The Director, Area-Based Conservation Unit, leads WWF's global approach to integrated area-based conservation. This senior role involves strategic leadership, managing a specialized unit, ensuring cross-Network coherence, and articulating a common vision and approach to generate greater consistency of implementation across the global Network.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead WWF’s global approach to integrated area-based conservation.
- Create, lead, and line manage a small functional unit of area-based specialists, including specialists and coordinators of relevant area-based ACAIs, ensuring the work of the team is adequately planned and resourced and that objectives are met.
- Build cross-Network coherence on area-based conservation, including regularly convening a cross-Network area-based conservation leaders’ group as a sounding board and amplifier for the work of the Unit.
- Articulate, share, and communicate a common vision and approach to integrated area-based conservation, associated principles and agreed area-based priorities, thereby generating greater consistency of implementation across the Network.
- Work to ensure WWF’s area-based work is more effectively joined up across the network at both strategic and operational levels, including by:
- Convening and coordinating relevant communities across the Network.
- Helping to integrate the thematic expertise of Practices in the places that need it most.
- Improving landscape-level coordination to, inter alia, align the inputs of other Network offices.
- Enable improved Network-wide understanding of the nature, extent, and relative value of its area-based portfolio, and improve the ability of the Network to track and report change, progress, and impact in its priority places in line with Roadmap 2030 and other Network goals.
- Create visibility around ongoing area-based conservation efforts across the Network to leverage opportunities, strengthen collaboration, and communicate WWF's vision, approach, focus, achievements, and lessons more widely, including with donors, decision-makers, and other actors in relevant sectors.
- Stay abreast of, participate in, and influence global developments in relation to area-based conservation at the highest levels within the conservation policy, science, and practitioner communities, the intergovernmental community and other relevant sectors and, as appropriate, take part in global fora on area-based conservation, contributing cutting edge thought leadership.
- Support the effective updating, maintenance, and use of ABC related data and information to inform program design, implementation, decision making, and monitoring. This includes leading on the curation of the Global WWF PLACES and PCA datasets.
- Provide strategic and technical leadership and guidance to initiatives, communities of practices/ACAIs and country offices on integrated landscape/seascape/river-basin strategies, including protected and conserved areas, OECMs, connectivity, restoration, and sustainable production.
- Undertake other tasks as requested and agreed with the Global Director from time to time.
Required Profile and Qualifications:
- Education: Advanced University degree in Environmental/Conservation Science, Policy or Management, International/Sustainable Development, or other related fields – or equivalent work experience (MBA/MSc/MA level qualification).
- Knowledge & Network: A thorough understanding of the environment/development interface and of area-based conservation therein, and an extensive external network in the sector.
- Experience: At least 10-15 years’ experience in a leadership role, preferably within an international environmental/conservation context, with experience in driving the vision and leading change in complex organizations.
- Organizational Skills: Strong experience working across a distributed global network and influencing without direct authority.
- Track Record: Proven track record in successfully developing, leading, and managing multi-disciplinary teams, large-scale programmes and/or institutions.
- Language: Perfect command of English language with other language/s an asset.
