Head of Nature Recovery Northern Ireland

Job Title: Head of Nature Recovery Northern Ireland

Responsible To: Director of Nature Recovery

Location: Home based in Northern Ireland, with frequent travel required around Northern Ireland and occasionally the rest of the UK

Job Purpose

• To lead and deliver Butterfly Conservation's strategic aims for nature recovery in Northern Ireland, maximising our impact for butterflies, moths and people.
• To implement BC's objectives through leadership of the Northern Ireland Nature Recovery team, setting and managing budgets, targets and workplans while inspiring and enabling staff to achieve their best.
• To develop and strengthen collaboration with BC staff, volunteers, stakeholders and partners to drive progress on BC's targeted species recovery programmes, landscape-scale initiatives and wider nature recovery in Northern Ireland.

Main Responsibilities

• Drive delivery of BC's strategic objectives through designing and managing workplans for the Nature Recovery Northern Ireland team, translating ideas into action and ensuring effective reporting to monitor and share evidence of our impact.
• Lead BC's species recovery work for priority butterflies and moths in Northern Ireland, setting objectives and driving targeted action to recover populations of some of our most threatened species.
• Lead our landscape-scale conservation work in Northern Ireland, developing and overseeing projects using butterflies and moths as indicators of nature recovery across a landscape.
• Develop and deliver new approaches to contribute to broader nature recovery across Northern Ireland, including exploring potential nature markets and developing our advice and services to reach more partners.
• Lead, manage and be accountable for the Nature Recovery team in Northern Ireland, including a small number of direct line management reports. Responsible for budgeting, work planning and resource management, including overseeing annual performance management, team meetings, supporting training needs, staff development and well-being.
• Lead the development of new nature recovery projects, including partner liaison, project planning and design, budgeting and reporting to funders. Collaborate with Nature Recovery, Fundraising, and Finance teams to build a case for support and develop bids for external funding through partnerships, appeals and services.
• Be responsible for Northern Ireland Nature Recovery budgets and their control, working closely with the Finance team to ensure effective planning and timely financial reporting.
• Ensure close working between BC staff, Branches and key volunteers in delivering co-ordinated nature recovery action towards BC's strategic goals across Northern Ireland.
• Support the Engagement and Volunteering team in the development and delivery of volunteering activity across Northern Ireland, putting people at the heart of our work.
• Work with BC's policy team and NGO partners to support collaborative work on major policy issues and advocate BC priorities in Northern Ireland.
• Promote the impact of our work across Northern Ireland, including contributing to impact reporting within BC and providing inspiring and engaging external communications to wider audiences.

General

• Promote BC's values (Excellence, Passionate, Inspiring, Collaborative) ensuring they are adopted in all aspects of the role.
• Maintain a strategic overview of the organisations' delivery across the UK and contribute to development of BC's policies and strategic planning.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties as required and commensurate with the grade of post.
• Undertake all duties and responsibilities in compliance with the rules and regulations encompassing equal opportunities to help foster a diverse workforce.
• Work in accordance with BC's policies, procedures, and codes of conduct.
• Actively participate in on-going professional development activities.

Candidates must have the right to work and be resident in the UK.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early before the advertised closing date and time.

Closing date: 23:59 hours on Monday, 1 December 2025.

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 17 December 2025.

Apply now

Butterfly Conservation is looking for innovative, capable and passionate leaders to drive forward our nature recovery work across the UK. We are at an important moment in the development of our amazing staff team, with senior leadership roles in nature recovery available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is an exciting time to help lead BC's work, building on our success in saving species and developing innovative approaches to the climate and nature crisis. From targeted work to save threatened species to landscape-scale habitat restoration projects, our nature recovery work connects the small scale to the big picture. We use the data from our incredible citizen science programmes to guide our work and combine original research, established conservation evidence and innovative new approaches to help drive nature's recovery.

You will be responsible for leading our conservation delivery teams in a complex, geographically distributed organisation where communication and clarity of purpose brings us together. These challenging and influential roles will help shape our nature recovery teams and drive the activities of our staff alongside volunteers, land managers and partners, combining ecological insight and inspiring leadership with creative ideas and a solutions-focused approach to environmental challenges. You will be responsible for developing and delivering operational work programmes that deliver to BC's strategic objectives, leading your team from ideas to action and demonstrating the impact we make for nature and people. You will thrive working at pace in our rapidly changing world, be able to support and coach your staff through continual professional improvement and collaborate effectively across teams through your excellent interpersonal qualities and strong communication skills.

Successful candidates will be confident and inspiring leaders, committed to delivering action for nature through building partnerships and engaging with communities to create the change you want to see in the world.

• Experienced leader
• Highly experienced in UK nature conservation with a good understanding of ecological principles
• Solutions-focused
• Ability to manage multiple and complex stakeholder relationships
• Mature, self-reliant, resilient and determined

Hours

1.0 FTE, 37 hours per week

Competitive

Job attachments

Head_of_Nature_Recovery_Northern_Ireland_-_Job_Description.docx