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WRI seeks a seasoned senior manager to lead a team of professionals and partners around the world as they embark upon the implementation of Global Forest Watch 2.0 (GFW 2.0).

The initiative aims to revolutionize access to information about forests everywhere for everyone and will be one of two major initiatives for WRI on forests over the next five or more years with a budget growing to be in excess of $5m per year.

GFW 2.0, powered by Google Earth Engine, will bring to target users a seamless experience of the best technology offered by WRI, Google, ESRI, and other partners.  The Senior Manager will be responsible for managing the GFW 2.0 team of WRI staff, contractors, and dozens of partners internationally working with the Director or WRI’s Forests Initiative to achieve transformative impact.  The initiative brings together work at the cutting edge of technology, governance reform and mobilization through partnerships in dozens of countries to achieve change.

• Manage the three focus areas of the GFW 2.0 initiative?applying new technology, promoting transparency and governance reform, and mobilizing networks of partners to achieve change in the way forests and land are managed.
• Build collaborative partnerships in temperate, tropical and boreal regions, including intensive work in the Congo Basin, Amazon countries, Indonesia, Russia, and Canada.
• Help to represent the initiative around the world.
• Provide input on fundraising and assisting with proposal preparation, and assist with reporting to donors.
• Implement subscription-based revenue generation for corporate users of the system.
• Help ensure the initiative meets user needs and surpasses their expectations.

Management

• Manage the GFW 2.0 team, including guiding and monitoring the execution of strategy and achievement of outcomes.
• Manage Initiative progress, ensure successful completion of key deliverables, and report regularly on progress to Initiative partners and the WRI Management Team.
• Review and edit materials to ensure they meet WRI’s high standards for quality.
• Liaise with the WRI Executive Team and WRI Board on related strategic and operational issues.

Leadership

• Articulate a compelling and coherent vision and strategy for WRI’s GFW 2.0 Initiative that inspires audiences internationally.
• Liaise with experts internationally and nationally, building WRI’s presence in the field.
• Secure and manage Initiative partnerships and co-lead fundraising efforts with a range of donors.
• Serve as one of the spokespersons for the Initiative.

Fundraising

• Implement a sustainable funding model to allow for strategic growth of the Initiative.
• Source and secure long-term funding for the Initiative in collaboration with other WRI staff. This includes building on existing relationships with bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations, corporations, and individual donors, as well as cultivating and maintaining new relationships.

• Advanced degree. 
• Minimum 10 years of management and team leadership experience.
• Excellent strategic thinking as well as quantitative analytical skills.
• Demonstrated experience leading ambitious projects with multiple funders, tight timelines, international partners, and complex audiences.
• Ability to communicate in a clear and compelling way to a wide range of audiences both verbally and in writing (a writing assessment will be required for all finalists for this position).
• Proven ability to manage a team of experts for specific results.
• Strong familiarity with the challenges of development and sustainability.
• Willingness to travel internationally, sometimes at short notice.
• Ideally (but not required) fluency in one or more languages (such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian or Bahasa Indonesia) in addition to native fluency in English.

Management Style and Personal Attributes

• Patience, resilience, and tenacity along with an abundance of energy, enthusiasm, creativity, common sense and well-honed strategic judgment.
• A proven commitment to “customer service.” 
• Strong personal diplomacy, including a highly professional temperament, the highest level of personal and professional integrity, and the ability to work in a collaborative team environment.
• A sense of urgency about the mission of WRI and the need to address the environment and development challenges confronting humankind.
• Outstanding management and planning skills.
• A management style that is open, collaborative and results-oriented; a style that inspires trust and motivates staff to work hard and well together,  provides them with a clear sense of direction, and respects their capabilities and independence. 
• Superb cross-cultural interpersonal skills with an impressive history of forging strong relationships with multiple stakeholders, strong listening skills and an ability to relate well to people at all levels.
• Stamina, including the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously and under deadline pressure, personal grace in dealing with a broad spectrum of personalities, and good humor in leading the day-to-day work of the department.

