Overview

Marine Assistant- BirdLife Europe and Central Asia

Location: Cambridge (UK) or Brussels (Belgium)

About the job

The Marine Assistant will support BirdLife International input on the “Fishing Impacts on habitats and endangered species” Overall Action Plan (OAP). This includes several projects addressing seabird and fisheries interactions (including bycatch and its mitigation) & knowledge gaps in seabird distribution in the Mediterranean basin. This person will also assist the European Marine Coordinator and other members of the Conservation team in the implementation of the European Marine Strategy, in close cooperation with other key staff based both in the European and Global secretariats.

About you

Efficient, well-structured, and highly organized, you are able to juggle many different projects at the same time. You are a strong team player. You have sound knowledge of marine nature conservation and are looking to develop your experience within a dynamic international team.

About BirdLife

BirdLife Europe & Central Asia (BLI ECA) is the European Division of BirdLife International, and is one of the six BirdLife regional offices around the world. BirdLife Europe leads and supports the European and Central Asia Partnership of BirdLife International, which consists of 48 independent, grassroots Civil Society Organisations with over 2 million members.

Together with BirdLife International, present in 121 countries through a Partnership of autonomous Civil Society Organisations, we protect wild birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, by working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. We are the global authority on the status of bird species, with unparalleled technical expertise in bird and biodiversity assessment, and capacity to link local conservation activities and groups to domestic and international policy and conservation work.

You will join a dynamic team of professionals based in Brussels and Cambridge who together support the BirdLife Partnership in Europe and Central Asia to protect nature and birds, through policy, science, conservation measures, organisational support, helping them to increase the visibility of the BirdLife Partnership work and raise the needed funds.

Key responsibilities

The job holder’s main responsibilities will be to:

a) Support the Marine Coordinator in the interaction with the BLI partners, setting up coordination meetings and maintaining regular contact, in the implementation of the following projects:

a. “Understanding Mediterranean multi-taxa ‘bycatch’ of vulnerable species and testing mitigation- a collaborative approach”

b. “Support mechanism for Filling key knowledge gaps for vulnerable and highly mobile species impacted by fisheries in the Mediterranean”

c. Understanding multi-taxa ‘bycatch’ of vulnerable species and testing mitigation- a collaborative approach in Cyprus

b) Carry-out desk-based research on existing work carried out in target regions on fisheries bycatch and mitigation measures, and produce short reports on such topics.

c) Assist the Marine Coordinator with setting up project management tools (gantt chart, cloud platform for external partners, steering committee, others)

d) Assist with monitoring of project progress and elaboration of project partners’ summaries when necessary.

Other tasks

e) To support the Conservation Department by participating at relevant meetings, as required.

f) To participate, in collaboration with other colleagues, in joint conservation fundraising bids.

g) To help design and deliver successful campaigns, projects and publications aiming to achieve BirdLife’s conservation and policy objectives

Employment conditions:

Location: Cambridge (UK) or Brussels (Belgium). Final decision on location will be based on the applicant’s profile.

This is a full time, one-year contract, with the possibility of being extended afterwards

Salary and benefits according to BirdLife standards and commensurate with your experience.

How to apply:

Please submit your full CV and a comprehensive cover letter (maximum two page, all in English) setting out your reasons for applying for the post and outlining the qualifications experience knowledge and skills that you feel you can bring to the role, an indication of salary expectation and contact details of two professional referees to: recruitment.europe@birdlife.org. Please also state which location you would prefer to work from, and indicate where you first saw the job advertised.

Closing date: 15th of January 2018 at midnight CET. Please consider that applications received after the closing date will be automatically discarded.

Short listing and interviews:

Short listing is based on CV and cover letter.

Successful candidates will be asked to attend face to face interviews and perform an additional test. Travel support or possibility of remote interview may be offered to candidates from abroad.

Please note that due to the large number of expected applications only successful candidates will be contacted.

Interview days: week of the 5th February, in Brussels or Cambridge (exact place and date will be communicated to the successful candidates)