Lead, Thriving Landscapes at Rainforest Alliance

Position summary:

• Thriving Landscapes are one of the two main offerings in the Rainforest Alliance 2030 strategy. They comprise tropical ecosystems with the greatest ecological, market, and social value where we will integrate our offerings and enable landscape stakeholders to work in alliance towards a time-bound, comprehensive, and shared vision that achieves positive, measurable impacts for people and nature. ​
• Through strategic alliances and the integrated delivery of Rainforest Alliance’s products and services, Thriving Landscapes will construct a systems pathway to regenerative production, economic diversification, inclusive social development and ecosystem conservation and restoration. It will strengthen market commitments to responsible and/or certified sourcing, advocate for policies driving sustainable land use, and enable stakeholders to work collaboratively to define and implement context-specific actions for climate resilience, biodiversity conservation and improved livelihoods. A clear results framework will capture the impact.
• The Lead, Thriving Landscapes, is responsible for coordinating and delivering the Thriving Landscapes vision, enabling the Rainforest Alliance to achieve greater mission impact. In the 2030 strategy, five Thriving Landscapes have been selected initially, one in each Region of Rainforest Alliance's work.
• The Lead will collaborate closely with a multi-disciplinary, international team of specialists based within the regional Thriving Landscapes and with functional leads across the organization.
• Identifying critical cross-departmental and external alliance growth opportunities as well as having the expertise and communication style to positively influence these successful collaborations is key to the success of this role.

Responsibilities: 

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate;
• Proactively lead and support the organization in achieving its 2030 Strategy, promoting speed, scale and simplification in design, implementation and impact creation;
• Design Rainforest Alliance’s Thriving Landscapes offering strategy, aligned to the 2030 strategy;
• Ensure that the Thriving Landscapes offering has the necessary core elements, which include a clear value proposition, operating model, systems and tools, decision-making procedures, revenue and fundraising model, assurance mechanism, KPIs and reporting processes, claims framework, etc;
• Ensure the Thriving Landscapes offering is developed in close collaboration with Rainforest Alliance’s other global programs, so that their contribution to the 2030 strategy is integrated;
• Ensure coordination, consistency, accountability, and continuous learning across the Thriving Landscapes;
• Work closely with departments across the Rainforest Alliance to align and coordinate on Thriving Landscapes design and implementation, e.g., on regional design and implementation, marketing and communication, impact measurement, fundraising, corporate engagements and partnerships, etc;
• Prepare with the Regions team by the end of 2023 a business case and pitch for one of the five Thriving Landscapes;
• Represent Rainforest Alliance at key events, presentations, policy forums and roundtables to promote the importance of landscape approaches to achieve biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, climate resilience and improved livelihoods and human rights;
• Cultivate a culture of positive and proactive collaboration, consult widely and inclusively across the organization, clearly demonstrating taking broad perspectives into consideration, and embed continuous learning and simplification into all aspects of programmatic work; and;
• Other duties, as assigned.

Qualifications: 

• Degree in Agriculture, Biology, Social Sciences or related field; master’s degree preferred;
• At least 10 years of relevant management experience including managing large multi-stakeholder programs with both public and private and financial stakeholders;
• At least 5 years of demonstrable and direct experience in Integrated Landscape Management;
• Extraordinary commitment, energy, and a positive mindset;
• Knowledge of sustainable development issues and commitment to Rainforest Alliance’s goals of strengthening livelihoods and securing human rights; conserving forests and other high-value ecosystems; restoring production systems and rural landscapes; and mitigating climate change and building climate resilience;
• Sound project management experience;

Key competencies:

• Transformational leadership, innovation, adaptability, persuasion, critical and reflective thinking, public speaking, resourcefulness, relationship builder based on trust, empathy and openness, and strong organizational skills to manage multiple priorities in a time sensitive manner; 
• Fluency in the language of the country where the position is based, and high quality spoken and written English;
• Ability to travel a minimum of 20% per year, nationally and internationally.