Job Description
Position:
Program Officer,
Latin America and Caribbean Program
Division:
Global Conservation
Reports
to: Executive Director,
LACP
Coordinates with: Deputy Director, Assistant Directors,
Senior Program Manager, Program Assistant, field staff, other WCS departments
and programs
The Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) seeks a dynamic, well-organized, hard-working, and committed
Program Officer to join the management team of our Latin America and Caribbean
program. This position provides an
opportunity for a keen individual with a relevant academic background (BA or
higher) and work experience to join a cohesive, passionate, and committed team
at the Bronx Zoo in New York and in 13 countries in Latin America working to
save some of the world’s most spectacular wildlife and wild places.
POSITION OBJECTIVES:
The
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is an international conservation NGO
headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City working to save wildlife and
wild lands and to meet global conservation challenges in over 60 countries in
Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The
Latin America and Caribbean program works in a diversity of places, from the
forests of Mesoamerica to the Amazon Basin to the coasts of Patagonia, with
over 300 staff in 13 countries.
WCS’s
LACP Program is led, managed, and administered by a small team in New York
consisting of an Executive Director, a Deputy Director (remotely located), two
Assistant Directors, a Senior Program Manager, a Program Officer, and a Program
Assistant, working closely with field staff and with other WCS
departments. This team’s key roles
include managing and supporting Country Directors, fundraising from private and
public sources, guiding program strategy and implementation, representing the
program internally and externally, and facilitating communication with and
support from WCS departments such as Finance, Development, Public Affairs, etc.
The primary objectives of
the LACP Program Officer position are to assist in the administration of the
program by managing the grant proposal process, facilitating communication and
work flow between the NY office and field programs, and to support LACP’s
relationships with prospective and current donors. The position is based at the
Bronx Zoo in New York City. The main responsibilities include but are not
limited to:
POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES
Coordinate grant management processes for all LACP field
programs, with the goal of ensuring the submission of timely, high-quality
proposals and reports. This involves, among other tasks organizing preparation
and review processes, reviewing and editing for quality, coordinating review
and approval by other WCS departments and field programs, supporting the
submission process, tracking grant progress reports, and ensuring deadlines are
met.
Manage communications and media for the program, in
collaboration with Communications, Public Affairs, and Media departments. This includes maintaining, updating, and
creating new communication materials for the program (such as fact sheets, brochures,
programmatic websites, wcs.org website content, Facebook), news from the field
programs, newsletters to donors, press releases, blogs, etc.
Support Senior Program Manager by reviewing medium and
large-scale budget proposals (greater than $100K)
Assist LACP and field staff in the planning and coordination
of regional meetings, trustee and donor trips to the field.
Work with the Events and Development departments to develop needed
materials for fundraising events for the program
Facilitate and guide communication between field programs and
other WCS departments based in New York.
QUALIFICATIONS
- An understanding of conservation issues
in Latin America and a commitment to WCS’s mission.
- Relevant Bachelor’s degree
and two years work experience (project
or non-profit administration management, tracking and reporting)
- Excellent writing, editing, oral and
interpersonal communication skills.
- Fluency in Spanish required, and
Portuguese desired.
- Ability to take initiative and work
independently, and to work collaboratively with a diverse team
- Commitment to high quality work and
attention to detail.
- Excellent organizational skills,
including ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and
prioritize tasks to meet deadlines; ability to set and follow priorities.
- Computer literacy in word processing,
spreadsheets and presentation software
- Ability to work in USA
The
Program Officer will also contribute to enlarge and uphold the Society's
policies towards Equal Employment Opportunities for women, minorities,
veterans, the handicapped and other protected groups.
All
applicants are requested both to
apply online at wcs.org (http://www.wcs.org/about-us/careers)
and also to send a cover letter and
CV to wcslatinamerica@wcs.org. The duel application system helps us to track
and assess candidates.
