Senior Policy Advisor, High Seas

What We Can Achieve Together:

The Senior Policy Advisor, High Seas leads the MPA Designation Campaign workstream of TNC’s High Seas MPA strategy. This workstream focuses on supporting countries to accede to the BBNJ Agreement, support countries in developing High Seas MPA proposals, and supporting countries to advance proposals through the BBNJ Agreement process. They are responsible for delivering successful campaigns spanning Latin America, the Pacific, and Africa. They are also responsible for scoping out new geographies and fundraising opportunities in this space. The Senior Policy Advisor works with conservation partners, governments, multilateral agencies, and/or businesses focusing on policy, practice, and funding initiatives to advance High Seas MPAs. They identify high seas policy and funding opportunities, evaluate the potential for strategic partnerships, and develop and implement strategies to influence corporate practice, public policy, and public funding for high seas protection and sustainable use at a large scale, national and/or global level. They liaise with counterparts within the organization, especially colleagues working on marine protection issues in the Protect Ocean, Land and Freshwater, fisheries management issues in the Provide Food and Water Sustainably strategy team as well as colleagues in TNC’s regional and country programs, to provide and extract useful lessons and experience and to coordinate on joint policy/practice approaches. Together with the lead of the MPA Implementation workstream of the High Seas MPA Strategy and the Strategy Sponsor, they make up the leadership team of the strategy. The Senior Policy Advisor, High Seas reports to the Senior Director of Policy in the Policy and Public Funding Business Unit and may in time oversee the work of regional policy leads that are responsible for specific MPA sites.  

We’re Looking for You:

• The challenges facing our planet today require comprehensive solutions that address the well-being of people and nature and lay the foundation for future conservation efforts. Promoting policies that provide benefits to both people and nature is critical to securing lasting conservation outcomes. The work and expertise of The Nature Conservancy’s Policy and Public Funding (“PPF”) programs are integral to this effort. The Policy and Public Funding business unit is helping to shape the government policies that help make possible achievement of transformative conservation outcomes to address climate change, enhance protection of lands, waters, and the ocean, and provide food and water sustainably. We have an awesome task at hand, and the work that you do here will have a direct impact on our success.
• We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. To implement these priorities, we collaborate actively in a non-confrontational manner with public sector agencies, NGOs, academia, business and the finance sector.

What You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in political science, environmental policy, business or related field and 6 years of senior management level experience in government relations, corporate sector, or equivalent combination of education/experience.
• Supervisory experience.
• Fluency in English.
• Direct experience working with partners and government agencies.
• Project management experience including coordinating the work of other professionals inside and outside an organization.
• Proven experience in strategy development and implementation.
• Demonstrated relationship building skills.
• Experience negotiating complex high profile or sensitive agreements.
• Proven written and verbal communication and presentation skills.

Salary Information:

This position may be based in any country where TNC has an established entity, taking into consideration legal restrictions, such as non-national ratios and immigration processing times. Preference is for Canada, eastern U.S., Latin America region, or Europe. For U.S. based applicants only, the starting pay range for this position is generally within the range of $97,000 – $154,000 for annual base salary and is based on location, qualifications, specific skills, and experience. This range only applies to candidates whose country of employment is the USA. For all other applicants, pay ranges will be in local currency, the pay range will be based on the local labor market, and not tied to the above pay range. Your geographic location will be confirmed during the recruitment and used to determine your actual pay range. Additionally, for all applicants, actual pay will fall within a range based on a variety of factors including, for example, the candidate’s qualifications, specific skills, and experience.