About the job

Job summary

Forestry England (https://www.forestryengland.uk/) looks after more land and more trees than any other organisation in the country, shaping landscapes for people, wildlife and timber.  It’s a job that never stops growing. Forestry England is an agency of the Forestry Commission (FC).

We have an IT user community of around 2000 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.  Excellent IT is essential to help meet our corporate targets and to develop our future we have established a new IT team to design and run the service.  

We have developed a modern service based around Cloud, working with new partners, we have a modernised client-side environment, and new systems and network infrastructure.

This role provides an ambitious and highly skilled Technology professional with an excellent opportunity to join our IT Service Desk team at an important time as we support our rapidly growing customer base through a period of significant IT transformation.

Job description

As IT Service Analyst, you will be responsible for a number of important duties and responsibilities.

As part of a small dedicated Service Desk team, you will be responsible for managing our Service Desk ticketing system – support requests logged and dealt with or assigned in an appropriate and timely manner, monitoring and managing the flow of tickets logged, ensuring excellent customer service satisfaction and standards are maintained, and working closely with Service Desk and wider-IT team colleagues in the resolution of issues.

Support is provided via our ticketing system, phone, email and remotely, as well as hands on occasionally.

The role also encompasses core tasks such as managing the setup of new starters and leaving staff, fulfilling requests, managing stock including moving of large IT deliveries, procurement, IT equipment (including the building of) and software asset management etc.

Great customer service, demonstratable IT technical troubleshooting skills and exceptional organisation skills are key to this role. We require someone with a strong sense of ownership, who is a keen team player, with demonstratable technical support and troubleshooting skills that have been developed in an enterprise environment.

You will be friendly, approachable, communicative, and adaptable. You will take ownership of issues and embrace new challenges, and work collaboratively with colleagues at a fast pace. The successful candidate will also be keen to make suggestions, share ideas and contribute towards the continuous improvement of our valuable Service Desk function.

This role requires exceptional organisation skills and ability to help keep our Service Desk organised and functioning as smoothly and effectively as possible.

There will also be opportunity to work on mini projects as well as playing a part in supporting various IT transformational projects. 

This post holder will ensure Forestry England achieves maximum business benefit from its IT by:

• Troubleshooting and resolving customer IT technical support issues.
• Able to work in the Bristol office up to 5 days per week, to facilitate equipment requests
• Monitoring and managing support tickets from start to timely conclusion to required standards. Prioritising, escalating, and progressing accordingly.
• Setting up, configuring, and deploying laptops, desktops, iPhones, iPads
• Working closely with 2nd line colleagues as needed to resolve issues.
• End-user systems administration.
• Undertaking standard Service Desk tasks such as processing new staff, leaving staff, requests, procurement etc.
• Being alert to wider issues and emerging patterns.
• Involvement with and supporting delivery of IT projects.
• Maintaining technical documentation and developing and maintaining written guidance as needed.
• Maintaining accurate records and stocks.

Reporting Line

Reports directly to Forestry England IT Service Manager.

Staff Responsibilities

This role does not carry line management responsibilities.

Financial and Budget Responsibilities

This role does not carry budget responsibilities.

Person specification

Essential Experience

• Excellent customer service skills.
• Experience working in an IT Enterprise environment supporting users.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Friendly, approachable, and enthusiastic.
• Highly motivated, pro-active team player but also able to work very effectively autonomously.
• Ability to work well under pressure and to deadlines.
• Strong sense of ownership and drive to go the extra mile to solve an issue.
• Motivated with a willingness to learn and tackle challenging problems and situations. Be able to really take ownership of technical and non-technical issues and challenges and manage them from start to completion.
• Strong organisation skills, able to prioritise and proactively manage own workload effectively.
• Ensure appropriate standards and procedures are adhered to.
• Experience working with third parties, e.g. for repair of equipment and escalated support issues.
• Daily checks as required within scope of role.
• Willingness to share skills, knowledge, and experience, and develop alongside 2nd line colleagues.
• Ensuring all team and technical documentation is kept up to date and secure.
• Undertaking workflow activities including managing the setup and provision of new starters and equipment, processing leaving staff, fulfilling requests, managing stock, procurement, IT equipment and software asset management.
• Ensuring company and IT policies and procedures are always followed.

Demonstrable knowledge and experience of as many of the following as possible (training will be provided where required):

• End-user administration (Active Directory user accounts and groups, Azure Active Directory)
• Service Desk support tools such Lansweeper, Bomgar, Microsoft Endpoint Manager.
• Mobile device and phone setup and support (iPhone, Jamf & MS endpoint).
• Client-side OS and application troubleshooting: Windows 10 &11, Office 365, Teams, MS Defender. Apple MacOS and Jamf experience welcome.
• Experience of telephony end-user set up such as Microsoft UC.
• Desk-side hardware break-fix and repair (Dell laptops, desktops etc). Familiarity with desktop printers.
• Managed printer troubleshooting (Canon MFD's and Uniflow)
• Basic networking principals, cabling and patching, DHCP, DNS.
• IT security awareness, supporting team to resolve security incidents
• Appropriate IT related qualifications and/or 2 years’ experience working within a hands-on and service focussed IT technical arena, as well as evidence of continued personal development.
• Infrequent/occasional UK travel and overnight stays may be required from time to time, as well as infrequent on call support rota cover.

Please clearly demonstrate how the above applies to you throughout your application. Failure to do so will mean that your application is automatically sifted out.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £24,323, Forestry Commission contributes £6,767 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.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a name-blind CV and a 500 word Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed below:

A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. 

A Personal statement detailing relevant experience to this role

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted based on experience detailed in CV.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed.

We will be conducting online interviews with the use of Microsoft Teams or equivalent online communication methods. Candidates would therefore require access to a computer and internet at interview stage.

At interview you will be assessed against experience, behaviours and strength based questions.

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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

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.

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.

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 nicola.greetham@forestryengland.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

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.