Scion Nonprofit Staffing has been retained to conduct the search for a Family Forest Carbon Program Director on behalf of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), an incredible organization with a mission dedicated to deliver meaningful conservation impact through the empowerment of family forest landowners. This phenomenal opportunity is for immediate hire and operates full-time from the Southern United States (remote). The ideal candidate will be based in or near the Northeast (New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or nearby), with the ability to travel up to one week per month and work remotely.

POSITION SUMMARY:

In this Director role, you will make a meaningful contribution to addressing global climate change by helping us activate America’s family-owned forests as a measurable and verifiable natural climate solution. Family lands represent the largest part of U.S. forests, and until now, there was no viable way for those landowners to access carbon markets to increase the benefits from their land. The Family Forest Carbon Program is a partnership between the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy to generate significant, additional carbon sequestration and storage on America’s 280 million acres of family forests.

As the Director for our Northeast launch, you will work across a broad coalition of conservation partners to design and implement the Family Forest Carbon Program in a way that empowers family forest landowners in the region to be part of the climate solution. You will work with our partners at The Nature Conservancy to develop the scientific quantification and verification of management practices that best contribute to carbon storage in forests. In time, you may identify and hire local capacity to work with landowners, building a high performing team that can effectively scale the impact of this vital work.

Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders across the country, the FFCP Northeast Director’s success in this role will result in 50 million acres of family-owned forests enrolled in carbon-friendly practices, making a clear and globally significant contribution to the effort to limit the negative impacts of climate change!

In this role, you will launch and manage the successful development of an FFCP regional module, from partnership building to practice development, to full program implementation in a fast-paced, iterative learning environment. The FFCP Northeast Director will learn from the program’s experience in the Central Apps, focusing on implementing replicable processes/systems and adapting others according to the regional relevance. Importantly, the Regional Lead will be responsible for creating and nurturing partnerships with various interests and roles in the FFCP – from The Nature Conservancy State Chapters to foresters to forest product companies to state agencies to landowners.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATION:

Across the U.S., forests are facing critical challenges that must be addressed if we are to continue to have the clean drinking water, wildlife habitat and wood supply that all Americans count on. Family forest owners, who have a passion for conservation, can help. That’s why the American Forest Foundation (AFF) is working with partners on conservation projects in the most critical landscapes where intervention is needed. Taking on the biggest issues, these partnerships are working to significantly increase the number of family and private landowners actively managing their woodlands to ensure the health of these forests and the resources they provide.

For more than three-quarters of a century, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) has helped family forest owners care for their land. And their work continues today. Faced with growing threats to our forests, it is more important than ever that family woodland owners actively steward their land. In collaboration with partners, AFF employs numerous strategies, programs and tools which help overcome the barriers to forest stewardship and engage more forest owners in conservation impact on the ground.

AFF is embarking on a bold new strategy for conservation impact across America’s family-owned forests. Our entire organization is in a mode of complex problem solving and rapid iteration. All teams at AFF are working to discover the root challenges in forest conservation issues, create solutions, and adapt based on constant learning to develop viable and scalable models for impact. AFF is driven by values of our shared purpose, measurable and verifiable results, and learning for continuous improvement to tackle big conservation challenges in climate change mitigation, biodiversity loss, reducing threats of catastrophic wildfires, and ensuring a sustainable resource economy for rural communities.

EXAMPLE FIRST YEAR RESPONSIBILITIES/ACHIEVEMENTS:

At the end of their first year in this role, the incoming FFCP Northeast Director will have:

• Collaborated with AFF science partners to identify management practices suited to the region that can best produce quantifiable and verifiable carbon sequestration and storage.
• Built and nurtured partnerships that are key to FFCP success, assessing their individual needs and adapting the program to accommodate while serving as the lead liaison with local partners to build and implement state-level programs.
• Represented the regional program externally in conversations with key partners and in larger presentations or events; communicating effectively and adapting message or presentation to fit the audience.
• Gained a deep understanding of the regional business model, sensitivity of key supply-side variables and how implementation of the program will affect these variables through the creation of a program that operates within the model’s Cost of Goods Sold parameters.
• Learned and replicated appropriate strategies from the original, Central Appalachian pilot program.
• Implemented new tests and innovations to maximize landowner cost of acquisition and carbon generation.
• Led learning processes on the regional team and created a system that enables the FFCP to adapt quickly and make necessary adjustments mid-implementation.
• Coordinated with members of the larger FFCP team to share learning experiences, and results in an agile management system framework.
• Started the process of onboarding and mentoring a regional team (including a Contract Coordinator and forester team) in the year ahead.
• Demonstrated knowledge of AFF’s existing metrics tracking systems and/or innovated to develop a system of tracking and understanding key metrics related to the work of FFCP Regional Directors, including landowner visits scheduled, visits completed, and contracts signed.
• Immersed themselves in the culture and mission of the organization, developed a broad understanding of AFF and the FFCP, possessing a firm understanding of AFF’s long-term goals and how the FFCP contributes toward those goals.
• Established strong lines of communication between FFCP teammates, foresters, local partners, and contractors to provide a seamless experience for the landowners involved with the FFCP program.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree and/or post-graduate degree in wildlife biology, natural resource management, ecology, forestry, or related field.
• 5-7 years of experience in Project management and communications experience preferred.
• Proven success managing a major program in a collaborative environment, relying on sense of shared purpose and strong personal relationships to motivate action.
• Ability to identify key metrics and track success.
• Experience working with internal and external stakeholders to identify their needs and adjust program tactics as a result.
• Proven ability to think strategically, analyze critically, and translate ideas into actions.
• Proven ability to develop and successfully manage program budgets.
• Willingness and openness to evaluate outside opinions, incorporate diverse viewpoints, and foster consensus where possible, even when such consensus does not reflect one’s personal opinion.
• Proven track record of demonstrating unqualified respect to colleagues, partners, stakeholders, and others.
• Ability to use independent judgment and to manage and impart information to a range of constituencies.
• Ability to communicate effectively--to listen, influence, motivate, and lead.
• Working knowledge with markets for forest carbon and the basics of forest carbon accounting.
• Familiarity with family forest landowners and the challenges of working with them at scale.
• Technological, social marketing and/or micro-targeting acumen.

TO APPLY:

For immediate consideration please apply with your resume and cover letter, formatted in Microsoft Word, via: https://www.scionstaffing.com/job/7429

Review of applications, nominations, and expressions of interest will begin immediately and continue on a confidential basis until an appointment is made.

The American Forest Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages diversity and equity in all facets of the organization’s work. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other protected class.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

In addition to a competitive base salary (DOE), AFF also provides employees with a generous benefits package which includes Health, Vision & Dental Insurance (employee AND dependent plans covered by AFF at 75%), FSA, HSA, EAP, life insurance, 401(k) with 7% employer contribution and up to 4% match, short and long-term disability, a fitness reimbursement program, generous paid time off, paid sick leave, and 11 paid holidays per year!
 

ABOUT OUR FIRM:

Scion Nonprofit Staffing is an award-winning national staffing firm headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Over the past few years, our firm has had the pleasure of successfully assisting hundreds of local employers. No matter the requisition or size, our track record and recruitment process has made us one of the top recruitment firms in the United States.

Scion Staffing is an equal opportunity employer and service provider and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, sexual orientation, disability, political affiliation or belief. We are committed to the principals of Equal Opportunity Employment and are dedicated to making employment decisions based on merit and value, for ourselves, our client companies, and for the candidates we represent.