Location: Cahuita, Costa Rica
Department: Operations
Employment Type: Full-Time
Minimum Experience: Experienced
Reports to: Program Director – Wildlife
Start date: ASAP

About Us

Our planet is in crisis and inequality affects people around the globe. At GVI, our teams are choosing to take action. We bring a range of specialised skills together for a common goal: supporting a more sustainable future.

GVI is an international multi-award-winning social enterprise. We offer conservation and community development programs in 13 countries, all aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and led by our teams and experts from the communities we operate in.

Working at GVI is fast-paced and fun. We value passion, authenticity and innovation, and we treat our stakeholders with compassion and respect.

About the role

GVI’s wildlife conservation research base in Cahuita is found in the stunning Cahuita National Park in Costa Rica. The Program Manager’s role on this hub is to deliver world-leading volunteer and internship programs and manage the GVI hub, by focusing on growth, learning and impact. This person is responsible for ensuring effective day-to-day running of the program operations, building and maintaining partnerships with the community, effectively managing staff and participants, and achieving the financial and quality goals of the organization.

The ideal candidate for this position will speak fluent Spanish, be hugely passionate about conservation, and thrive off living in basic, remote conditions such as the Cahuita National Park. They will have strong staff and volunteer management experience, be experienced in health and safety, and feel comfortable with being the most senior person responsible for the day-to-day running of this base.

Role and responsibilities:

• Oversee Health and Safety protocols to ensure the safety of all participants, staff and other visitors to the hub.
• Work with the line manager to roll out and regularly improve a set of operating practices and experience standards (“OPES”) covering all key aspects of the hub’s programs.
• Provide recommendations to line manager to develop and implement new programs and initiatives, then work with the central support marketing team to create and deliver programs.
• Design local development theory in line with GVI central theory, and implement project monitoring through monthly impact reporting across staff, community and students and periodic evaluation of impact
• Ensure the successful implementation and delivery of all GVI marketing and internal communication initiatives.
• Be the escalation point for any issues which arise at the hub, including participant complaints, medical issues, natural disasters etc.
• In conjunction with central support and line manager, assist with recruiting and onboarding of new staff members.
• Responsible for financial and overall reporting of the hub.
• Connect and liaise with in-country partners to build and maintain relationships.

About you

If you are ambitious, purpose-driven, and you have a great sense of humour,  we want to meet you. As an organisation, we know that welcoming a broad range of people with unique identities makes us a more powerful workforce and we are committed to evolving our diversity, equity and inclusion practice.

Personal attributes:

• Strong people and time management skills
• Commitment, drive and enthusiasm to develop yourself and others
• Hardworking, with the ability to lead and problem solver
• Flexible, open-minded, adaptable team player

Professional skills and experience:

• 2-5 years of experience successfully managing staff
• 2-5 years of volunteer management experience
• Wildlife conservation experience
• Fluent Spanish is required for this role
• Education background in science/wildlife conservation
• Health and safety trained
• Strong people, communication and time management skills
• Commitment, drive and enthusiasm to develop yourself and others
• Hardworking, with the ability to lead and problem solve
• Flexible, open-minded, adaptable team player

Advantageous

• Safety management experience
• Experience living in remote conditions

Benefits

Here’s what our global team enjoys:

• Social fund
• Training fund
• Collaborative, flexible culture
• Transparency – hear directly from the CEO consistently
• We laugh a lot, genuinely care about and support each other, and do the occasional dress-up
• Leadership development
• In-house counselling support
• Growth opportunities across our 17 locations!

Package includes:

• Monthly salary
• Accommodation
• Food
• Visa costs (if applicable)
• Emergency medical and travel insurance

You can find out more about the type of work GVI does and who we are as an organisation here.

To apply 

Please send  your CV along with a cover letter stating why you feel you would be the best candidate for this role.

Please note: We will do our utmost to respond to all applicants, however, given the large volume of applications we receive, this isn’t always possible. If you do not hear back from us within three-four weeks, please take it that on this occasion your application was unsuccessful.