Chief Operating Officer
Who we are
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is the county’s leading conservation charity, run by local people for the benefit of local wildlife. As part of a national network of 46 Wildlife Trusts, we work tirelessly to protect the natural world we all depend on. Our vision is simple: we want everyone to have the opportunity to live in a healthy, wildlife-rich world.
Through our ‘Wilder Nottinghamshire 2030’ strategy, we are focusing on creating wilder lives and places while ensuring our organisation remains resilient and inclusive. From our iconic nature reserves, such as the Attenborough Nature Reserve and Idle Valley, to our pioneering landscape-scale recovery projects, we are entering an ambitious new phase.
The scale and urgency of the nature and climate crisis have never been greater. As a result, we are stepping forward with renewed ambition, strengthening our role as a leading voice for nature’s recovery across Nottinghamshire.
About the role
We are a values-led organisation: ambitious in our goals, innovative in our thinking and supportive in how we work together.
We are united by a shared commitment to addressing the urgent nature and climate challenges of our time.
This is a newly created role, reflecting a deliberate investment in our organisational capability as we enter the next phase of our strategy. We are evolving our structure to better support growth, strengthen delivery and ensure we are set up to meet increasing ambition and complexity. This is not change driven by cost reduction, but by a desire to build the capacity and resilience needed for long-term impact.
As Chief Operating Officer, you will play a central role within the strategic leadership team, holding collective responsibility for our vision, culture and organisational performance. This is a broad, cross-organisational leadership role, with oversight of finance, people and culture, organisational development, impact and governance.
This is not a directive or top-down operational role. Instead, you will act as an enabler, creating the conditions for teams to take ownership, make decisions and perform at their best. You will help shift how we work, embedding clarity, accountability and confidence across the organisation.
You will ensure that our strategic ambitions are underpinned by strong financial stewardship and operational excellence. Leading our operations function, you will create the conditions for our finance, people & culture and digital teams to thrive and deliver at their best.
Working closely with the Chief Executive and senior colleagues, you will help shape and drive sustainable growth, ensuring that our systems, processes and ways of working are aligned, effective and enabling impact. You will also play a key role in strengthening how we define and measure success, using data, insight and performance frameworks to understand our impact, track progress against our strategy and inform decision-making across the organisation.
Who we are looking for
We are seeking a thoughtful and accomplished leader, with a strong track record across organisational leadership, ideally spanning areas such as finance, people, operations, or organisational development within the charity or wider purpose-driven sector.
You will bring experience of working at a senior level within a complex organisation, with responsibility for shaping strategy and delivering organisational performance.
You will be able to navigate complexity while keeping people, culture and purpose at the centre of your approach. Whether you are already operating at Director level or stepping into your first executive role, you will be motivated by the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to an ambitious, mission-led organisation.
You will bring:
- Experience of financial leadership, including strategic planning, budgeting and oversight, alongside a broader understanding of how finance supports organisational decision-making and sustainability.
- Experience of developing and embedding effective systems, processes and governance frameworks that support organisational resilience and growth.
- A proven ability to lead organisational change with care, bringing others with you and fostering a positive, inclusive culture.
- An understanding of income generation and organisational sustainability, with an appreciation for how different income streams and activities contribute to long-term impact.
- Confidence in working with data and insight to inform decision-making, alongside a curiosity for how systems and technology can enhance organisational effectiveness.
- Excellent leadership skills with the ability to motivate, inspire and develop a highly effective team.
- Excellent communication skills, with the credibility and emotional intelligence to build trusted relationships across a wide range of stakeholders.
Above all, you will be a strategic and values-led leader, motivated by the opportunity to strengthen an organisation’s foundations so it can achieve greater impact.
This is a rare opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of an organisation with a clear sense of purpose and ambition.
Success in the role will include strengthening organisational systems and processes, embedding a culture of empowered decision-making and ensuring the Trust is well-positioned to deliver its strategic ambitions with confidence and clarity.
The role is based in Nottingham, with an expectation of regular in-person presence, particularly in the early stages, alongside flexibility for hybrid working.
Welcome from the CEO
Welcome and thank you for your interest in Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and becoming our Chief Operating Officer.
I’ve worked as CEO at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust for 7 years and I’m immensely proud of what our organisation and colleagues have achieved for Nottinghamshire’s wild spaces in that time, and across our more than 60 years of history.
Nottinghamshire is home to varied landscapes, including ancient woodlands and heathland, the Trent Valley wetlands and lowland grasslands, but our natural areas have been in decline over the last century, with many areas of habitat depleted and shrunk and native species under threat or already lost.
Since 1964, we have been saving and creating unique and iconic wild spaces, like the Attenborough Nature Reserve and Idle Valley Nature Reserve, taking action for threatened species and inspiring and supporting Nottinghamshire’s individuals and communities to create space for nature through volunteering, community mobilising and our advice.
Over the last five years, we’ve seen significant growth. Our annual income has risen from around £5 million to almost £9 million and with it, the scale and complexity of our organisation has also increased.
A Chief Operating Officer has not existed in our organisation before, so if you have a passion for organisational development and efficiency, are accomplished at translating strategy into actionable plans, are motivated by measuring impact and have a desire to coach and mentor to get the best out of your team, then I’d love to hear from you.
On behalf of all of us at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Wilkinson
CEO, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
Accessibility
Equal opportunities
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust Group is an equal opportunity employer that strives to be a diverse and inclusive environment in which everyone is valued.
We welcome applications from eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity.
We recognise that our workforce needs to represent the communities and people we work with. We particularly encourage applications from underrepresented groups within Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, the wider charity and conservation sectors, such as people from Black and Ethnic Minority backgrounds and those who identify as LGBTQ+.
Disability
If you have any support requirements to make your application, please notify Todd or Conor at Peridot Partners at the earliest opportunity so that appropriate reasonable adjustments can be made to our recruitment process.
We are a Disability Confident employer.
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and have made some modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities.
We offer the following amenities:
- Accessibility dogs are welcome
- Papers and materials can be presented in different formats
- A sign language interpreter can be accessed for interview
- Working patterns and locations can be adjusted
Please note applications are made via Peridot Partners and not Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust itself. To apply for this role and for more information, please visit our listing on the Peridot Partners website.
