The Director for Global Coastal Resilience oversees The Nature Conservancy’s program to address degradation of coastal ecosystems and biodiversity by different threats and the associated risks to coastal communities through innovative nature-based solutions, science, partnerships and financing mechanisms. The Director provides strategic leadership and support for key initiatives including insurance industry engagement, partnerships with the humanitarian sector, mobilizing blue carbon financing and advancing long-term resilience for coastal communities to major drivers of change. S/he plays a lead role in fundraising and communication for this work and as relationship lead to relevant external partners, both private and public. S/he establishes overall conservation priorities to maximize contributions to the Conservancy’s Shared Conservation Agenda and works across TNC regions and departments to guide design and implementation of the program across the globe.
The Director for Global Coastal Resilience establishes the Conservancy as leading organization in developing innovative, nature-based solutions that can enhance resilience of coastal areas. They develop key partnerships with public and private organizations, corporations, agencies, foundations and other stakeholders and play a leading role in donor identification, cultivation and stewardship for the program. They lead and manage a large team, including direct reports and cross-functional team members, to develop and implement cutting edge strategies and advance key projects and initiatives across the Conservancy to achieve conservation results. They define conservation, policy and science priorities for the program, build strategic, scientific and technical capacity in the field, identify and disseminate best practices, and provide training and analyses to best achieve organizational measures of success. They engage key influential support for local, national, and global conservation efforts and negotiate complex and innovative solutions with government agencies, major institutions, and stakeholders at multiple scales. S/he reports to the Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives within the Global Ocean team.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Responsible for leading the Conservancy’s Global Coastal Resilience program to increase the role of nature-based solutions in building coastal resilience.
- Directs and manages multi-disciplinary and cross-functional teams, including working closely across multiple business units and staff at the divisional, regional or global level.
- Designs, implements, and directs complex and diverse projects, encompassing multiple programs and coordinating the work of other professionals, inside and outside the organization. Incorporates cross-disciplinary knowledge to support program objectives.
- Builds strong external and internal partnerships focused on science, policy, opinion and industry leaders, other NGOs and foundations.
- Collaborates with fundraising staff to fundraise for key projects and priorities and play a leading role in donor identification and cultivation.
- Collaborates with Global Ocean communications team to create compelling marketing materials and stories and leverage conservation progress and innovations in national and international media.
- High level management and leadership responsibility for 5+ staff members. Management responsibility includes recruiting, retaining and managing effective multi-disciplinary staff with responsibility for performance management, training and career development, in collaboration with Director of Finance and Operations and Human Resources business partner.
- Accountable for developing program budget, overseeing execution and addressing finance issues and gaps in coordination with Global Ocean finance team.
- Highly diversified work involves participation in the formulation and evaluation of broad policies and/or long-term programs, or making decisions, which typically have broad organizational impact.
- Makes independent strategic decisions frequently based on analysis, ambiguous information, experience and context.
- May require frequent domestic and/or international travel and evening and weekend hours.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Fundraising experience, including identifying donor prospects and donor cultivation.
- Experience designing, implementing, and directing complex or multiple projects of strategic importance, including managing finances, supervising multidisciplinary professionals and coordinating the work of partners while meeting deadlines.
- Experience working with current trends and practices in relevant discipline(s) and geographic regions.
- Supervisory experience, including motivating, leading, setting objectives and managing performance.
- Experience in partnership development with non-profit partners, community groups and/or government agencies.
- Experience networking with high level conservation contacts.
- Experience working with methods and standards of biodiversity information systems and initiatives.
- Experience conceiving and implementing strategic and creative initiatives.
- Experience negotiating.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Multi- lingual and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
- Master’s degree or other relevant advance degree.
- Experience developing practical applications and solutions that pull from multi-disciplinary expertise to advance conservation and/or development objectives, including social science, human development, climate change and other fields.
- Knowledge of politics and society with respect to environmental affairs.
- Communicating clearly via written, spoken, and graphical means in English and other relevant languages.
- Politically savvy.