About the job

Job summary

Forestry England is part of the Forestry Commission. We look after more land and more trees than any other organization in the country, shaping landscapes for people, wildlife and timber. It’s a job that never stops growing. We are the biggest provider of outdoor recreation in the UK. 

We have an IT user community of around 1800 people who are geographically spread and delivering a broad range of business functions covering forestry management, timber harvesting, recreation and events management, and management of visitor centres. We take a modern cloud-first approach to IT, and are several years into a mission to modernise a wide array of IT Systems and Infrastructure.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated candidate to join the IT team in the role of IT Field Support engineer (FSE) providing essential IT support to all Forestry offices. You will be friendly, approachable, communicative, adaptable, and highly organized, take ownership of issues, embrace new challenges, and work collaboratively with colleagues at a fast pace. 

Job description

As a Field Support Engineer, you will provide a broad range of local and customer focused technical support covering desktop, IT infrastructure, connectivity and networking and project management. You will be working as part of a small team of Field Support engineers to deliver 2nd line IT support and project delivery within the Systems and Infrastructure team to all staff including Forestry England and Forest Services. 

The role will require frequent travel to Forestry sites to across multiple districts with overnight stays required. Ideally based in either the East or Central Districts, however all applications would be considered.   

Person specification

Essential Experience 

• Experience providing excellent customer service and support to IT users across multiple disciplines including applications support, systems software, IT operations, network support, service desk and incident management. 
• Understanding of Network principles and troubleshooting IT hardware. 
• Ability to troubleshoot connectivity problems using networking techniques. 
• Previous experience of installation with IT hardware including switches and routers. 
• Knowledge of Microsoft 365 apps and services. 
• Mobile device and VOIP/phone management and support. 
• Working with a wide range of a range of technologies and products within the desktop, local office and applications arena.
• Prioritisation of work in a customer centric environment.
• Experienced working with third party stakeholders, e.g. connectivity providers. 
• Project management and delivery. 
• Experience with multiple Health and Safety practices including working at Height, driving at workand electrical safety. 
• Excellent customer service skills 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills 
• Friendly, approachable and enthusiastic 
• Ability to work well under pressure and to deadlines. 
• Highly motivated, pro-active team player  
• Strong organisation skills, able to prioritise and proactively manage own workload effectively. 
• Willingness to share skills, knowledge and experience, and develop alongside 3rd line colleagues 
• Driving at work (requires clean license).  

Desirable Experience 

• Fibre and Copper Installation and troubleshooting certifications (City and Guilds) 
• Experience of cable installation and termination and troubleshooting in internal and external environments.
• Experienced in ITIL service management processes. 
• Server-side end-user administration and troubleshooting (Active Directory) 
• Support tools such Lansweeper, Bomgar, PRTG, Mimecast. 
• Experience of telephony end-user administration and troubleshooting such as Microsoft UC 

Responsibilities 

• Troubleshooting and resolving customer IT technical support issues 
• Working closely with 1st and 3rd line colleagues as needed
• Managing own workload 
• Reporting technical issues to 3rd line colleagues and supporting troubleshooting and resolution 
• Involvement with and supporting delivery of IT projects 
• Maintaining technical documentation and developing and maintaining written guidance as needed. 
• Maintenance of IT hardware and computer cabinets including cabling standards.  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £29,863, Forestry Commission contributes £8,063 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Application Process

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV summarising your work experience, and a 750 word personal statement describing how you meet the essential criteria. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Interview

We may conduct online interviews with the use of Microsoft Teams. Candidates would therefore require access to a computer and internet at interview stage.

Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed.

All candidates at interview will be assessed via a service of questions to determine their past experience and suitability for the role. Scores will be assessed by the civil service success profiles system (behaviours, strengths, experience). Scoring will be made according to the Civil Service scoring system.

Further Information

Any move to Forestry Commission from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at here

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via fcerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.