Westcountry Rivers Trust is recruiting a Fisheries Programme Manager.
The starting salary for this role is £42,400 per annum.
Apply by midnight on Sunday 15th November 2026 by CV and Covering Letter to: https://hr.breathehr.com/v/fisheries-programme-manager-49169
Interviews will be held in person at our office in Stoke Climsland week commencing 23rd November 2026.
For queries about this role or the application process please contact recruitment@wrt.org.uk
About the Westcountry Rivers Trust
Formed in 1994, the Trust was established to restore Westcountry rivers. Measures to protect rivers can help to save money for farmers, lower costs for water companies, boost tourism, reduce the need to dredge estuaries and even benefit human health.
Today the charity works with a wide range of stakeholders from landowners to local communities, businesses, farmers and water companies to restore and protect the rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal areas for the benefit of people, wildlife and the local economy. There has never been a more important time to work on the rivers of the West Country as the impacts of climate emergency and the ecological crisis is forcing society to invest in building catchment resilience.
Spurred by a shared love of rivers, the Westcountry Rivers Trust is very much a grassroots organisation, brought into existence from the bottom up. In the early 90s, a group of individuals, passionate but concerned about the waterways around them, began to stitch together their ambitions for restoring Westcountry rivers, laying the foundations for the Trust we know today.
Everything the Trust does is informed by the best available science. Their work is driven by an ‘ecosystems approach,’ considering the function of the entire catchment, not just the rivers that flow within them.
It was this new perspective not to mention the hands-on and tireless approach to river restoration that grabbed the attention of so many supporters and funders, and which lies behind the flourishing rivers trust movement. Since then, the Trust now has circa 75 employees with an annual turnover of c£3m running multi-annual projects spread across a wide range of funders.
The Trust has three main delivery teams and a support services team. Our employees work on delivery sites, from home, and from the office.
About the Role
This is a new senior post created to strengthen the operational and technical leadership of WRT’s Rivers and Fisheries Team at a pivotal point in the team’s development. The Fisheries Programme Manager will provide hands-on technical expertise and project management leadership across a portfolio of fisheries projects, with fish passage, barrier removal, monitoring and conservation at the core, while supporting the Head of Fisheries & Ecology in the broader delivery and development of the team’s work. The role carries shared line management responsibility for key members of the team, working alongside the Head of Fisheries & Ecology.
This is an opportunity for an experienced fisheries professional to apply their technical expertise at scale, lead and develop complex projects through the full delivery cycle and contribute to work that is making a measurable difference for fish and rivers across the Southwest.
What we offer is direct involvement in genuinely significant conservation work, a skilled, passionate and committed team, and real scope to shape a growing programme. You will have an appropriate level of knowledge and experience to provide support to projects and other team members at a senior level. You will be managing projects or bespoke work packages within larger schemes which require specialist fisheries input.
This role is primarily based in the Southwest, but you will be required to travel and work further afield when required to work in other regions, or to represent the organisation at events. Reporting to the Head of Fisheries & Ecology, you will continue to develop your expertise of working in the environmental conservation sector and maintain regular CPD with a focus on fisheries management, fish biology, fish passage, river restoration and morphology in an applied fashion to deliver tangible benefits to the freshwater environment. Working alone and as part of a team you will be responsible for managing your own workload and that of a team, often in a dynamic delivery environment. A technical background in fisheries and freshwater conservation is essential.
Person Specification
Knowledge and Experience
- Provide senior technical expertise across the fisheries programme, with demonstrable depth in fish passage, barrier removal and associated freshwater ecology.
- Act as senior technical support for the team, reviewing and quality-assuring assessments, survey designs, consent and planning applications and project outputs.
- Support the development of team members through mentoring, peer review and field-based guidance.
- Maintain current knowledge of relevant legislation, best practice and emerging science, and represent WRT at technical meetings and partnership boards.
- Take project management lead on a designated portfolio of projects including fish passage and barrier removal, with management of delivery, budgets, stakeholder relationships, and funder reporting.
- Oversee delivery projects, with support from Operations Programme Manager, Head of River Restoration and Head of Fisheries & Ecology, through the full project lifecycle – from assessment and optioneering through design, consenting, planning and physical delivery – ensuring CDM and H&S obligations are met throughout.
- Support the Head of Fisheries & Ecology in programme-level planning, reporting and oversight across the wider portfolio.
- Contribute technical input and delivery experience to funding applications and tender responses, particularly within the fish passage and barrier removal programme.
- Share line management responsibility with the Head of Fisheries & Ecology, initially holding direct LM for one to two Grade 4 staff and the teams reporting to them.
- Provide regular supervision, performance management and professional development support, fostering a positive and high-performing team culture.
- Support direct reports in building their own project management and line management capabilities, contributing to succession within the team.
- Contribute to recruitment, probationary reviews and appraisals as required.
- Build and sustain effective working relationships with key partners including the Environment Agency, Natural England, local authorities, angling associations and riparian landowners.
- Engage constructively within large multi-partner programmes, contributing to governance structures, reporting requirements and collaborative decision-making.
- Represent WRT professionally and credibly across all external engagement, including with communities and volunteers where project delivery requires it.
- Work collaboratively across WRT, contributing to cross-team working and the Trust’s wider charitable mission.
- Uphold WRT’s values, reputation and H&S standards in all aspects of the role.
- Undertake any other duties commensurate with the seniority and nature of the post.
Person Specification
Knowledge and Experience
- A background in fisheries science/management, conservation and fish passage.
- Previous experience of leading or supervising a team.
- Experience of project management and delivery.
- Experience of working outdoors in aquatic environments and remote locations.
- Experience in NEC contracts and CDM Regs. (D)
- Good understanding of Health and Safety standards and codes of practice.
- Experience of using various software from the MS Office suite, ArcGIS (D), CAD (D).
- A strong understanding of legislation, fisheries law and statutory requirements.
- An understanding of fish migration and barrier assessment/prioritisation, and the process of barrier optioneering. (D)
- Experience in leading, designing and conducting fisheries and ecological monitoring and surveying.
Skills and Competencies
- Ability to plan and manage workloads, including suitable delegation and supervision of tasks.
- Excellent communication and team working skills, including dissemination of technical information to wider stakeholders.
- Contract management, procurement and tendering.
- CDM regulations knowledge and use. NEC4 contract training and use.
- Management of monitoring and survey programmes.
- Experience of fish passage projects.
- Experimental and field study design.
- Experience of mentoring and training others.
Qualifications
- Minimum of Level 6 qualification (bachelor’s degree) in a relevant subject AND/OR
- Level 3 diploma in a relevant subject combined with a minimum of 10 years’ experience
- Fisheries related qualification(s)
- Electrofishing trained, Electrofishing Team Leader trained
- Holds professional membership of relevant organisation and continued development through CPD
The above are Essential criteria unless indicated as Desirable (D)
Benefits
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- 25 days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays, with a reward for long service up to a maximum of 30 days.
- Additional leave at Christmas
- WRT contributes 9% of salary to a personal pension scheme (following a three-month postponement period), plus Life Assurance cover
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Specsavers Eyecare Vouchers
- Supportive Policies
- Hybrid & Flexible Working
Please mention Jobs With Animals when applying for this role.