Senior Carbon Technical Manager

Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, biodiversity, and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities to help people and nature thrive together.

POSITION SUMMARY - Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, or Costa Rica

Amid growing consensus that the protection, restoration, and improved management of ecosystems can provide at least 30% of the climate mitigation needed to limit warming to 1.5°C, Conservation International (CI) has set ambitious targets to realize the potential of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) worldwide. CI's Carbon Finance (CF) unit within the Nature Finance Group (NFG) invests in NCS that help combat climate change by reducing deforestation and conserving and restoring critical ecosystems. These NCS solutions include the protection, enhanced management, and restoration of forests, rangelands, wetlands, and other natural systems.

The Carbon Finance team works across CI field programs and partner organizations to source and finance a strong pipeline of high-quality NCS carbon projects coupled with innovative financing designed to ensure long-term sustainability and private sector participation. The team taps the deep knowledge and technical expertise within CI to catalyze and improve the quality of gigatons of emission reductions and removals in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets. The CF team prioritizes impact through community engagement and benefit-sharing, biodiversity and environmental benefits, and the application of safeguards.

The Senior Carbon Technical Manager is an integral part of the CF team. The Senior Manager will be responsible for supporting the due diligence, development, and delivery of a carbon portfolio of investable NCS site- and jurisdictional-scale initiatives. This involves assessing early-stage pipeline opportunities, conducting project scoping, feasibility, and due diligence, performing field visits, and moving priority opportunities to full-scale development, including oversight of Project Documents and Monitoring Reports. The Senior Manager is also responsible for guiding projects through the validation and verification processes for certification standards such as the VCS and CCB, Gold Standard, the Mexico Forest Protocol, or other domestic and jurisdictional standards. The position includes project and budget planning and management, tracking and reporting on deliverables and project status.

The individual will work closely with a diverse team of CI staff members from around the world to apply their field experience, scientific knowledge, research skills, and innovative tools to evaluate project opportunities and guide them through design, development and certification processes. This position does not directly supervise staff.

Responsibilities

Carbon Project Development

• Work with CI’s Regional Carbon Leads to provide Carbon Finance technical review, input, and guidance for projects undergoing scoping and feasibility assessment, and contribute to reports related to this effort. This will require desktop review and technical analysis of relevant documentation regarding project design, as well as direct engagement with project entities and conducting due diligence field visits, where needed. Technical analysis might include aspects such as assessing the agents and drivers of deforestation, key carbon project eligibility concepts, carbon accounting, governance, safeguards, and benefit-sharing frameworks, as well as risk mitigation, business models, etc.
• For selected projects, provide Carbon Finance team project management oversight of the scoping and feasibility process, working with CI field programs, partners, and service providers. Ensure project information, workplans and deliverables are developed, completed, and shared with all relevant stakeholders, monitor progress, ensure alignment of the process and outcomes with NFG’s criteria and process on high-quality carbon projects, and identify corrective actions to resolve problems and ensure future project efficiencies.
• For selected projects, act as a Carbon Finance team lead on the management and delivery of Project Documents (PD), Monitoring Reports (MRs), and other related documentation to ensure achievement of project validation and verification processes. This includes providing project entities with support on work planning, technical input and review, monitoring and evaluation, and overseeing the work of consultants, Validation & Verification Bodies (VVBs), and other service providers.
• Work closely with, coordinate, collaborate, and communicate with all institutional carbon-related staff & teams (field and global programs) to ensure alignment with CI’s NCS and carbon crediting strategies and priorities.

Due Diligence

• Lead desktop due diligence of the NCS project and jurisdictional opportunities. Evaluate projected carbon outcomes from emissions reductions and removals (ERRs) models to ensure targets are achievable given context and carbon crediting requirements.
• Lead field-level due diligence of the NCS project and jurisdictional opportunities. Evaluate projected ERRs to ensure achievable targets given site conditions, local context, partner capacity, and carbon crediting requirements. Provide recommendations for improvement and summarize findings in coherent and well-substantiated written reports that will be shared with internal and external partners.
• Review Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) protocols for NCS projects and conduct annual monitoring of reported results, including field-level site visits as required.
• Develop and maintain CI’s relationships with project partners, consultants, and investors to enhance collaboration and partnership initiatives by continually providing useful technical inputs and identifying new opportunities for achieving CI’s global objectives in NCS.

Technical Innovation

• Support the development of carbon and GIS tools, frameworks, and templates to streamline data gathering, analysis, and narrative elements of feasibility assessments, due diligence reports, PDs and MRs, including but not limited to emissions reduction or removal models, biodiversity and community monitoring, stakeholder engagement, workplans, theory of change models etc.
• Provide technical assessment and comment on carbon market standards and methodology reviews that the Carbon Finance team will lead.
• Support carbon project development training for CI countries, projects, and partners on a needs assessment basis.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• This is a full-time position. Work will be performed in a typical office environment, with potential for work from a home office.
• Frequent travel within the Latin America region (and globally) will be required and will consist of approximately ~30% of the person’s time, often this will entail travel to remote locations with rustic conditions.
• Flexibility in work schedule is required to accommodate time differences between the Arlington, VA office and international field offices in multiple time zones.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in forest management, forest ecology, natural resource management, climate science, or related fields.
• 5 to 7 years of experience working on the technical development or due diligence of NCS projects.
• Demonstrated experience with the application of NCS carbon accounting approaches and methodologies, including, but not limited to:
• determining baseline and project emissions reductions & removals.
• evaluating robustness of additionality arguments, non-permanence risk assessments, leakage estimates, and “business as usual” scenarios.
• confirming the suitability of allometric equations, Biomass Expansion Factors, volumetric growth rate, wood density, root-to-shoot ratio, carbon fraction, etc.
• Demonstrated experience with the validation and verification of NCS crediting projects (VCS, Gold Standard, CCBS, etc.), including the development of Project Documents (PDs), Monitoring Reports (MRs), and Validation and Verification Body (VVB) audits.
• Excellent project management and coordination skills, and a strong attention to detail.
• Excellent analytical skills with demonstrable experience in GIS, and Remote Sensing, including land-use change modeling.
• Successful track record working with diverse team members, clients, stakeholders, and partners from different economic, cultural, religious, gender, and professional backgrounds in a range of countries or geographic contexts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Experience working with local partners, with an understanding of the on-the-ground realities and challenges of project development and delivery.
• Ability to work well under pressure, multitask, set priorities, and deliver quality results.
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills and ability to build on existing knowledge to develop new approaches.

Preferred

• Master's degree in a relevant field.
• Fluency in Spanish or Portuguese.
• Demonstrated field-level experience in forest conservation, restoration of native ecosystems, improved forest management, or natural resource management.
• Experience with training field teams on developing and implementing forest, carbon, and biodiversity monitoring plans.
• Experience in carbon accounting for soils (e.g., peatlands, wetlands, and rangelands).
• Experience communicating about REDD+ and other forest carbon finance mechanisms to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience working with or within the private sector on climate and NCS-related issues.
• Experience working with indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
• Experience working with government partners and supporting the development of policy.
• Experience communicating about NCS and carbon finance mechanisms to technical and non-technical audiences.

To apply for this position please submit a resume and cover letter.

See all Conservation International Career Opportunities HERE

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