Reporting to the Kansas State Director, the Director of Land Management and Protection is responsible for leading all facets of development, stewardship, and use (research, grazing, ecosystem, and rare species protection, education, outreach, etc.) of Conservancy-owned lands in Kansas. They are also responsible for oversight, strategic planning, and coordination of complex conservation easement transactions across priority areas in Kansas. In addition, they work with landowners and other partners to establish conservation easements and other cooperative ventures that impact ecosystem health in priority areas across the Great Plains. The Director of Land Management also serves as a member of the Kansas unit’s management team.
The Director of Land Management and Protection:
- Uses the best available science and TNC goals at the state, regional and global level to prioritize conservation projects and to oversee the management of Conservancy-owned lands in Kansas.
- Creates and executes strategies to increase ecological connectivity of grasslands and wetlands across geopolitical boundaries.
- Leads a team of 6-8 conservation staff.
- With conservation staff, establishes, implements, and monitors workplans that span geographies and time.
- Acts as a liaison between Kansas field staff and TNC strategy leads and land protection staff in other business units.
- Establishes partnerships with stakeholders ranging from federal and state agencies to land trusts and landowners to execute projects that protect priority landscapes in Kansas.
- Negotiates land transactions for fee title lands, conservation easements, and other projects,
- Assists in fundraising and develops innovative ways to finance conservation work.
- With a Kansas Trustee, supports the Trustee Land Protection Committee.
- Collaborates closely with Legal, Philanthropy, Finance, Marketing, and Operations staff
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Geographic size and scope is TNC’s priority ecosystems in Kansas, also includes occasional work outside the state.
- Able and willing to travel frequently, sometimes on weekends and sometimes with short notice.
- Negotiate real estate transactions, which can bind the Conservancy legally and financially.
- Plan and direct work on protection projects.
- Maintain records related to land transactions.
- Recruit and supervise staff and interns as needed or as funding is available; responsible for performance management, training, and development.
- Responsible for program budget.
- May work in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain and under physically demanding circumstances.
- 3 years of related work experience in conservation, real estate, or other related experience.
- Experience in managing multiple projects and timelines.
- Experience negotiating complex agreements.
- Experience developing partnerships (partners, community, government).
- Experience leading teams and projects that achieve strategic goals.
- Literate with standard office software, including Microsoft Office, video conferencing, cloud collaboration, and databases.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Three to five years of related work experience in conservation, real estate, fundraising or other related experience.
- Knowledge of current trends and strategies in conservation and land protection and management.
- Excellent communicator with experience presenting information verbally and in writing to a diverse range of stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success with developing partnerships.
- Knowledge of management practices on ranches and rangelands a plus.
- Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience beneficial.
- Experience with ArcGIS or other mapping tools a plus.