Reforestation Project Manager (Senior Operations Manager)

We’re looking for a hands-on, solution-focused and collaborative project manager who’ll help ensure the successful design, implementation, and maintenance of our significant planting projects in Australia. This role would serve as an expert on our individual planting sites, visiting sites regularly and ensuring we get the best from our contractors, technical partners, nursery suppliers and Land Life colleagues on everything related to the plantings we’re nurturing.

Here’s what you’d be doing:

• Developing comprehensive annual work plans in alignment with Land Life’s goals and budgets, and relevant regulatory requirements

• Negotiating contractor and potential contractor agreements and specifications in line with project budgets

• Leading the entire project lifecycle, from initial site assessment and design through to execution, monitoring, and reporting.

• Overseeing all on-site activities, including seed collection, nursery operations, site preparation, planting, post-planting maintenance and remediation.

• Conducting project site visits throughout the year to assess new properties, review site activities and conduct monitoring. 

• Looking into different opportunities to expand land availability, find new partners, enhance the scientific basis of our work, make implementation of our projects more effective.

• Support partnerships managers in building a network of landowners and join landowner visits to give technical expertise at each site

• Tracking the progress our partners and suppliers are making, and stepping in to address issues quickly

• Technical plan development: conducting desktop assessments of forest cover, exclusion areas, regulatory approvals etc. to design the best possible planting for that particular site, gathering information from the field (soil samples, drone data, current vegetation) to inform planting design with contractors and partners, utilising advanced GIS software (e.g., QGIS) for spatial analysis, mapping, and data management relevant to all stages of reforestation, and support the bigger operations and monitoring teams to complete in field monitoring - including site assessments, germinant checks, species survival and biomass monitoring.

• Ensuring quality: that all stakeholders are aware of quality and safety requirements, that all projects adhere to relevant Australian environmental legislation and best practice guidelines, and implement WHS procedures on site and undertake QA/QC of WHS processes

Requirements

The successful incumbent would have a successful track record (at least 5 years) of managing large-scale nature restoration projects in diverse Australian biomes, applying rigorous project management principles and being out in the field. A relevant tertiary qualification would be beneficial, but a well developed knowledge of ecology, forestry, nature restoration, and natural resource management is essential, as is high-level proficiency in GIS for environmental management, including spatial data collection, processing, analysis, and map production.

Personal strengths would include the ability to manage relationships well across different stakeholders, devise an operational strategy that upholds the company strategy, and the ability to make that strategy come alive through structured execution and the willingness to get stuck in as challenges arise.

How to apply

We are looking to fill this position as soon as possible so interviews will start on a rolling basis in January 2026. If you have any questions about the role, feel free to reach out to Debbie Johnstone ([email protected]), or submit your CV and cover letter via the Apply now button below.