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Overview
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world's leading conservation organizations, seeks a Forest Senior Infrastructure Scientist.
Major Function
The Senior Infrastructure Scientist (Senior Scientist) leads on advancing the science and technology that underpins ecologically sound and resiliently built and natural infrastructure. WWF is expanding an innovative program to spur a new era in developing future infrastructure that ensures the well-being of both people and our planet. The Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative explores and reinforces the benefits of securing natural and nature-based infrastructure while embedding sustainability solutions into every stage of the built infrastructure life cycle. It targets strategies and solutions that improve the efficacy of early-stage actions in strategic and spatial planning, engineering feasibility and design, and project preparation – when decisions have the greatest impact on ultimate outcomes. The Senior Scientist plays a central role in advancing the initiative, building bridges between the natural science, engineering, social science, and planning communities to work with infrastructure development authorities and critical private and finance sector stakeholders to increase awareness and enhance capacities so that sustainable measures become the norm in infrastructure policy and practice.
Responsibilities
- Establishes the science priorities for the WWF US Infrastructure Initiative through a broad internal and external consultation in collaboration with Infrastructure Initiative and WWF Science team members.
- Leads the Infrastructure Initiative's science and engineering engagement based out of the WWF US office in Washington, DC and will work in collaboration with WWF colleagues in the US and around the world as well as institutional partners in government, academia, and the private sector globally.
- Develops and participates in innovative activities at the interface of applied science and policy to improve infrastructure and conservation planning through the incorporation of biodiversity, natural capital, ecosystem services, and climate resilience analysis.
- Develops and manages short- and long-term science activities (research, analysis, thought leadership, capacity building, etc.), including preparation of workplans, grantee contracts, project reports, and publications.
- Research, develop, and deploy technical guidance, publications, and capacity building materials on conservation, planning, and engineering approaches that take into account biodiversity, ecosystems and their services to people, socio-cultural values, cumulative impacts of development investments, infrastructure impacts and dependencies on the natural environment, and climate change resilience and mitigation factors.
- Develops or collaborates on fundraising proposals in support of Infrastructure Initiative and other WWF strategic priorities, including preparation of written content and budgets and ensuring compliance with donor requirements.
- Coordinates or supports teams comprising WWF colleagues and external partners in infrastructure-related agencies, academia, NGOs, and other institutions to implement infrastructure projects.
- Develops institutional staff capacity in WWF country offices and their counterpart organizations on the use of analytical tools and mainstreaming approaches to sustainable infrastructure.
- Keeps up to date with the state-of-the-art advances in technology, design, planning, modeling, and applications to support WWF infrastructure projects, fundraising, and communications.
- Leads the team's internal knowledge sharing functions and collaborates with WWF US program communications staff and other WWF communications teams in the US and globally to publish, disseminate, and present the scientific outcomes of WWF projects to WWF and the broader scientific community via popular media, posters, technical reports, policy briefs, peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and other means.
- Supports and promotes the science-based initiatives of the Forest Goal Team and other WWF US Goal Teams.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- A BSc, Masters or higher degree in a relevant field (e.g., civil engineering, sustainable engineering, environmental engineering, ecology, geography, environmental science, conservation biology, etc.) and a minimum of eight years of experience associated with infrastructure development.
- Strong capacity for integrating conservation data and considerations into the design of viable solutions for sustainable infrastructure development.
- Strong background in infrastructure design, execution, and research, ideally with conservation-related expertise in statistics and modeling, biodiversity metrics, natural capital and ecosystem service analysis, spatial planning, or applied science in related fields.
- Experience working in emerging and developing economies, large scale planning with/within governments, and applying a range of tools to varying circumstances while maintaining a view of the broader national, regional, and international scales.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including effective public speaking and the ability to communicate complex scientific methods and results to general audiences.
- Strong organizational and project leadership skills and a clear ability to prioritize and complete work on time with minimal supervision.
- Solid project or grant management experience, including project design, budget management, staff or team coordination and supervision, and monitoring and evaluation.
- Proven ability to work independently and think critically, as well as to work collaboratively in a matrixed team environment across disciplines.
- Strong networking and team-building skills and excellent interpersonal skills, especially knowing when to use courtesy, tact and/or diplomacy to effectively communicate across cultures and constituencies.
- Able to train and build capacity of staff and counterparts.
- Experience with GIS and associated spatial analysis tools a plus.
- Second or multiple languages a plus (i.e., French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese)
- Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.
- Identifies and aligns with WWF's core values: Courage, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration:
- Demonstrates courage by speaking up even when it is difficult, or unpopular.
- Builds trust with colleagues by acting with integrity, owning mistakes, and holding oneself accountable.
- Welcomes other points of view and ideas, recognizing and embracing different and contrary perspectives with kindness, curiosity, and encouragement.
- Makes conscious efforts to promote cooperative practices, behaviors, and ways of working across many groups and individuals.
WWF is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace and requires all US-based staff to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. WWF will consider requests for accommodation from the vaccine requirement based on disability, medical contraindication, sincerely held religious belief, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.
To Apply:
- Submit cover letter and resume through our Careers Page, Requisition #23020
- Due to the high volume of applications we are not able to respond to inquiries via phone
As an EOE/AA employer, WWF will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or protected Veteran status. WWF values diversity and inclusion and welcomes diverse candidates to apply.
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