World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s leading conservation organization, seeks a Senior Director, Business Case Development, Markets Institute at our Washington, DC office; other locations will be considered. This position is for a three-year term with the possibility for extension. The Senior Director (SD), Business Case Development will play a key role in developing WWF’s business case development strategy and aligning it with the Institute’s mandate of making food more sustainable by identifying key issues and trends, creating awareness and building global consensus about them. The mandate of the Institute is also to generate the business case for addressing the issues more quickly, and at different scales or in different ways, than has been occurred to date. Each business case will be targeted to a specific audience and will require sufficient financial analyses as well as other qualitative and quantitative analysis to be convincing to the target audience. All business case work for the Institute will be undertaken under the auspices of the SD or through its partners.
The SD will plan, manage, and develop directly or oversee the business case strategy, queue and writing of the financial case for reducing the environmental impacts of food production, processing and trade. The SD will develop and implement priority business cases both within the Institute as well as related food and soft commodities work. Specifically, s/he will lead the design, implementation, project management and/or quality control of a dozen or considerably more each year depending on their scope and complexity. This position will be an integral part of the Institute’s research team reporting to the Vice President, Research, Markets Institute, who will lead the overall research strategy.
The SD will be an integral part of a team that is launching a new thought-leadership platform to address global issues and trends that affect business and sustainability within the food sector: The Markets Institute at WWF. Its mission is to accelerate the pace of progress towards a more sustainable food system globally by leveraging the power of the private sector to influence where and how food is produced based on how they manage their supply chains.
This position will be an integral part of our research team that will make trends, problems, and solutions tangible.
If you want to help identify the key issues and trends that will shape the 21st Century, create meaningful transformational results on the ground at speed and at scale, explore the growing linkages between markets and the environment, and help save the planet in the process, this is the opportunity for you.
- Work with Institute staff and its partners to identify key business cases that can help leverage transformational change at different points along the value chain within the food sector
- Produce 12 business cases per year related directly to the key issues and trends identified by the Institute or to specific leverage points identified by partner organizations and/or WWF staff
- Conduct or contribute to deep dive research and analysis on specific topics as appropriate
- Identify, recommend or otherwise vet with partners methodologies for the development of credible business cases for targeted audiences
- Execute other financial research as needed internally to help move conversations with staff and partners along
- Communicate results to internal and external audiences
- Support the Institute’s efforts to communicate findings to multiple audiences;
- Maintain a level of proficiency in analytics, emerging trends, Big Data, technology, tools, and best practices related to this position;
- Attend conferences to maintain awareness about data visualization and other topics that might be relevant for business case development
- Engage in relevant training to keep skills current;
- Present business cases and other Institute work at relevant conferences
- Perform other duties as assigned.
- A minimum of 12 years in the private sector working on food and supply chain issues
- Proven ability to conceive of and write business case analyses for different audiences
- Proven ability to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative work into business cases
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to draw meaningful and informed conclusions
- Demonstrated ability to work with others to identify key business cases to be developed that address key issues and trends
- Ability to oversee and guide other staff in the development and writing of business cases
- Experience managing third-party partners/consultants
- Knowledge of environmental and/or sustainability issues
- A passion for understanding and communicating financial strategies for transformational change
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
- The ability to effectively interact with internal and external stakeholders
- Exceptional standards for quality
- Strong organizational and project management skills
- Strong commitment to WWF’s mission, goals and values
- Ability to operate independently as well as with a team in a multi-cultural environment
- Energetic, flexible, collaborative and proactive