Jobs & Volunteer Positions
Catchment Partnership Manager – (Rural/ Thames Valley)
Salary: £38,346 -£42,544 per annum (depending on experience and skill level)
Contract length: Permanent
Location: Remote/ Hybrid – Oxfordshire preferable but open to other locations within catchment area, flexible working.
Responsible to: Programme Manager Catchment Partnerships, or directly to
Assistant Head of Improving Rivers / Head of Improving Rivers
About Thames21
Thames21 is an environmental charity which works across London and the Thames Basin to deliver high-impact nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis by restoring rivers, whilst also connecting communities to their local green-blue spaces and inspiring long-term stewardship of them.
Diversity at Thames21
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Thames21 is key to our success and as such we employ staff from a diverse range of backgrounds, this we feel is key in ensuring that everybody has an equal opportunity and is not treated differently or discriminated against because of their characteristics. We value the voices of our individual employees, and we strive to work in a collaborative, innovative balanced way. The postholder must actively support this.
Purpose of the job
To drive forward Thames21’s ‘Thames Valley’ (broadly Oxfordshire/ Buckinghamshire/ Berkshire) catchment areas programme in line with our 5-year plan and future strategies ensuring appropriate integration across Thames21 and partner organisations. This includes building and sustaining a team to reduce diffuse pollution, increase biodiversity, improve water quality, and support agricultural businesses to deliver environmental improvement works and nature friendly farming practices.
The postholder requires operational experience and knowledge at catchment scale as well as project and people management experience. They will take a strategic overview of the programme and guide our growth in the thematical and geographical area, with a particular focus on the following outcomes.
- Work with 20 farmers each year to reduce diffuse pollution at source and flood risk.
- Offer advice on nature-based solutions and grant funding to farmers and landowners.
- Plant 30,000 trees annually.
- Input and support the achievement of other applicable 5-year plan targets. i.e. River restoration and catchment scale monitoring.
- Increase Thames21 presence in the Thames Valley, identifying opportunities, supporting, and complimenting the work of other NGOs and regional Rivers Trusts.
The role is a relatively new area of work for Thames21 and may consist of supporting a range of projects and programmes including Catchment Partnerships, Farm Clusters and Natural Flood Management.
Finally, the postholder will take a lead in progressing Thames21’s resilience strategy i.e. working closely with the Fundraising Team, the Catchment Partnership Team, and partner organisations to increase private and public investment to deliver healthy resilient rivers and catchments.
Additional requirements may include supporting other Thames21 projects and funding applications, as the need arises.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
You will oversee and manage the delivery of diverse projects. You will also develop your team’s scope, strategy and action plan in order to grow the team to deliver 5-year plan targets work closely with expert (e.g. statutory bodies, authorities, NGOs and academics) and non-expert (e.g. community groups and volunteers) stakeholders to develop, fund and deliver projects within the catchments, and oversee their management. You will also work closely with the Assistant/ Head of Improving Rivers and other members of the Thames21 team to develop funding applications and steer the direction of the catchment areas.
Tasks include:
- Programme Development & Integration
Develop and expand the Thames Valley catchment programme in line with Thames21’s 5-year strategy, ensuring integration with other teams.
- Funding & Financial Management
Secure diverse funding sources and manage project budgets, including financial reporting and cost tracking to meet objectives.
- Project & Risk Management
Lead project delivery, monitor progress, and identify risk mitigation strategies to ensure continued success.
- Team Leadership & Staff Development
Manage and support staff through training, appraisals, workload balancing, and adherence to health and safety requirements.
- Stakeholder Engagement
Build and maintain relationships with internal teams, funding bodies, landowners and other external stakeholders.
- Technical & Farm Advisory Support
Provide farm advice, generate reports (including GIS mapping), and maintain a database of visits and environmental opportunities.
- Catchment-Based Approach Advocacy
Promote and apply catchment-based principles internally and externally in water and land management.
- Health, Safety & Compliance
Ensure compliance with health and safety policies and broader regulatory requirements across all projects.
- Information & Data Management
Maintain accurate documentation and project data systems, supporting transparency and accountability.
- Promotion & Communications
Support production of publicity materials and represent Thames21’s work to broader audiences.
Other Duties
This job description cannot cover every issue or task that may arise within Thames21. At various times the post-holder will be directed to carry out other reasonable duties in support of other Thames21 activities that are consistent with those in this Job Description. For more information and how to apply, please see the attached link Catchment Partnership Manager CPM0226
For more information on Thames21, please visit our website at www.thames21.org.uk.
To apply for this position please, email an up-to-date copy of your CV and a covering letter to recruitment@thames21.org.uk with the reference (CPM0226), in the subject box of your email application.
