World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, seeks an Impact Investing Specialist. This position will be based in Washington, DC. WWF is in process of launching WWF Impact, a new impact investing platform that will bring investment capital to innovations for the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.  We see a compelling opportunity for WWF Impact in several high priority sectors such as food systems, forestry, oceans, freshwater, etc. where we believe that business innovations can help support and accelerate our conservation efforts.

The Impact Investing Specialist will be a founding member of this new initiative and will play a critical role in the launch and scale up over the next 12-24 months.  This individual will have a keen interest in environmental conservation and financial markets.  The Specialist will lead in completing critical analysis, financial modeling, and research on impact investment opportunities at both the sector and investment level. The Specialist will also support the daily operations of the strategy as we take steps to form and grow this new initiative.

WWF Impact Strategy Support: Support WWF Impact senior management to develop and refine a strategy for WWF Impact that is aligned with our conservation mission, is financially viable, and has the potential to scale in size and impact. The Impact Investing Specialist will play an important role in researching, producing key analyses, preparing presentation materials, and incorporating operational issues necessary to undertake the overall strategy.

Program Execution: Complete many day-day activities of WWF Impact to ensure successful execution of the overall strategy.  Key components include:

• Support the VP of Impact Investing and Sector Strategy Lead in the research, design, and implementation of sector investing & impact strategies
• Conduct industry and financial analysis of sectors and prospective investments to support investment process
• Develop and maintain impact strategies (goals, scorecards, assessments) in coordination with Sector Strategy Leads and WWF goal team
• Serve as member of daily working team on external market partnerships and diligence team on catalytic investments

• Support the creation of investment recommendations, impact analysis, due diligence summaries, etc. that are presented to WWF Impact senior management and investment committees for approval

• Prepare presentations and summaries of WWF Impact activities for senior management, external partners, and potential funders

Stakeholder Engagement:  Play a key role in internal coordination and communication with WWF goal teams and other key internal functions (e.g. development).  Support external engagement with partners, prospective investments, funders, etc.

Budget Management and Reporting: Support WWF Impact management to ensure that WWF Impact’s reporting and budgeting is accurate, timely, and within budget guidelines.

Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 4 years of work experience, and/or a Graduate Degree.  Prior experience in environmental and conservation-based investing is a significant benefit.
• Strong understanding and interest in financial markets, international development, and conservation.
• Strong written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Financial modeling skills and fluency with Microsoft Excel.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex problems and to effectively communicate solutions to others.
• Competency in a second language (ideally Spanish) is a significant plus.
• Strong coordination and teamwork and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Proven ability to manage and deliver against multiple time sensitive priorities.
• A dynamic, creative, and outgoing personality with a proven commitment to nature conservation.
• Identifies and aligns with the core values of the WWF organization: Courage, Integrity, Respect & Collaboration