Arboriculture Team Manager

The starting salary for this role is £45,734 per annum, working 36 hours per week based at Merrow Depot (Guildford) or Godstone Depot.  

The Highways Maintenance Team within the Environment, Transport and Infrastructure (ETI) directorate at Surrey County Council (SCC) is seeking to appoint an Arboriculture Team Manager. This position is for 36hrs a week and is based at either Merrow Depot (Guildford) or Godstone Depot.

Surrey County Council is the Highway Authority for the County of Surrey. It is responsible for the management of risk from some 2 million trees and monitoring their condition adjacent to and on the highway. Cyclical planned inspections are undertaken over the entire highway network of the County. SCC spends around £1.4 million per year on managing risk from Highway trees. It is reputed to be the most densely wooded County in Southern England with some of the busiest roads outside of London.

Some of our key aims of the Service include:

• Delivering specialist inspections over three and five year cycles aimed at maintaining a safe highway
• Aligning priorities with risk from actionable defects
• Creating accurate records of inspection to service defect life cycles
• Engage with suppliers in delivering works safely in line with specifications and best value

The Arboriculture Team Manager has a team of three Arb Surveyors and a technical officer, and reports to the Highways Maintenance Manager. The Team Manager will be the designated Highway Arboricultural professional and accountable for all operational aspects of the service, including inspections and contract supervision, and will also have budgetary responsibility. Regular contact with Members, customers and contractors will be required, therefore to be successful you will need both excellent communication skills and technical knowledge.

The Arboriculture team makes good use of technology in undertaking inspections as well as specialist equipment such as a Tomography and digital Resistograph for detailed tree inspections. A strong commitment to develop new innovative methods of working for the team will be encouraged.

You will take management responsibility for the direction, planning and implementation of all Arboricultural functions and activities; therefore you will need to be organised and have a proactive approach to contract management. You will also be able motivate and empower individuals and teams to achieve excellence.

In this role you will act as the point of contact within Surrey Highways for the promotion and management of highway biodiversity and environmental issues. This will involve representing Surrey Highways at technical meetings and provide management cover as required. This may include representing Surrey Highways within court as an expert witness.

Together with the Highway Maintenance Manager, you will be responsible for managing budget preparation, budgetary monitoring and control. You will also prioritise programmes and projects involving arboriculture assets in order to maintain and improve the highway within Surrey. Currently this includes our Ash Die Back programme.

This is an exciting challenge for an individual with strong technical skills and knowledge of the Arboriculture sector. To be shortlisted to interview for this position your application will clearly evidence:

• Significant experience of working with local authorities and the range of their arboricultural business
• An ability to gain respect and credibility across the range of stakeholders a local authority works with
• High standards of oral and written communication, presentation and reporting skills
• HNC or equivalent in Arboriculture and/very substantial relevant experience / RFS Prof Dip Arb / BSc Arboriculture as well as evidence of CPD.

At Surrey, our values and behaviours are just as important as our skills and abilities. They shape who we are as an organisation. Find out more about the values we follow.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 29/05/2022.

Interviews will take place week commencing 06/06/2022.

Contact Details

For an informal discussion contact Helen Currie or Andrew Milne on 0300 200 1003 or by e-mail at helen.currie@surreycc.gov.uk or Andrew.milne@surreycc.gov.uk. 

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Benefits

From flexible working to job sharing (where possible) we are committed to providing a healthy work life balance. A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 26 days annual leave, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service, a generous local government salary related pension, as well as the option to join our car lease scheme. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer of first choice reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all under represented groups.