WWF - Chief, Strategic Engagement Officer

CHIEF STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

MARCH 2023

WELCOME FROM WWF’S DIRECTOR GENERAL

We at WWF all share the sense of urgency of the dual biodiversity and climate crises. For WWF, these are challenging yet exciting times. Biodiversity has never featured more prominently on the global agenda. As the largest global conservation organization, we have the ability to spark transition and deliver results in the places we care about. And WWF is best equipped to do so. Over more than sixty years, we have built an incredibly strong global network. A decentralized and agile network that can respond to local realities while pursuing global systems change. A resilient and adaptive network that still shows it listens and learns. But mostly - our strength comes from our people. Our people are some of the smartest, most driven and passionate people in the world.

The opportunity in front of us is clear. Now is the time for WWF to lead with courage to deliver impact. My own adventure as Director General of WWF International has just recently started and I’m very excited to take on this role and further strengthen WWF’s leadership.

Dr Kirsten Schuijt, WWF Director General

ABOUT WWF

WWF is an environmental organization that is deeply committed to people-centered nature conservation with the ambition to apply the highest standard of safeguards to protect human rights in all of our work. Our mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. We understand that the future of nature can only be secured when conservation is inclusive and people both drives, and benefit from, the protection of natural ecosystems.

WWF-US / Keith Arnold

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Director General

Executive Assistant Communications & Marketing

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Conservation Officer Chief Strategic Engagement Officer Chief Country Offices Division

People and Culture Resource Mobilization Network Governance Director General’s Office (DGO)

@ Simon Rawles / WWF

HOW WE WORK

The deepening crisis of nature loss requires conservation organizations like WWF to think and act bigger and faster – and to work together as never before.

Our strong commitment to collaboration– something we call together possible – shapes all our work, leading to many powerful partnerships around the world. And, today, we are part of a growing global coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030: a New Deal for Nature and People as comprehensive as the global climate deal.

This ambitious nature recovery plan is supported by our own global goals and programme of work focused on:

• Safeguarding the natural world – the oceans, forests, freshwater and rich diversity of wildlife that provide the essentials of life for all.

• Challenging the two most urgent threats to nature: climate change and food production.

• Tackling the underlying global drivers for the loss of nature: a financial system that must value nature; a governance system that empowers people to lead on nature protection; and markets where sustainable production and consumption must become the norm.

You can find out more about WWF International on our website.

© James Morgan / WWF

MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT

Inspire and drive WWF International’s strategic engagement agenda on behalf of the Director General and WWF International. Strategic positioning of WWF International, initiating and maintaining effective strategic relationships, primarily through the DG and other senior WWF Leaders, with key stakeholders internally and externally. Mobilize, support and facilitate key stakeholder meetings and events. Catalyse and enable impactful governance functions and decision-making for WWF International and the WWF Network to support WWF’s conservation strategy and mission.

THE ROLE

TITLE: Chief, Strategic Engagement Officer

REPORTS TO: Director General, WWF International

SUPERVISES: Executive Director, Resource Mobilisation, Executive Director Network Governance, Special Advisor/Special Projects, Special Assistant.

LOCATION: Gland - Switzerland

LEVEL: 10

SALARY: Competitive

© Ronald Petocz / WWF

MAJOR FUNCTIONS

1. EXTERNAL POSITIONING AND ENGAGEMENT

• Develop and implement a strategic engagement plan for strengthening engagement with key external and internal partners for WWF International, to maximise and enhance collaboration and opportunities in pursuit of our mission.

• Provide thought leadership and high-level stakeholder and partnership advice, positioning and briefings, to support the Director General’s external agenda.

• Support and engage the Director General and other senior leadership with key insights relevant to strategic global stakeholder engagement in the pursuit of WWF’s conservation priorities.

2. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION AND PARTNERSHIPS

• Drive and oversee a global engagement strategy on resource mobilisation and partnerships to ensure long term, sustainable and targeted support for WWF’s country offices and conservation priorities.

• Build and maintain relationships with external constituencies such as influential philanthropic individuals, foundations, business leaders, civil society partners and organizations for the benefit of WWF.

3. WWF GOVERNANCE

• Foster collaborative and effective working of all WWF governance bodies. Be the interface between NET, Board, Council and Assembly, to support a culture of trust and knowledge and information sharing, in alignment with WWF’s organisational values.

• Position WWF International as a strong Secretariat to WWF’s governance bodies - support effective engagement of Board and NET, Council and Assembly; ensure effective NET and Board decision-making.

© Jürgen Freund / WWF

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. EXTERNAL POSITIONING AND ENGAGEMENT

• Stewards the Director General’s engagement with key external partners and stakeholders, including governments, UN agencies, business leaders and platforms, think tanks, non-governmental actors, IPLCs.

• Manages the DG office (DGO), prioritises and triages requests and invitations and acts as the senior interface for internal and external contacts.

• Provides support to the Director General including high quality briefings and insights for key external meetings and engagements, e.g. WEF/Davos, UN conferences, high level events, fundraising and partnership meetings and events.

• Cultivates and develops pivotal external relationships and partnerships in conjunction with Senior Leaders and advises the DG and Executive Team as required, in order to leverage opportunities for WWF.

• Develops external affairs strategic planning processes, monitors strategic implementation, progress and performance to drive excellence.

• Ensures high quality senior executive coordination to the DG and strengthens relationships and coordination with Executive and Senior Leadership Teams to enhance collaboration, knowledge sharing and efficiencies of processes.

2. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION & PARTNERSHIPS

• Leads global resource mobilisation and public sector partnership teams to deliver high quality fundraising approaches and public and private partnerships in support of WWF’s offices and conservation mission.

