Director of Corporate Services and Transformation, Forestry & Land Scotland (SCS 1)

Job Description

Job Description

We are seeking an exceptional, strategic leader to shape and lead a bold Transformation Agenda across Forestry and Land Scotland. This role sits at the heart of the organisation, driving excellence and innovation across Finance, People, Communications and Corporate Governance and Relations.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is a Scottish Government Agency managing Scotland’s national forests and land. We care for 640,000 hectares – around 9% of Scotland’s land area to deliver commercially sustainable forestry, conserve and enhance the environment and deliver benefits for people and nature. Our mission is ‘to look after Scotland’s forests and land, for the benefit of all, now and for the future’ with a vision of ‘forests and land that Scotland can be proud of’.

FLS plays a vital role: producing approximately 40% of Scotland’s timber, partnering in producing 1200 MW of renewable energy, welcoming 10 million visitors per annum and safeguarding habitats for more than 1,000 species. Our commercial income of circa £140 million per annum is supplemented by grants from the Scottish Government for peatland restoration, woodland creation and other recreational services.

This is an exciting time for FLS. We are 80% self funded from our own operational and commercial activities and are currently on a transformation journey to ensure our long term sustainability.

This is a rare opportunity to influence national outcomes, lead at scale and leave a legacy for Scotland’s people, its land and future generations.

Responsibilities

You will be an outstanding, passionate leader, who can deliver at strategic, tactical and operational levels with the ability to catalise collaborative change.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, your twin objectives will be leading/ delivering our transformation agenda across our business and delivering operational excellence across our corporate services platform. You will provide strategic leadership to the corporate services team (c.125 staff) and Heads of Profession in Finance, People, Communications and Corporate functions.

Key objectives will include:

• Leadership of the Corporate Services Directorate: Articulating a clear vision for the Directorate in alignment with customer and stakeholder needs.
• Delivery: Delivering business excellence in Finance, People, Communications and Governance services to FLS.
• Performance oversight: Driving a step change in FLS’s performance management and accountability to ensure the agency delivers its objectives and Scottish Ministers’ ambitions and priorities.
• Governance/Assurance: Overseeing and streamlining governance across FLS to enable agile decision making. Management of risk, resilience and assurance as well as compliance with all statutory responsibilities and financial regulations. Promote diversity and inclusion at board level and across the organisation.
• Transformation: Coordinating the agency wide transformation agenda towards a financially sustainable model, with a focus on commercial return on investment, data driven decision making and continuous improvement for innovation and productivity.
• Strategy: Developing and executing a robust Corporate Services and Transformational (CST) strategy aligned with FLS’s aspirations enhancing operational effectiveness, meeting legal obligations, and delivering relevant services which are fit for purpose.
• Sharing Corporate Leadership: Supporting the Chief Executive as a member of the Strategic Board (SAB) and Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to deliver FLS’s business strategy and Corporate Plan.