Vacancy – Development Project Officer

Job Title: Development Project Officer
Area of operation: Development
Salary: £35,329 to 45,090 (depending on experience)
Contract: Permanent (37.5 hours per week)
Responsible to: Development Director
Benefits: Bupa Health & welfare package, including salary sacrifice, electric car scheme and generous contributory pension scheme
Annual leave entitlement: 30 days per annum, exclusive of bank holidays
Place of work: Home based, but with regional development area across Kent, Sussex and Surrey. There will be a requirement to attend our London Office (Soho) one day per month (Hybrid Contract)
Closing Date: 12pm on Monday 8th June 2026
Interviews: Tuesday 23rd June 2026 (to be held in our London office)

 About English Rural:

English Rural Housing Association is a leading national rural specialist working to provide affordable homes in small villages for local people. We own and manage around 1,600 affordable properties, spread amongst ~200 villages, and have a development programme of between 150 to 200 more homes over the next five years. We are passionate about rural communities and play a leading advocacy role in promoting the importance and urgent need for affordable rural housing.

 About the role:

This is an exciting opportunity to join our small but professional and friendly development team to continue the delivery of our high quality new build homes programme.

We design our homes to high-standards, incorporating local architectural features. Our ‘fabric first’ approach to design and construction, coupled with and our commitment to renewable energy technologies, aims to reduce environmental impact and running costs for our residents. We build small scale schemes of quality homes that are in keeping with the village. Our approach involves forming a community-led local partnership to research, enable and deliver affordable rural homes.

Working under the leadership of the Development Director and collaboratively with internal colleagues and external consultants and contractors. The role will be to fully coordinate from inception working with Rural Housing Enablers, site acquisition and planning through to completion with the day-to-day project management of rural exception site housing delivery (noting, we do deliver some through selective Section 106 planning schemes with housing developers). Our typical land lead sites are around eight to twelve affordable homes, and may incorporate some open market housing to provide some necessary cross subsidy funding.

 About you:

To succeed in this role, you will have a proven track record in working and successfully delivering affordable housing development and preferably rural housing. You will need excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with an ability to work both collaboratively but also be an independent self-starter. It takes a special person with professionalism, enthusiasm, initiative, tenacity and a great deal of pride in the end product to stay the course and deliver these small, often challenging yet ultimately rewarding community lead housing schemes. The right candidate will also ideally have some technical construction experience, either from formal qualification of direct housing delivery. English Rural is looking to invest in and develop the right candidate to grow with our business.

 Key Contact:

For an informal discussion please contact Richard DeVille on 020 7820 7930, or email richard.deville@englishrural.org.uk.

To Apply:

If you feel excited by the challenges posed by this role, please email an up-to-date CV (with a supporting statement detailing the skills and experience you have to meet the requirements of the role) to Karen Eagles here.

Please advise if there are any restrictions to your residency in the UK that might affect your right to take up employment in the UK.

Downloads:

— Click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification

Please also read our Applicant Privacy Notice and fill in our Equality and Diversity Survey:

— Click here to download the Applicant Privacy Notice
— Click here to fill in the Voluntary Equality and Diversity Survey (optional)

Closing date for applications: 12pm on Monday 8th June 2026

English Rural Housing Association is committed to equal opportunities and values diversity in its workforce.

No agencies please.