Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Business Officer (Countryside Stewardship Service).

This is a Full Time, Fixed Term Contract until 31st March 2026.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth (Fort Cumberland) and Cambridge.

Salary

National: £26,135 pro-rata

Cambridge: £27,915 pro-rata

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

To view our full range of benefits please follow the link here.

What you will be doing

As our Business Officer (Countryside Stewardship), you will assist colleagues in the Countryside Stewardship Heritage Service in the delivery of Group and corporate targets. You will facilitate the efficient provision of advice to owners and the Rural Payments Agency and will manage the pre-application processing and post application monitoring of individual grants, including assisting with negotiations and complying with grant administration procedures. You will support the Central Partnerships Team in responding to external and internal requests for information and briefings.

Who we are looking for

• Adaptable IT skills, including use of databases, GIS

• Aptitude for implementing detailed business processes

• Proven financial aptitude with a high level of attention to detail

• Customer service skills including effective telephone manner

• Previous experience of working in a team environment

• Experience of interpreting and analysing information and using it to inform your judgment

Please note your application will be scored and assessed against the above criteria.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

At Historic England we use a hiring system called Applied. Applied is a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. We do not use CV application for the majority of our hiring processes. You will answer a selection of questions that allow our hiring teams to test your skills and suitability for the role.

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Provisional interview dates: 02nd October 2025

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://historicengland.org.uk/media/sbihajxm/business-officer-countryside-stewardship-service-2025.odt