Executive Director

Position description

Title: Executive Director  

Location: Remote US or UK with preference for the US within Eastern time zone 

Reports to: Advisory Board 

Salary: $175,000- $200,000 USD 

Term: 18 months with intention to extend  

Madre Brava is an international, start-up advocacy, fiscally sponsored organization dedicated to creating brave, science-based strategies and campaigns for food, farm and forest. Our goal is to achieve 100% sustainable, healthy, affordable food for all. 

We envision a future in which companies, governments, and financiers support food that is healthy for humans, animals, and the planet. This includes addressing the outsized role of livestock production in global emissions and the transition to more sustainable proteins. 

We are guided by an organizational ethos of bravery, courage, and the need for disruption in food systems as well as a deep commitment to collaboration. 

For more information, visit madrebrava.org 

What we’re looking for: 

Madre Brava is at a critical moment of growth as a 2-year old, start-up organization that has helped change the movement for protein transition. We are looking for an Executive Director who embodies leadership that prioritizes empathy, collaboration, inclusivity, humility, and a willingness to learn. 

While an Executive Director is often seen as the leader of an organization, Madre Brava seeks someone who can lead via collaboration and empowerment, while learning from all Madre Brava staff, and from our peers in the protein transition movement. We are strongly committed to going further together with our partners and operating with a ‘movement generous’ approach that prioritizes progress of our shared interest in food system transformation over the individual success of Madre Brava. We also expect Madre Brava to push the envelope and break new grounds for the environmental movement when it comes to rebalancing food systems to deliver plant-based diets for all. 

Madre Brava is a fully remote organization with staff spread across three different areas (Americas, Europe and Asia). 

If this sounds like you, we’d love for you to apply and to have a conversation to better understand who you are and how you like to operate. 

The process: 

We know words only convey so much and we want to be respectful of the time it can take to apply for a position. We are asking candidates to submit their resume and answer a short questionnaire, replacing a standard cover letter. Select candidates will be invited to complete a second-round questionnaire instead of an initial screening call. We hope this process allows us to get to know a larger number of candidates without taking up too much of your time.  

We welcome applications from all communities, and strongly encourage Black, indigenous, and people of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community to apply for this role. Madre Brava is an equal opportunity employer and will not tolerate discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sex stereotyping, gender identity, gender expression or transgender status), national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, age, protected genetic information, status as a parent, marital status, political affiliation, or retaliation based on prior protected EEO activity.  

All applications will be anonymized to ensure candidates are recruited based on their skills, experience, and expertise. We also do not consider educational attainment in our assessment of candidates.

Application Deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and priority will be given to applications received on or before June 26, 2024. 

Overview of Position:

Reporting to the Advisory Board, the Executive Director is responsible for organizational leadership, change and strategic visioning, fundraising, organizational growth, board development and engagement, staff supervision, operations, and fiscal and legal oversight.  

Responsibilities:  

1. Organizational Leadership & Strategic Visioning 

• Oversee and co-create in the scaling of Madre Brava’s organizational strategy with the Leadership Team on an iterative basis to ensure it is aligned with the mission, vision, and values of the organization
• Support staff to ensure high impact execution of the strategy across all programmatic areas and geographies
• Collaborate with the Leadership Team to ensure Madre Brava’s unique and additive contribution to the protein transition space as the organization grows and evolves
• Ensure innovation in Madre Brava’s strategy based on participation and deep engagement by all Madre Brava staff
• Steward a culture of empathy, collaboration, autonomy, accountability, communication, and transparency
• Build considerations of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging into all elements of the organization and strategy

2. Fundraising  

• Co-lead donor engagement with the managing directors, involving key staff members as appropriate
• Cultivate new donor relationships with foundations and philanthropies across climate, animal advocacy, and health sectors.
• Oversee, and when appropriate, lead in the creation of donor materials including pitch decks, concept notes, and proposals
• Update potential and existing donors on the progress of Madre Brava to ensure positive and deep relationships.
• Increase revenue from 3.5m to 6m by end of 2025.

3. Public Presence and Partner Management 

• Lead partnerships with key peers in the field, complementing national-level partnership led by country directors.
• Serve as a key spokesperson for the organization; co-host or attending philanthropy convenings; appearing in national broadcast media, providing quotes for national publications, raising awareness via podcasts, written media and social media.
• Attend conferences, events, and social networking.
• Provide thought leadership in food and protein transition space

4. Board Development & Engagement  

• Work with the Board Chair and the Leadership Team to recruit new members to the Board
• Provide the Board with updates, information and tools necessary to govern the organization and make informed decisions
• Participate in Board meetings at the cadence determined with the Board Chair

5. Staff Development & Supervision  

• Participate in the hiring and management of a staff of currently 6 and growing to 9 or 10 by the end of 2024, ensuring all hires reflect the organization’s mission, vision, and values
• Work with the Chief Operations Officer and Chief Program Officers to create a culture of collaboration, innovation, and autonomy
• Actively engage with Madre Brava staff to ensure staff feel included, seen, and heard in their work.
• Supervision of Managing Director level staff and Executive Assistant
• Participate in staffing decision-making as strategy scales up

6. Operations and Fiscal & Legal Oversight  

• In collaboration with the Chief Operations Officer, develop and manage annual budgets, and quarterly reviews of the budget.
• In collaboration with Leadership Team, plan and allocate funds and resources to strategy.
• Oversee and ensure compliance with all local and national legal frameworks.
• Ensure the financial health of the organization and apply best practices to secure adequate cash flow.

Required Qualifications:  

We’re seeking candidates who bring a deep passion for food system transformation, operate with a spirit of collaboration, and an acute focus on achieving impact.   

You are someone comfortable working in a start-up like environment, embracing ambiguity, rolling your sleeves up to get things done, and leading with empathy. Other traits we are looking for:  

• Strong experience and results in fundraising, managing relationships with donors, and convincing others on the impact potential of the organization, a plus if in the environmental, or specifically, food movement spaces.
• A deep understanding of the science behind needing to reduce the role of meat in our food system and the current set of solutions
• Proven experience leading startups, and scaling up organizations, particularly ones focused on advocacy and/or campaigning
• Respected in the field for what you have accomplished with equal consideration for how you have treated partners, employees, and peers along the way
• A strong track record of managing people both directly as a line manager and indirectly as a leader of an organization
• Strong vision and drive, as embodied by your passion for this area of work
• Experience developing organizational strategy on a 1 year and 5 year timeline, a plus if some of that experience is at a fiscally sponsored organization.
• Excellence navigating ambiguity and navigating a team through uncertain times

Compensation & Benefits: Salary of $175,000-$200,000 based upon experience.  Health care reimbursement, IT reimbursement, generous time off, and a developing compensation and benefit package that this role will have influence over.

Application instructions

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