Senior River and Fisheries Officer

Westcountry Rivers Trust is recruiting a Senior River and Fisheries Officer. This is a permanent contract after a successful 4 month probation period.

The starting salary for this role is £31,800.00 - £36,000.00 per annum (dependent on experience).

About 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. 

About the role

A Grade 4 River and Fisheries Officer will support the River and Fisheries Team and other departments at WRT in a specialist delivery and advisory capacity. You will have 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. In this role you will be supporting the Rivers and Fisheries Team management to develop the skills, competencies and capacity in the team and Trust for delivering a range of grant and commercial based projects which support us in meeting our charitable aims. Project workload may include but is not limited to: delivering and management of fish passage improvement projects, electrofishing, monitoring, watching brief and rescue activities, river restoration, report writing, fisheries management. You will be required to line manage and/or mentor junior team members and others at WRT, developing both practical CDM skills, including producing and reviewing high quality reports and other documents. Part of this role will require developing project ideas and writing bids to secure small to medium scale funding. 

This role is primarily based in the South West, but you may 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 Rivers Team managers 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 background in fisheries and freshwater conservation is essential.

Responsibilities

• Managing projects and providing specialist support on projects and work packages.
• Managing project budgets to deliver maximum conservation impact within funding constraints’
• Supporting the Rivers Team management with the development of the team in relation to Fisheries, fish passage and other complimentary focus areas.
• Develop project ideas and seek funding.
• Ensuring a high level of Health & Safety standards are maintained during fieldwork and project deliverables, including fish passage work. Work with H&S advisor. 
• CDM, procurement and contract management. 
• Engaging with the public, volunteers, landowners and other key stakeholders.
• Line management and mentoring, including the development of junior members of staff, apprentices and trainees.
• Collection of robust data, analysis and presentation of data.
• Drafting, writing and reviewing high quality reports.
• Representing the Trust at various events, meetings or panels. 

Please see the attached job advert for more information about the role and requirements and visit Westcountry Rivers Trust's website to learn more about the organisation. 

Apply

Apply by midnight on Sunday 28th June 2026 by CV and Covering Letter to: https://hr.breathehr.com/v/senior-river-and-fisheries-officer-47174

Interviews will be held in person at our offices in Stoke Climsland on Thursday 9th July 2026.

For queries about this role or the application process please contact [email protected]