Conservation and Land Use Expert

Conservation & Land Use Expert

Proforest is seeking a motivated, organised, and experienced professional to support their growing portfolio of production landscape & responsible sourcing work. This is an exciting opportunity to work with agricultural & forestry production companies, major international brands and other key stakeholders (government and civil society) to develop and implement their responsible production strategies and support implementation of land use planning and conservation activities in forestry and agricultural supply chains.

About Proforest

Proforest is a mission driven organisation with a 20-year track record of supporting the transition to sustainable production and sourcing of agricultural and forest commodities. We are a not-for profit group with a global presence across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America and work with governments, the private sector and civil society to deliver positive social and environmental outcomes in the places agricultural commodities are produced, ranging from protecting forests to recognising the land rights of indigenous peoples to improving conditions for workers. Our clients are well-known consumer brands, such as Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo and Mars, retailers such as Target and Ikea and the world’s largest traders and integrated producers including Cargill, Olam, Wilmar and Cofco. We combine our work for companies with longer-term programmes supported by institutional funders such as DfID, GIZ, Norad and the Global Environment Facility.

Position summary

The position offers an exciting opportunity to take a leading role in the management and delivery of Proforest's landscape projects. As an environmental expert you will lead and oversee environmental assessments, develop conservation and land use management plans and provide training for private sector and government clients helping to deliver forest conservation and support rural livelihoods in some of the world’s most dynamic and vulnerable agricultural frontiers. Your work will be jointly delivered with colleagues from Proforest’s global team, and you will need to convene and manage complex, multistakeholder projects.

Main responsibilities

• Manage and oversee environmental and social impact assessments (such as High Conservation Value and High Carbon Stock assessments), supply chain data analysis or other geospatial risk assessment methodologies.
• Organise and facilitate multistakeholder meetings in English and French for projects and multistakeholder collaborations.
• Carry out and coordinate field activities such as site assessments, capacity building, and data collection.
• Manage projects, programmes and partnerships. This includes the planning, coordination, monitoring and reporting of projects across multiple actors and teams.
• Contribute to business development of relevant Proforest service areas. This includes proposal writing, budgeting and managing client relationships.
• Build and maintain relationships with relevant key stakeholders such as sustainability initiatives, companies, support agencies, civil society and other stakeholders.
• Support and collaborate actively with Proforest colleagues on internal workstreams and tool development, to deliver Proforest’s strategy both regionally and globally.
• Provide strategic advice and technical assistance to clients and partners.

Required experience

• Advanced postgraduate degree (PhD) in environmental management, conservation or ecology OR at least 5 years relevant work experience in applied conservation, supply chain sustainability or environmental sustainability
• Experience of managing and delivering complex consultancy projects or multistakeholder programmes
• Fluent in English and French
• Analytical thinker able to analyse and present complex data clearly and concisely
• Experienced GIS user (e.g. ArcGIS or similar) and familiar with satellite data products (but not expected to be a remote sensing expert)

Desirable experience and attributes

• Speaks other languages, e.g. Spanish, Indonesian
• Experience of working with sustainability certification schemes
• Familiarity with or strong interest in commodity supply chains
• Experience user of data analysis and management software, e.g. Power BI or similar

Other terms and conditions

• Salary: £32-42,000 depending on experience
• Permanent position based in Oxford, UK with possibility to work remotely

To apply

To apply please send your CV, a cover letter and confirmation that you are eligible to work in the UK (e.g. British passport, EU/EEA/Swiss citizen) to personnel@proforest.net



Closing date: 15 November 2020

Proforest is an equal opportunity employer.