Accountability/Supervision

• Open, collaborative and results-oriented; a style that inspires trust and motivates staff to work hard and well together, provide team with a clear sense of direction, and respects their capabilities and independence. 
• Ability to influence across global boundaries, including senior professionals, consultants and staff external to WRI
• Coach, mentor, motivate and supervise team members and contractors, and influence them to take positive action and accountability for their assigned work.
• Provide guidance and direction to the team to manage the quality development of annual project plans and the cascading of those plans into individuals goals throughout the department

 Communication

• An ability to consistently communicate with clarity: Excellent writing, speaking, and presentation skills.
• An advanced ability to provide clear direction and expectations within the team and to the broad audience the team supports.
• Manage the team on a day-to-day basis, motivate staff and identify and manage conflicts where they arise.
• Ensure that department outcomes meet or exceed WRI standards for institutional excellence
• Contribute to WRI’s overall management through participation in WRI’s Management Team

 Teamwork

• Is considered a leader on the team.  Is well respected for competence and ability to maintain key relationships, reduce conflict and create a positive and high performing work environment.
• A proven commitment to internal customer service.  Strong personal diplomacy, including a highly professional temperament, the highest level of personal and professional integrity, and the ability to work in a collaborative team environment.
• Humility, Patience, resiliency, and tenacity along with an abundance of energy, enthusiasm, creativity, common sense and well-honed strategic judgment that establishes early credibility and ease of partnerships with other members of the team.
• Superb cross-cultural interpersonal skills with an impressive history of forging strong relationships with multiple stakeholders, strong listening skills and an ability to relate well to people at all levels.
• A sense of urgency about the mission of WRI and the need to address the environment and development challenges confronting humankind; an engagement in business partnership from an administrative support perspective with the programs and projects of WRI.

 Salary:  Commensurate with education, experience and position responsibilities. WRI offers a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualified applicants should apply online at www.wri.org/careers. All applications must be submitted online through this career portal in order to be formally considered. 

The World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org/wri) is an environmental and development research and policy organization that creates solutions to protect the Earth and improve people’s lives. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, it is WRI’s policy to recruit, hire, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, sexual preference, parental status, or disability. WRI’s global agenda requires a staff that is diverse – with respect to race, gender, cultural, and international background. Diverse perspectives and experience enhance the way WRI selects and approaches issues, as well as the creativity and applicability of WRI's policy research and analysis. WRI, therefore, encourages applications from U.S. minorities, persons from other countries (especially developing nations), and from women of all backgrounds.

About WRI

The World Resources Institute is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. We work with governments, companies, and civil society to build solutions to urgent environmental challenges. WRI’s transformative ideas protect the earth and promote development because sustainability is essential to meeting human needs and fulfilling human aspirations in the future.

Established in 1982, WRI is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization respected globally by policymakers, NGOs, and corporate leaders because of the rigorous quality, balance, and independence of its work. With its think-tank roots, WRI values innovative ideas, working collaboratively, and thinking independently. WRI employees see the results of their hard work and have the satisfaction of making a significant difference in the world.

Currently a $50 million organization with an international staff of approximately 250, WRI works with more than 400 partners in 50 countries. WRI provides objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development.

Values

In its day to day work, WRI is guided by several core institutional values:

Innovation: To lead change for a sustainable world, WRI is creative, forward thinking, entrepreneurial, and adaptive.

Independence: WRI’s effectiveness depends on work that is uncompromised by partisan politics, institutional or personal allegiances, or sources of financial support.

Urgency: WRI believes that change in human behavior is urgently needed to halt the accelerating rate of environmental deterioration.

Independence: Our effectiveness depends on work that is uncompromised by partisan politics, institutional or personal allegiances, or sources of financial support.

Respect: Our relationships are based on the belief that all people deserve respect.

Approach

Everything WRI does is built on four key elements:

Focus on Results: WRI organizes all of its work to produce powerful and practical solutions, strategies and tools, policies and partnerships.

Analytical Excellence: WRI identifies problems, drivers of change, economic incentives, and consequences to arrive at comprehensive, incentive-based, practical solutions.

Partnerships: WRI works with scientists, governments, businesses, NGOs, and international institutions worldwide to create incentives and pressure for change.

Communications: WRI fosters change by disseminating their solutions and ideas to targeted audiences.