Jobs at Rainforest Alliance

POSITION SUMMARY: 

• The Global Programs department will serve as a major programmatic resource hub to guide and support Rainforest Alliance’s implementation of its strategy through global initiatives, regional projects, and partnerships, as well as to draw on for developing external engagements with companies, consumers, donors, and other stakeholders. The department facilitates and ensures consistent programmatic design that brings together the range of programs required to achieve impact and delivers its services in a collaborative and coordinated manner.
• It ensures that each of Rainforest Alliance’s global programmatic programs has the necessary core elements, which include a clear value proposition, operating model and tools, decision-making procedure, revenue model, assurance mechanism, claims framework, etc.; and that they can draw on the required programmatic expertise to underpin each program and inform external relations. It also ensures global programs are complementary to each other, and that there is coordination, consistency, accountability and continuous learning.
• The Senior Director leads global partnerships that enable the Rainforest Alliance to achieve greater impact than by only working alone. The department leads the methodology and processes to ensure the simplified, systematic measurement of the organization’s impact, and leads the tangible activation of the concept of producer centricity.  
• The Senior Director will lead a multi-disciplinary, international team of programmatic subject specialists, internal and external partnership managers, and impact evaluators. They will be a member of the Programs Management team, as well as the Rainforest Alliance departmental heads group and as such will be responsible for ensuring a holistic approach (end2end process) and alignment with our strategy.
• As a leader, the Senior Director will be committed to providing clear direction and to support the teams in driving impact. As we move forward into a more agile Rainforest Alliance, our leaders will be at the forefront of innovating what and how we make that impact as well as how we support our people to grow whilst doing so.
• Everything we do focuses on what serves our producers, and our leaders develop teams who work across and beyond organizational boundaries to deliver excellence to our producers. By defining clear priorities and enabling creative viable solutions to complex problems through robust yet flexible decision-making processes, the Senior Director will contribute to a data-driven and conscientious culture.
• 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; 
• Complete organization and effective operating of the new department, in close collaboration with the team leaders of its functional areas and the Chief Program Officer;
• Promote Rainforest Alliance’s initiatives and impacts to stakeholders in a compelling way that resonates with their interests, supporting the organizations’ fundraising efforts;
• Represent Rainforest Alliance at key events, presentations, policy forums and roundtables;
• Ability to use research, findings, impact data, and qualitative sources to make data driven decisions, to guide program design and implementation;
• Cultivate a culture of positive and proactive collaboration, consult widely and inclusively across the organization, clearly demonstrating having taken broad perspectives into consideration, and embed continuous learning and simplification into all aspects of programmatic work;
• Ensure tangible activation of the concept of producer centricity that underpins all of Rainforest Alliance’s work, by defining, designing, and supporting its implementation in collaboration with the regional and other departments, as well as delivering appropriate and efficient tools enabling effective Producer Support Programs in the Rainforest Alliance Landscapes;
• Maintain a continuous assessment of Rainforest Alliance’s global programs and partnerships, ensuring that those existing are tightly integrated and mapped to our strategy, while identifying new opportunities to achieve speed and scale of impact; always ensuring consistency, coordination, accountability and continuous learning between global programs;
• Ensure that the programmatic specialists provide thought leadership and support the design and development of regional projects and global programs that integrate and improving Rainforest Alliance’s offerings and are based on standard methodology in their field;
• Ensure that Rainforest Alliance’s Impact framework is designed and implemented to enable cost-effective measurement of impact that delivers the Enterprise Goals;
• Support the Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning function to interact effectively with other teams for the gathering and dissemination of data to build an organizational wide focus on impact;
• Ensures Appropriate and efficient tools enabling Producer Support Programs in the RA Landscapes
• Participate actively in meetings of the Programs and Departmental heads;
• Carry out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies applicable laws and corporate behavioural framework- responsibilities include hiring; mentoring and evaluating; guiding professional development opportunities; and addressing employee relations issues; and;
• Other duties, as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:   

• Degree in Agriculture, Biology, Social Sciences or related field; master’s degree highly preferred;
• At least 15 years of progressive relevant experience, with at least 10 years developing and driving department level strategy and budgets and leading senior staff in multiple countries;
• At least 10 years of senior-leadership level experience facilitating industry collaboration, strategic alliances, and systems change methodologies improving producer and market value;
• At least 7 years of demonstrable experience in the successful oversight, design and implementation of innovative global programs;
• Extraordinary commitment, energy and a positive attitude;
• 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;
• Direct experience working with producers (small, medium and large) and/or forest communities;

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 lead multiple priorities in a time critical manner; 
• High quality spoken and written English, preferably with knowledge of other languages.

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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.