Restoration Operations Manager

Build something that matters

Return to Thicket is restoring degraded Subtropical Thicket at scale, removing carbon, rebuilding biodiversity and creating meaningful rural employment. We are looking for an exceptional operational leader to own nursery and field delivery, develop strong supervisors and turn plans into safe, measurable results.

The role

Reporting to the General Manager, you will lead the full restoration delivery chain: harvesting, nursery

production, field readiness, planting, quality, logistics and continuous improvement. You will work alongside our scientific, GIS, MRV, HR and Health & Safety teams to make sure every hectare is delivered with discipline and backed by credible evidence.

What you’ll own

• Deliver annual, seasonal and weekly nursery and planting targets—safely, on time and within approved budgets.
• Translate targets into practical daily plans for people, sites, materials, transport and equipment.
• Lead and coach Field Supervisors and the Nursery Supervisor; create clarity, rhythm and accountability.
• Raise nursery performance: rooting success, stock quality, batch control, loss reduction and dispatch readiness.
• Own planting quality—from field readiness and cutting condition to placement, density and daily sign-off.
• Update and maintain reliable digital reporting for production, labour, quality, safety, downtime and corrective action.
• Remove bottlenecks, improve output per labour day and standardise better ways of working across sites.
• Stop unsafe or non-conforming work and ensure issues are corrected before they become repeat failures.

What you bring

• Proven experience leading sizeable operational teams through supervisors—ideally 30+ workers in a field, production or project environment.
• A strong record of planning work, allocating resources and delivering against measurable production, quality, cost and safety targets.
• The judgement to make fast, practical decisions in remote and changing field conditions.
• Strong computer literacy, including Excel, shared files and digital field or reporting tools.
• A valid driver’s licence and willingness to travel regularly between Eastern Cape project sites.
• A relevant qualification—or substantial equivalent experience that proves you can do the job.

Experience we value

• Commercial forestry
• horticulture
• agriculture
• ecological restoration
• conservation
• mining
• infrastructure
• renewable-energy construction
• nursery production
• large-scale planting
• audited quality systems

GIS, Lean or ISO-style systems, South African Health & Safety and labour knowledge, and exposure to carbon or Verra projects are valuable—but restoration experience is not essential. We can teach spekboom. We need someone who already knows how to lead people and build operational excellence.

What you will achieve by month six

• A credible 12-week plan drives daily work.
• Supervisors run clear routines and escalate early.
• Production, quality and downtime data can be trsuted.
• Repeat defects and avoidable rework are falling.

What you will achieve by month twelve:

• Targets are delivered safely, within budget and to standard.
• Nursery output and field demand are aligned
• A capable supervisory team sustains performance
• Scalable systems and audit-ready evidence are in place.

Why Return to Thicket?

See the impact of your work across landscapes, communities and the climate.

Build the system rather than simply inherit one.

Work with an ambitious multidisciplinary team and grow as the organisation scales.

Create capable supervisors, durable rural jobs and a new benchmark for restoration delivery.

If you can turn ambitious plans into reliable field delivery—and want your work to mean more than a monthly target—we want to meet you.

Return to Thicket is committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. Appointment is subject to reference checks and verification of relevant qualifications and licence.