Conservation Officer

Buglife is seeking a Conservation Officer to support nature recovery projects in Surrey, UK. The role involves training citizen scientists, enhancing wildflower-rich habitats, and collaborating with local partners. The position is based at the Surrey Wildlife Trust office in Pirbright and requires travel within the county. This part-time role (22.5 hours/week) is fixed-term until March 2026, offering an opportunity to inspire community engagement in wildlife conservation.
Would you like to help Surrey’s bees and other pollinators? Can you inspire others to help make a difference for wildlife? Do you enjoy sharing your knowledge with others, and working with local communities?

Join our passionate and committed team to deliver nature recovery at scale, and provide opportunities for everyone to connect with the natural world.

Our conservation team take pride in inspiring, influencing and working with others to support nature’s recovery, and to be a voice for invertebrates. They work in partnership with other organisations and communities to deliver nature restoration and species recovery projects around the UK.

Space 4 Nature is a project developing new technologies to plan and monitor nature restoration at scale. The project, which is now in its third year, utilises the newly emerging field of Earth Observation – combining satellite technology and artificial intelligence and enlists the help of the public. Space 4 Nature is a partnership of Surrey Wildlife Trust, the University of Surrey, Buglife and Painshill Park Trust.

The Conservation Officer will work with Surrey Wildlife Trust to train citizen scientists in surveying plants and invertebrates and the habitats upon which they rely. The Conservation Officer will also be responsible for restoring and enhancing wildflower-rich grasslands and heathland within the B-Lines network in Surrey, building and maintaining partnerships with land managers and land owners, managing contractors, undertaking site surveys and assessments, training others, providing land management advice for the conservation of species and habitats within the B-lines network in Surrey and beyond , and providing technical support to project partners on the development of new technologies developed via Space 4 Nature.

The role sits within our England Team, but also within the Space 4 Nature team, and will involve close working with our project partners at Surrey Wildlife Trust, the University of Surrey, and Painshill Park Trust. The location is in Surrey, based at the Surrey Wildlife Trust office in Pirbright. The post holder will be expected to travel around the county, and travel further afield on occasion.

This is an exciting time to join Buglife, with a new ambitious strategy and a growing portfolio of conservation delivery projects across the UK. Buglife play a lead role within the conservation sector working with, and influencing, others to help the small things that run the world.

Deadline for applications: 01/06/25

Interviews will be held on 10/06/25 via Teams

Due to the volume of applications, we receive, we may close our vacancies early. It is therefore advisable to apply as early as possible if you would like to be considered for this role.

Job Description available on our website reference.

Job Title: Conservation Officer – Space4Nature

Salary: £18,656.25 pro-rata (£31,093.75 FTE)

Hours: 22.5 hours (3 days) per week

Contract type: FTC until 31st March 2026

Location: Pirbright with occasional travel around the county