced team and our established Head of Planning and Place.

An interesting and positive part of your role will be to work with colleagues on the development, review and use of design guidance for the Kent Downs including a new buildings design guide.

We are looking for someone with a good level of relevant experience; this may well include someone who is a Member of RTPI or possess a recognised planning qualification or appropriate skills and experience.

We offer very flexible employment with many of the team working from home much of the time, but we have two office bases, a converted barn at the foot of the Kent Downs, in East Brabourne near Ashford and another on a Lavender farm in Shoreham near Sevenoaks.

This is an important additional planning role which will help us positively influence  the future of the Kent Downs National Landscape. We are looking for someone who is motivated by the conservation of this great landscape and has the skills and abilities to help secure its future.

View full job description and apply

Kent Downs National Landscape is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of Kent’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.  People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across our service. If you identify as a person of colour and/or are disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application.

Putting Down Routes is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thank you to National Lottery players for making this project possible. Putting Down Routes is also funded through Defra‘s Farming In Protected Landscapes programme. The Farming in Protected Landscapes fund helps farmers, land managers and others to deliver projects in the farmed landscape under the themes of climate, nature, people and place.

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