Overview

  • Location: Cambridge, UK
  • Full time: 35 hours per week
  • Contract: Two year fixed term contract, with potential to extend
  • Salary: circa £35,000 pro rata per annum plus competitive 12% pension benefit
  • Annual Leave: 25 days pro rata per annum in year 1, increasing by 1 day pa to 28 days.

BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation partnership. Through our unique local-to-global approach, we deliver high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

BirdLife has been engaging in forest conservation for over 20 years, and our Partners work in forests around the world, incorporating conservation of core areas with threat mitigation strategies at landscape, national and global scales. This work includes “traditional” conservation of advocating for, managing and supporting forest protected areas and supporting community management of forest resources, along with engaging in the productive economy to improve practices, inputting to policy processes to incentivize forest conservation and mitigate climate change, and contributing to the science of forest conservation. BirdLife International’s Forests Programme aims to link and advance these initiatives, and together with Wildlife Conservation Society and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), we recently launched a new collaborative initiative for forests called Trillion Trees. Our three organizations have committed to an ambitious vision to end deforestation and advance restoration by mid-century.

In this context, the new post of Forests Programme Officer is being created. The Forests Programme Officer will support BirdLife Partners and Secretariat, as well as the wider Trillion Trees partnership, to more fully engage in the global movement to end deforestation by linking diverse forest conservation initiatives to the global commitments, funding sources and private sector interests that can support this work. The Forests Programme Officer will be responsible for mobilizing large-scale finance for forests, with a particular focus on BirdLife priority forests and Trillion Trees-linked projects. This finance will be mobilized by scoping, identifying, developing, pitching and closing proposals.  However, this role entails responsibilities wider than traditional fundraising, in that the Forests Programme Officer will act as a technical support and advisor to assist in articulating the scale-up and/or sustainability vision for landscapes and other forest initiatives, creating clear, compelling and feasible concepts, and matching these with the opportunities that exist.

The ideal candidate will have

  • A first degree in a relevant subject
  • In depth knowledge of forest conservation issues, trends and financing
  • A highly significant track record of relevant professional experience, preferably in conservation, forestry, sustainable agriculture, rural development or a similar field
  • Significant experience developing project concepts and/or building up programmes through strategic planning and fundraising
  • Proven ability to lead on complex projects involving multiple stakeholders across various sectors, geographies and cultural backgrounds
  • Experience working in developing countries
  • Excellent spoken and written English with demonstrated ability to communicate complex processes and ideas to specialist and non-specialist audiences
  • Ability to represent BirdLife to external audiences in a polished, professional manner
  • The right to work in the UK

A detailed job description can be found at www.birdlife.org/jobs.

Closing date: 27 August 2017

Application: Applications should include a covering letter summarising the applicant’s suitability for the position, a detailed CV and contact details of two referees known to the applicant in a professional capacity. Applications should be sent by email, stating where the advert was seen, to: recruitment@birdlife.org

Interviews: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.