Associate Director, Lions and Landscapes

Overview

Associate Director, Lions and Landscapes Jobs in Zimbabwe at Wildlife Conservation Network

Title: Associate Director, Lions and Landscapes

Company: Wildlife Conservation Network

Location: Zimbabwe

Organizational Background

Wildlife Conservation Network is a rapidly growing leader in wildlife conservation. WCN uses its collaborative, entrepreneurial, innovative, and philanthropically generous approach to wildlife conservation to reverse crises facing threatened species. In support of WCN’s mission to protect endangered wildlife by supporting conservationists who ensure people and wildlife coexist and thrive, WCN gives conservation leaders access to donors and a range of resources and tools they need to be successful. WCN has three main conservation program areas:

1. Partner Network: WCN finds entrepreneurial organizations and invites them to receive in-depth, ongoing support through our Network.
2. Wildlife Funds: WCN’s portfolio of Wildlife Funds offers flexible grants to projects in order to protect a threatened species across its entire habitat.
3. Rising Wildlife Leaders: WCN helps local conservationists grow and thrive so that they have the support they need to protect wildlife – through capacity building, leadership training, networking, and more.

About the Role

The Associate Director is a high-level strategic and operational leader designed to be the “force multiplier” for the Director of the Lion Recovery Fund (LRF) and the Africa Keystone Fund (KF).  

The LRF is one of the most influential funders in savannah landscape conservation. The KF is an ambitious new initiative that will support Collaborative Management Partnerships (CMPs) across Africa’s most important landscapes. The Associate Director will be central to keeping the LRF running at full capacity during the Keystone Fund build-out, and to establishing the operational infrastructure of the Keystone Fund itself.

The ideal candidate is a self-organizer with deep conservation knowledge, strong grantmaking experience, and natural leadership skills to lead communities of practice and manage complex multi-stakeholder relationships across the continent. Priority given to citizens or permanent residents of African savannah range states. The successful applicant would be expected to be based in Africa and travel up to 20% of the time.

Key Responsibilities

Lion Recovery Fund – Operational Leadership

•  Work closely with the Director to implement the LRF and Keystone Fund strategy, grantmaking priorities, and new initiatives, with final strategic decisions resting with the Director.
• Manage close relationships with grantees to monitor progress, challenges and opportunities
• Undertake field-based due diligence to help inform granting by the LRF (travel will likely take up 20% of the successful candidate’s time).
• Lead proposal solicitation, due diligence, pre-review, grant preparation, and performance assessment for committee consideration.
• Undertake substantive programmatic review of grantee reports; assess performance against funded outcomes; prepare written performance summaries for grants committee review. 
• Provide programmatic metrics and performance data to the Funds Manager for entry into fund databases; ensure accuracy of programmatic records. 
• Develop strategy to strengthen and then lead LRF ‘communities of practice’ , including designing and facilitating conservation convenings, peer learning sessions, and identifying capacity gaps across the grantee portfolio, and connections with other WCN programs.

Africa Keystone Fund – Fund Development & Operations

• In close collaboration with the Director, support development of the KF strategy, governance framework, grantmaking processes, and operational systems.
• Manage and support the Wildlife Funds Manager, providing guidance and oversight to ensure successful delivery of program objectives
• Build and manage relationships with prospective and current KF grantees, supporting them through the proposal and reporting process.
• Help develop the strategy for a Keystone ‘community of practice’.
• Establish KF operational infrastructure along with other WCN team members: grant management systems, reporting templates, and cross-team coordination with WCN and RWF.
• Collaborate with the WCN Wildlife Funds team to drive cross-portfolio strategies, shared learning, and collective impact.

Fundraising Support & Donor Engagement

• Provide support, when needed, to other WCN team members for LRF and KF fundraising efforts (e.g. curating updates from grantees to shape materials for donors and coordinating events).
• Maintain ongoing relationships with existing LRF and KF donors, including attendance at key events (e.g., WCN Expo), in-person meetings, multichannel communication, and targeted reporting, as directed by the Director.

Experience and Skills

Required

• 7+ years of experience in conservation program management, grantmaking, or a closely related field.
• Masters degree or equivalent experience.
• The ability to travel (up to 20% per year)
• Native or bilingual English proficiency required, with strong command of both written and verbal communication. Candidates should be comfortable drafting technical documents, facilitating discussions, and engaging with diverse audiences, including donors, partners, and technical stakeholders, entirely in English.
• Experience working in a variety of geographic contexts in Africa. 
• Broad knowledge of African conservation issues, particularly pertaining to lion conservation. 
• An understanding of conservation area management, law enforcement, community-based conservation, human-wildlife coexistence and the illegal wildlife trade 
• Proficiency with Google Suite, project management platforms, and grant databases (e.g. Salesforce, Airtable).
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple workstreams independently.
• The ability to work respectfully and congenially with diverse teams of people from different cultures and stakeholder groups

Preferred

• Experience managing grantmaking cycles (pipeline, due diligence, monitoring, impact reporting) and facilitating multi-stakeholder communities of practice or technical networks
• The ability to connect with and inspire donors is a strong advantage.
• Proficiency in French, Portuguese, or Swahili is a strong advantage.
• Experience using AI tools to improve programme efficiency or data analysis is considered an advantage.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation will be competitive with similar roles and responsibilities. Final compensation is dependent on qualifications, experience, and location. Relocation assistance is not available.

To Apply

Please send your CV and cover letter to [email protected], using the subject line “WCN – Lions and Landscapes Associate Director”

WCN’s Non-Discrimination Policy 

WCN is committed to the principles of being an equal opportunity employer (EOE). WCN’s organizational policies, practices, programs, activities and decisions regarding employment are not based on a person’s race, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, parental status, housing status, or other protected status, in accordance with applicable law. Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, individuals identifying with the LGBTQIA+ community, or members of other underrepresented groups in the conservation sector are strongly encouraged to apply.