Senior Land Protection Specialist

The senior land protection specialist is a key leader on NCLC’s acquisition team, responsible for overseeing new land acquisitions consistent with NCLC’s policies and conservation objectives. This is an exciting and rewarding role with a variety of duties and responsibilities:

Land Protection:

• Identify and evaluate tracts of land primarily in Litchfield County and northern Fairfield County, based on ecological, recreational, and natural landscape significance according to NCLC’s conservation criteria.
• Negotiate acquisitions with private landowners, public agencies, and other organizations concerning the cquisition of land and easements.
• Draft legal documents, including purchase and sale agreements, option agreements, and conservation easements, in collaboration with counsel.
• Plan and direct protection projects by obtaining NCLC committee and board approvals for land protection projects.
• Oversee farmland conservation program by identifying farms eligible for Connecticut’s Farmland Protection Program, completing all relevant program, and funding applications, and serving as a staff liaison to the State of Connecticut Department of Agriculture.
• Transaction due diligence and recordkeeping to ensure compliance with NCLC’s policies and Land Trust Standards and Practices.
• Utilize GPS, GIS, and technical data to analyze and document conservation values and create conservation maps.
• Manage annual program budget to complete projects within budget, including negotiating and contracting with vendors, and assisting with budget development.
• Identify funding opportunities including drafting grant proposals for financial support of acquisition projects, implementing, tracking, and reporting on awarded funding. Raising funds from individual, corporate, and foundation donors, in conjunction with other NCLC staff.
• Conduct site visits and compile documentation to satisfy legal and Land Trust Accreditation Commission requirements, complete fee management plans and baseline documentation reports as needed.
• Complete tax exemption applications for all fee land transactions and complete other corporate and tax filings as needed.
• Program compliance ensuring adherence to internal policies and external requirements, including Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices.

Outreach and Partnerships:

• Public representation at public events, partner meetings, and trainings.
• Participate in community engagement building a welcoming, successful, and respected community institution in partnership with colleagues, partner organizations, members, and the broader community.
• Encourage philanthropic support by participating in member events, visits, communications, and gift solicitations to support the organization’s philanthropic efforts.
• Assist in promotion and communication about conservation efforts through the creation of press releases, outreach, and development materials to promote land preservation projects.

Organizational Sustainability:

• Recommend policy and procedure improvements.
• Perform other duties as needed or assigned as part of NCLC’s close-knit team.
• Maintain familiarity with governing documents, including mission, bylaws, strategic plan, policies, etc.
• Keep current on all aspects of Land Trust Standards and Practices as they apply to the job function.
• Some travel is required primarily within Connecticut, with some evening and weekend hours.

Reports to:

Executive Director

Salary:

Competitive salary: $80-95,000 depending on experience.

Benefits:

• Simple IRA with a 3% employer match. 
• Insurance benefits include health, vision, and dental for the employee, their spouse, and dependents, and $25,000 life insurance for the employee. NCLC pays 95% and the employee pays 5%. 
• Employees start with three weeks of vacation time, which increases to 4 weeks upon five years of service. 
  Up to 40 hours of accrued but unused vacation time may be rolled over into the following year. 
• Employees receive 8 days of sick leave. Sick leave increases to 10 days after three years of service. Unused time can be rolled over up to 120 days. 
• Employees also have ten holidays, of which eight are standing holidays, and two are floating. 
• Collaborative and supportive work environment that encourages and inspires professional growth.

Work schedule:

• NCLC staff are expected to work in person at its office in Kent, CT. The work schedule is from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with some flexibility. This position will include some field work to visit potential conservation properties. This will be roughly 5% of work hours varying based on the volume of transactions and the attributes of properties. 
• Non-standard work hours include: 
  o Board meetings (six per year) and committee meetings (six per year), generally end by 6:00 pm. 
  o NCLC events. All staff are expected to attend three events (Annual Meeting, Picnic, and Midsummer Party) and share the responsibility to attend additional community events throughout the year. 
  o Partner or training opportunities such as the annual state-wide conference or LTA Rally. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or higher-level degree in a related field (e.g., law, science, etc.).
• Experience working with public agencies in land protection transactions.
• Experience with innovative financing for land protection work.
• Knowledge of current trends and practices in conservation, land management, and natural resource preservation.
• Supervisory experience.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Three years of direct land acquisition experience.
• Knowledge of land management conservation practice and conservation science.
• Ability to explain conservation practices to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Exceptional writing and in-person presentation skills.
• BA/BS degree in a related field (law, natural resource management, science, education, etc.).
• Proficiency using ArcGIS.
• Experience negotiating legal agreements and overseeing multiple complex acquisition projects.
• Experience communicating with the public and/or media both in writing and verbally.
• Experience using applications such as Microsoft Office Suite.
• Valid driver’s license