Landscape Manager

Job Title: Landscape Manager

Location: South Africa

Duration of contract: 2 years, with possible extension

Starting date: June-July, 2024

Traveling: Not more than 20% of overall work time

DRS is looking for a Landscape Manager who will be responsible for providing leadership, management, and accountability for the activities and performance of conservation programs in South Africa. The landscape manager will also provide strategic oversight and direction for the implementation of the program, ensuring that each of the components is implemented in line with global standards and taking into account local conditions. An ideal candidate should have proven managerial, administrative, and field experience in conservation and experience in managing multi-disciplinary teams.

Main Roles and Responsibilities:

• Coordinate implementation of the organization’s landscape conservation program in the Landscape and engage with wildlife authorities, county governments, local government authorities, and conservation partners working and investing in the Landscape.
• Provide technical oversight to the Landscape by focusing on the application of sustainable natural resources management, strengthening natural resource governance, and participatory land and resource use planning.
• In consultation with the supervisor, further develop strategic partnerships in the Landscape.
• Manage day-to-day operations of the Landscape program.
• Work with the Program Design team to generate project concepts for funding proposals to support the implementation of the organization’s strategy in the Landscape.
• Work with the Strategy team to implement the organization’s next 5-year strategy for the Landscape.
• Represent the organization at the County and Local government level and development of local-level policies, with emphasis on wildlife and biodiversity conservation.
• Work with the Finance Department to develop and track working budgets.
• Work with the Program Management and Grants Management teams to ensure annual work plans and budgets are produced in a timely way and are uploaded in project management systems.

Qualification, Experience and Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation or related fields. A Master’s degree would be an advantage.
• 5+ years of proven managerial, administrative, and field experience in conservation.
• Experience managing large multi-disciplinary teams.
• A task-oriented, result-focused, and collaborative leadership approach with a thorough understanding of project management disciplines.
• Experience and a proven success record in working on and implementing projects.
• Experience in successfully managing large projects (over one million dollars) and delivering timely and verifiable results.
• Demonstrated knowledge and mastery of global standards and practices for conservation, including protected area planning and management, participatory land use planning, community conservation, rights-based approaches, and integrated conservation and development.
• Demonstrated ability to build capacity of multiple stakeholders and facilitate multi-stakeholder processes to engage in landscape planning and management.
• Conservancy management experiences a strong advantage.
• Good report writing skills and working knowledge of computers and MS Office software packages.
• Experience working with Government agencies.
• Proficiency in English (spoken and written).