Skip to content

Community Land Scotland

Job Opportunity: Natural Capital Partnerships Manager

About the Natural Capital Partnerships team

Community Land Scotland is recruiting a Manager to set up and manage our Natural Capital Partnerships project.

Our Natural Capital Partnerships team is part of a new project created to work across Scotland’s community, private and public sectors, supporting the transition to net zero. As investment increases in nature-based solutions to address the climate and biodiversity crises, it is important that the opportunity to engage communities appropriately is embraced, to secure greater community benefits from natural capital developments, support community wealth building objectives and reduce the risk of communities being marginalised.

The Scottish Government’s recently published Natural Capital Market Framework  sets out its ambition to attract greater responsible private investment into values-led, high-integrity natural capital projects, by promoting its Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. These principles highlight the need for shared public, private, and community benefits.

However, challenges like language, power dynamics, and expertise can hinder collaboration between communities, investors and developers. This new team will bridge these gaps, developing partnerships that will support delivery of the SG Natural Capital Market Framework and ensure meaningful community involvement and alignment with the Just Transition Commission’s 2021 report, which advocates for fair land management and wider benefit distribution in the shift to net zero. 

The posts and the project are funded with the support of Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Foundation Scotland, Scottish Forestry, South of Scotland Enterprise and others.

Other project supporters include the Scottish Land Commission, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Cairngorm National Park Authority and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.

The team will be supported by a Partnership Board comprising a range of organisations but will sit within Community Land Scotland.

Job Details

Job title:
Natural Capital Partnership Manager

Salary:
£42,000 per annum

Reporting to:Community Land Scotland Board

Hours:
Full time (37.5 hours per week) to 31/03/2028

Location:
Glasgow or at a partner location in the Highlands or South of Scotland. Hybrid working may be available.

Closing date: 5pm on 16th December

Interview date: 6th or 7th January

Documents (click on text for links):

About Community Land Scotland

Community Land Scotland (CLS) was established in 2010 to provide a collective national voice for community landowners in Scotland. We have over 130 member organisations across Scotland, ranging from large crofting estates in the Western Isles to inner city community hubs. Collectively, members own and manage over 550,000 acres of land and a wide range of buildings in rural and urban areas.

Community Land Scotland is a small organisation with a big impact. It works to: be a collective voice for community owners; encourage more community ownership of land and buildings; facilitate mutual support and knowledge exchange between community landowners and collaborate with other organisations to ensure community landowners get the support they need.

Community ownership has shaped Scottish land reform and played a key role in the Community Empowerment Act.  Over 500 community organisations now own land or buildings across rural and urban Scotland. Further information about Community Land Scotland and community ownership can be found at: www.communitylandscotland.org.uk

Natural Capital Partnerships

The Scottish Government has emphasised that natural capital investment should be “values-led” and “high-integrity,” as outlined in its Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. These principles highlight the need for shared public, private, and community benefits.

However, there are a range of challenges that can hinder collaboration between communities, landowners, investors, and developers. This new team will bridge these gaps, supporting partnerships to develop that will ensure meaningful community involvement and alignment with the Just Transition Commission’s 2021 report, which advocates for fair land management and wider benefit distribution in the shift to net zero.

The new team will:

About the role

The role of the Manager will be to lead a small, distributed team across Scotland to support the delivery of the strategy and objectives of the Natural Capital Partnerships Project. The role will require travel around Scotland and some evening and weekend work.

See full details and person specification in Natural Capital Partnership Manager job description linked under “Documents”.

How to apply:

Please complete our online application process by 5.00 pm on Monday 16 December. If you have any questions about the role, please email our Chair, Ailsa Raeburn, ailsa.raeburn@communitylandscotland.org.uk

Applicants will be informed whether they have been shortlised for interview by Friday 20th December and interviews will be held in person in Glasgow on Monday 6th or Tuesday 7th January.

Interviews will be held on the 6th or 7th January 2025. It is unlikely we will be able to offer applicants alternative dates for interview.

Before you apply, please read about our recruitment process here.

The application form is run through Google Forms, which means that if you are completing this form from within your own Google account, your answers will be automatically saved, and you can return to the form in progress at any time.

If you are not using your own Google account, you may wish to prepare your answers to the form ahead of time. This document will provide you with the questions the form will require.