• Monitors revenue at WWF International and globally and provides analysis and insights for future business modelling and organisational strategy.

© Yawar Motion Films / WWF-US

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

3. WWF GOVERNANCE

• Takes on all the administrative duties of Board and NET management to ensure each meeting is smooth and productive, including planning meetings, timely distribution of meeting materials, building agendas, recording minutes, following up of action points. Assists the Board chair and the DG as NET Chair in chairing effective meetings.

• Provides strategic leadership to proactively identify areas to strengthen good governance across the Network including the International Board, Network Executive Team (NET), WWF Council and Assembly, ensuring robust governance.

• Ensures excellence in the coordination and integration between governance bodies and the WWF International Board to create common understanding and communication flow, with a view to strengthening and driving increased performance and impact.

• Champions JEDI principles to ensure gender and diversity balance across Network governance and leadership bodies.

4. OTHER

• Supports the DG and ET in strategic positioning of WWF International through supporting the development of the 3-year strategy and annual plans; tracks progress of the strategy, signals issues and needs for adjustment

• Acts as a member of the Executive Team of WWF International

© Daniël Nelson

PROFILE

REQUIRED SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Highly organised, efficient and effective to ensure teams, offices and leaders are enabled to deliver.

• Excellent strategic relationship builder and manager, both internally and externally, with demonstrated ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.

• Ability to motivate, lead, set objectives and manage the performance of a diverse and multi-disciplinary team.

• Self-starter with an entrepreneurial mentality that takes ownership and is able to effectively navigate ambiguous, fast-moving and complex environments.

• Demonstrated ability to work with discretion and good judgement on sensitive issues.

• Demonstrated operational skills in strategy implementation, showing effective oversight of program and change implementations, and the ability to act swiftly on risks and opportunities.

• Ability to conceptualize and implement strategy, including envisioning and articulating future direction.

• Skilled in recognizing, integrating, and leveraging interdependent relationships between key Network stakeholders and governance functions.

• Broad knowledge of resource mobilisation best practices nuanced external relationship development and management, strategy development and implementation, and multi-stakeholder coordination.

• Highly developed and effective in presentation and writing skills in all mediums including written, verbal, presentation, and visual communications.

• Ability to collaborate with diverse groups to develop impactful, mutually beneficial partnerships and achieve ambitious results.

• A strong collaborator who engenders confidence and trust with executives, peers, external partners, donors, and board members.

• Deep listening skills, demonstrating cultural sensitivity and the ability to navigate multiple perspectives.

• Embraces the WWF mission and values of the organisation: Courage, Integrity, Respect & Collaboration.

© Day’s Edge Productions

PROFILE

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced University degree in in a relevant topic such as Business Management, Political Science, Sustainability, Economics or equivalent work experience;

• At least 15 years’ relevant experience in complex international organisations/ companies, with demonstrated success in managing multi-disciplinary teams;

• Good knowledge of conservation/sustainability issues, governance, resource mobilisation strategies and stakeholder engagement and management;

• Perfect command of English language and any other language/s an asset.

© James Morgan / WWF-International

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

INTERNAL

Interacts regularly with the WWF President and members of the Executive and Senior Leadership Teams, senior staff, WWF International Board, Council, NET members, and CEOs of WWF Offices.

EXTERNAL

High level contacts with governmental/ministerial relationships, global NGO/civil society DG/Sec gens/leaders, global public sector partners (regional banks, EU, etc.), philanthropists and foundation presidents.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

© FREDERICO VIANA

WWF VALUES

We bear witness to the accelerating decline of nature and our climate, with serious consequences for life on Earth, including our own.

Our mission is to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. To deliver this mission, we work to conserve biodiversity, the web that supports all life on Earth; reduce humanity’s ecological footprint; and ensure the sustainable use of natural resources to support current and future generations.

We celebrate and respect diversity in nature and among the people, partners and communities with whom we work. Across the many cultures and individuals that represent WWF, we are unified by one mission, one brand, and one common set of values:

• Courage: We demonstrate courage through our actions, we work for change where it’s needed, and we inspire people and institutions to tackle the greatest threats to nature and the future of the planet, which is our home.

• Integrity: We live the principles we call on others to meet. We act with integrity, accountability and transparency, and we rely on facts and science to guide us and to ensure we learn and evolve.

• Respect: We honor the voices and knowledge of the people and communities that we serve, and we work to secure their rights to a sustainable future.

• Collaboration: We deliver impact at the scale of the challenges we face through the power of collective action and innovation.

© naturepl.com / Lynn M. Stone / WWF

HOW TO APPLY

All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and submit your CV and cover letter as two different documents, which should be prepared before applying as they will be considered in the application process.

The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit. The document should be saved in PDF in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyyyy) e.g., Naomi-Parent-CV-012023-WWFCSEO or Naomi-Parent-CoverLetter-012023- WWF-CSEO.

TIMELINE

Closing Date: 24 April

First Interviews: 8 May

SELECTION PROCESS

All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.

EQUALITY STATEMENT

Equality and diversity are at the core of WWF values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.

QUERIES

If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email at WWFChiefSEO@oxfordhr.com in the first instance.

© James Morgan / WWF

ABOUT OXFORD HR

Oxford HR operates globally - mainly within the international development and charity sectors. We carry out retained executive search mandates at board and senior management levels. We also offer human resource and organisational development consultancy.

Oxford HR has many years of experience in search as well as an extensive network of international development, social sector, corporate, public sector, and academic contacts from across the world. We carry out comprehensive and often international searches designed to meet the specific needs of our client.

© Thor Morales