The closing date for applications is: 5pm, 28 February 2026
Interview dates: Week commencing 09 March 2026 (subject to change)
We appreciate the time you will have taken to apply to this role, and we do appreciate that it is disconcerting when you don’t hear back from a role you have applied for. However, due to the high number of applications we expect to receive, we are unable respond to or give feedback on individual applications, but we do want to be able manage expectations. Therefore, if you do not hear from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that your application has not been successful on this occasion.
Please advise in your application if you are happy for us to contact you for any future opportunities should they arise, if you are not successful for this position.
No agencies please.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Catchment Partnership Officer
Job Description
| Salary: | £32,855- £38,105 dependant on experience |
| Contract length:
|
One-year, full-time position with the possibility of extension. |
| Location:
|
Oxfordshire/ Berkshire/ Buckinghamshire.
This is a flexible, hybrid position with a mixture of working from home, 2 days a week in Thames21’s regional office (Wheatley/Oxford), travel to Thames21’s main London office once a month; and site visits across Thames21 catchment areas, as required.
|
| Responsible to: | Catchment Partnership Manager |
About Thames21
Thames21 is an environmental charity that works across London and the Thames Basin to deliver high-impact, nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis by restoring rivers, while also connecting communities to their local green-blue spaces and inspiring long-term stewardship of them.
Diversity at Thames21
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Thames21 is key to our success and as such we employ staff from a diverse range of backgrounds, this we feel is key in ensuring that everybody has an equal opportunity and is not treated differently or discriminated against because of their characteristics. We value the voices of our individual employees, and we strive to work in a collaborative, innovative balanced way. The postholder must actively support this.
Purpose of the job
This post will form part of Thames21’s Catchment Partnership team. The successful candidate will host/ co-host river catchment partnerships and will be responsible for each partnership’s strategic development and expansion, working towards the successful delivery of the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) to improving rivers.
You will work with multiple stakeholders and communities to manage and deliver river improvement projects across Oxfordshire and the mid-Thames region. This role is instrumental in developing and delivering a suite of projects, from citizen science water quality schemes to river habitat restoration and natural flood management, helping to implement Thames21’s vision and 5-year plan for healthy, thriving rivers across the Thames Basin.
Main duties and responsibilities:
The officer will be expected to deliver across five priority areas:
- Deliver small-scale river improvement projects
To deliver small-scale natural flood management, invasive species removal and habitat restoration projects, often with the aid of our volunteers and external contractors. You will also co-ordinate our citizen science water quality testing network in the region.
- Develop diverse, representative, collaborative and delivery focused partnerships
To work autonomously and proactively to seek out and positively engage strategic stakeholders within each catchment area, building the influence and capacity of the Catchment Partnership network to deliver improvements for rivers and local communities. These stakeholders will include (but not limited to) community groups, landowners, eNGOs, local authorities, government agencies, citizen scientists and water companies.
Work with partnership networks to identify, develop and fundraise for river catchment improvement projects
To draw on their knowledge of what makes a river catchment healthy to develop ambitious and impactful catchment improvement project proposals that meet the targets of Thames21’s 5-year plan and the relevant catchment plan. Once identified, the successful candidate will be required to work with relevant Thames21 teams and external partners to successfully fundraise for the development and delivery of these projects.
Bring together identified projects into detailed, deliverable catchment and sub-catchment plans, monitoring progress against these.
The catchment partnership officer will be responsible for developing deliverable project proposals, catchment and sub catchment plans that draw together projects identified across the catchment/sub-catchment area with landowner and stakeholder support. These plans will clearly articulate priority projects required for delivery to external readers. Where necessary, the catchment partnership officer may be required to support and lead on the delivery of river improvement projects, managing project deadlines and budgets.
- Break down silos by sharing information and bringing people together; in a way that is catchment wide, cross boundary and across multiple organisations.
The catchment partnership officer will be expected to share knowledge, news, funding opportunities and project progress between stakeholders through meetings, site visits, email newsletters and quarterly meetings of the whole Catchment Partnership (which the Officer will have the responsibility of arranging, coordinating and chairing, including the production of agendas, minutes and actions). The catchment partnership officer will be expected to communicate the work of their catchment partnership networks externally at relevant forums, including the Thames Catchment Forum and strategic community events.
Other Duties
This job description cannot cover every issue or task that may arise within Thames21. At various times the post-holder will be directed to carry out other reasonable duties in support of other Thames21 activities that are consistent with those in this Job Description CPO0126
To apply for this position please, email an up-to-date copy of your CV and a covering letter to recruitment@thames21.org.uk with the reference CPO0126, in the subject box of your email application.
The closing date for applications is: 5pm, 13 February 2026.
Interview dates: Week commencing 23 February 2026