Biodiversity Crediting Project Manager (Peatland Code)

Full time (35 hours per week)  

Temporary contract until March 2026 

Closing date for applications: 24th August 2025 

First interview: 2nd September 2025  

Second interview: 8th September 2025 

About Us 

The successful candidate will be employed by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s host organisation, the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. The new team member will have the level of knowledge and experience to drive forward and promote biodiversity assessment and quantification within peatland restoration and woodland creation projects. They will be part of a UK-wide team who advocates the multiple benefits of peatlands and woodlands through partnerships, strong science, sound policy and effective practice, and communication. This project will be directly embedded within the IUCN UK Peatland Programme team but will work in close collaboration with the WCC team at Scottish Forestry and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). 

The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 944,000 members, over 38,000 volunteers, 3,600 staff and 600 trustees. There are 46 individual Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a place-based independent charity with its own legal identity, formed by groups of people getting together and working with others to make a positive difference to wildlife and future generations, starting where they live and work. 

Every Wildlife Trust is part of The Wildlife Trusts federation and a corporate member of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, a registered charity in its own right founded in 1912 and one of the founding members of IUCN – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Taken together this federation of 47 charities is known as The Wildlife Trusts. 

The next few years will be critical in determining what kind of world we all live in. We need to urgently reverse the loss of wildlife and put nature into recovery at scale if we are to prevent climate and ecological disaster. We recognise that this will require big, bold changes in the way The Wildlife Trusts work, not least in how we mobilise others and support them to organise within their own communities. 

About You 

We are looking for a highly organised Project Manager to lead our Biodiversity Crediting project in collaboration with the Woodland Carbon Code. 

This is a unique opportunity to join the IUCN UK Peatland Programme team, supporting the Peatland Code (PC) and UK Woodland Carbon Code (WCC), the UKs leading domestic carbon standards. The PC is the quality assurance standard for peatland restoration projects and the WCC is this for woodland projects in the UK. Both generate independently verified carbon units and this project will support the aspiration to provide biodiversity credits in the near future. Applications from suitable candidates are welcomed. 

This is an exciting time in the development of the Peatland Code and Woodland Carbon Code. The Biodiversity Crediting Project Manager will lead on a new FIRNS 3 (Facility for Investment ready Nature in Scotland) project to develop the methods, documentation, governance, and infrastructure to enable biodiversity crediting for woodland creation and peatland restoration projects in Scotland, including the capability to either stack carbon and biodiversity payments within the same project (where additionality rules allow), or explicitly bundle the two quantified outcomes into one ‘credit’ that is sold on the basis of a known level of biodiversity uplift alongside carbon credits. 

You need to be able to manage many conflicting priorities, keep all project partners regularly updated and ensure the project delivery milestones are met. You will work in the rapid developing arena of voluntary biodiversity/nature markets and will need to keep on top of the latest national and international market developments. 

You will be responsible for the day-to-day project management of the Biodiversity Crediting Project. This will include managing multiple stakeholders and funding partners for this, good organisational and communication skills are critical and the ability to digest technical information and communicate it in an accessible way is key. Further, as part of a team, you will support the operation and promotion of the Peatland Code. This means you will have excellent project management and presentation skills, as well as being highly organised in your work. 

The Wildlife Trusts value passion, respect, trust, integrity, pragmatic activism and strength in diversity. Whilst we are passionate in promoting our aims, we are not judgmental and are inclusive. We particularly encourage applications from people who are underrepresented within our sector, including people from minority backgrounds and people with disabilities. We are committed to creating a movement that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities. 

RSWT take our Safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Please click here to read our commitment statement. The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk. For applicable roles, applicants must be willing to undergo checks with past employers and Disclosure and Barring Service checks at the eligible level. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to offering an interview to anyone with a disability that meets all the essential criteria for the post. Please let us know if you require any adjustments to make our recruitment process more accessible. 

RSWT are committed to increasing the diversity of its staff through its Levelling the Field recruitment pledge and will put any ethnic minority applicants that meet all the essential criteria for the post through to the next stage of recruitment. 

Please be aware we may not accept applications if we have reason to believe they have been wholly produced using generative AI tools. 

This project is supported by NatureScot in collaboration with The Scottish Government and in partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, through the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland. 

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