The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to protect the lands and waters upon which all life depends. As a science-based organization, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that we can create a world in which people and nature thrive. We’re rooted in our Mission and guided by our Values, which includes a Commitment to Diversity and Respect for People, Communities, and Cultures. Whether it’s career development, flexible schedules, or a rewarding mission, there are lots of reasons to love life #insideTNC. Want a better insight to TNC? Check out our TNC Talent playlist on YouTube on Glassdoor.

Our goal is to cultivate an inclusive work environment so that all our colleagues around the globe feel a sense of belonging, and that their unique contributions to our mission are valued. We’ll only achieve our Mission by hiring and engaging a diverse workforce that reflects the communities in which we work. In addition to the requirements in our postings, we recognize that people come with talent and experiences outside of a job. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to innovation and a culture of inclusion! Please apply – we’d love to hear from you. To quote myriad TNC staff members, “you’ll join for our mission, and you’ll stay for our people.”

To be successful in our mission, The Nature Conservancy is embracing processes and novel solutions that will accelerate and amplify our impact. For the past five years, the New York Division has been a leader within the organization on the development of innovation frameworks and approaches for our conservation work. We drive the adoption of innovation mindsets and methodologies to ensure teams can pursue the novel solutions that can shape a better future for people and our planet. We are seeking a purpose-driven, impact-hungry, fun-loving Innovation Manager to join the New York Innovation Team in delivering on this work.

As the organization seeks to meet the needs of this crucial moment for our planet, the Innovation Manager will draw on their interdisciplinary background and experience to own and improve innovation management processes for all our functional teams across New York.  Processes could include innovation stage gates, portfolio-level innovation reviews, and other projects that increase the accountability and discipline of innovation development within the NY Division.

This individual will be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with conservation team leads and cross-functional team members to ensure their engagement and commitment to supporting conservation projects within each stage of innovation development. They will bring their strategy, business and/or innovation background to ensure our innovation management processes create equity and impact while enabling a portfolio-driven approach to our overall body of conservation work. The Innovation Manager will also perform primary generation and analysis of data and communications that drive the adoption of the innovation management processes.

The Innovation Manager will also bring their passion for organizational strategy to help develop the overall innovation program’s direction and delivery. This role will have opportunities to represent the NY Innovation program and, in particular, innovation management processes, by engaging broadly across The Nature Conservancy and with other impact-driven organizations.  This role will report to and work closely with the Director of Innovation.

In the New York Innovation Team, we are pragmatic change-makers and systems thinkers. We rise to meet the exponential challenges of our time, and are unafraid to challenge the status quo. We bring our full creative selves to all we do, and strive to make The Nature Conservancy an organization that models how conservation should be delivered for maximum impact.

We won’t sugarcoat it – innovation and organizational change can be tough work. But we truly believe that we can only address the big environmental challenges of our time by using the scale and size of an organization like The Nature Conservancy to promote innovative solutions across multiple sectors and geographies.
Become a force for nature and healthy planet by joining our New York team. The Nature Conservancy is addressing the world’s most pressing conservation challenges with solutions that benefit people and nature. For more than 60 years, we’ve been working in NY to do just that. You can be a part of our mission, plus contribute to our exciting growth.
The salary range for this position with a work location of New York City, NY is $82,000 to $87,000. The salary ranges for work locations outside of NYC will vary depending upon work location.

• BA/BS or business degree and 5 years’ related experience or equivalent experience.
• Experience supporting or leading complex business process initiatives.
• Experience with or exposure to both social and private sector innovation approaches.
• Experience in or exposure to innovation methodologies including agile, lean, and human-centered design.
• Experience tracking or managing multiple simultaneous projects along different deadlines.

Desired Qualifications

• A desire to grow in this role and tackle big challenges through a learning-by-doing approach.
• Ability or deep desire to own and drive diversity, equity and inclusion through business process and within innovation programming.
• Ability or deep desire to create strong, purpose-driven relationships.
• Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
• Creativity in the face of constraints.
• Ability to have fun and create levity for others in the face of serious challenges.
• Growth mindset with demonstrated curiosity and insatiable drive for delighting users through process improvement.
• Interest in environmental issues, and in working with people who have training in science and conservation backgrounds.
• Comfort with technology and ability to utilize technical platforms to track process.
• Practical mindset toward the implementation of technology and a desire to use it for good.
• Communicating clearly via written, spoken and graphical means in English; strong communication skills for working within remote/geographically distributed teams.
• Previous experience managing a cross-functional innovation process.
• Previous experience with innovation management processes.
• Comfort working across multiple levels of an organization.
• Comfort working across multiple functional areas including finance, operations, HR and fundraising.