World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, seeks a Director, Agricultural & Environmental Metrics.

Major Function

The Freshwater and Food team at WWF-US works to address the two biggest threats to nature: agriculture and infrastructure. The Director serves as the leading Food, Agricultural and Environmental Metrics expert on metrics for the WWF-US Freshwater and Food team, and as a key technical advisor to the WWF Network. The incumbent will design and implement an evidence-based and aligned approach for aggregating impact across the different initiatives within the Freshwater and Food team, which will guild strategy development and drive achieving impacts related to sustainable food systems, consumption and freshwater ecosystems. The Director provides strategic leadership related to relevant metrics and data to the Freshwater and Food team to measurably assess the impact of our conservation programs to reduce or eliminate the main environmental impacts of food systems.

The incumbent will engage with various experts both within and outside WWF to stay up to speed on the latest analysis, tools, and approaches and will engage with key platforms, forums, and partners to influence and affect change in the metrics dialogue related to sustainability of food systems. The incumbent will help define how WWF measures and tracks progress for regenerative and sustainable food systems, both row crop and pasture-based systems, as well as contribute to thought leadership and implementation of credible of market-based mechanisms, such as voluntary greenhouse gas reduction systems for agriculture. The incumbent will work across WWF to explore how performance-based metrics and methodologies can support incentivizing producers to adopt improved practices that return benefits to nature, biodiversity, climate, among other things.

This role will cover three primary areas for the Freshwater and Food team:

1. On behalf of the Freshwater and Food team, provide thought leadership, program management, technical review and analysis of sustainability platforms for food and agricultural such as the Science-based Targets Initiative Forest, Land Use, and Agriculture (SBTi-FLAG), and support for WWF food programs including bilateral corporate engagement projects;
2. Lead and facilitate the harmonization of metrics across the Freshwater & Food team initiatives and portfolio to drive strategy and to report on our collective impact at the organization level;
3. Support the development and implementation of high-level initiatives from the US office that aim to develop a comprehensive sustainability metrics framework to support better decision-making and better environmental practices for food production for a range of stakeholders.

Specific duties include:

• Lead the adoption of development of robust metrics and methodologies to support WWF’s food engagement with specific focus on land and greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use and biodiversity as well as other natural resource use and degradation indicators;
• Collaborate with other goal teams to develop tools, resources and interventions that deliver metrics on multiple WWF objectives (e.g., Forest, Climate, Wildlife, Oceans);
• Lead proposal development and outreach to support resource mobilization for metrics work related to agricultural food systems;
• Lead Freshwater and Food monitoring and evaluation efforts including, creation of dashboards for impact forecasting, monitoring and evaluation and strategy development for the team’s portfolio, as well as performance of key corporate partners and suppliers;
• Collaborate with scientists, academia, and research institutions to align around more practical and achievable means of quantifying food system impacts by the NGO and private sector communities;
• Manage technical and other team members in support of metrics-related work;
• Other duties as assigned by manager.

• Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree (Doctorate preferred) in data science, impact assessment, ecosystem assessment and/or agriculture/food related discipline with 10 or more years of experience in quantification methodologies, life-cycle analysis, or other relevant analytical skills designed to measure the environmental impacts of food production.
• Knowledge of current metrics approaches, methodologies and platforms relevant to the sustainable food, agriculture, beverage and textile sectors, especially related to climate mitigation.
• Technical capacity and experience in managing a global network of applied science experts and ability to connect, collaborate, and influence them is required.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are required to translate science into practice, including effective public speaking and the ability to communicate complex issues both verbally and in written form.
• Ability to translate technical concepts and ideas into actionable recommendations, quantifiable targets and milestones. Previous experience working with producers and farm management software and tools and/or corporate engagement are highly desirable.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills; knowledge, experience and certification using project management tools a plus.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and produce high-quality work under time constraints and excellent organizational and project leadership skills.
• Excellent professional judgement and personal work ethic, a self-reflective learner who is open to growth and continuous learning opportunities through constructive feedback, support, and mentorship.
• Ability to operate with independence and under pressure, to meet deadlines and commitments; a proactive self-starter who is self-reflective, a problem-solver, and not afraid of making mistakes or engaging team members for support.
• Proven ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a matrixed team environment.
• Fluency in English is required. Additional language skills are preferred.
• National and international travel required (up to 30%, subject to safety and COVID-19 restrictions).
• Adherence to WWF organization values and policies
• Commitment to the Freshwater & Food team’s efforts around Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)
• Identifies and aligns with the core values of the WWF organization: Courage, Integrity, Respect & Collaboration
  • Demonstrates courage by speaking up even when it is difficult, or unpopular.
  • Builds trust with colleagues by acting with integrity, owning mistakes, and holding oneself accountable.
  • Welcomes other points of view and ideas, recognizing and embracing different and contrary perspectives with kindness, curiosity, and encouragement.
  • Makes conscious efforts to promote cooperative practices, behaviors, and ways of working across many groups and individuals.

WWF is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace and requires all US-based staff to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.  WWF will consider requests for accommodation from the vaccine requirement based on disability, medical contraindication, sincerely held religious belief, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.  

To Apply:

• Submit cover letter and resume through our Careers Page,  Requisition #22040
• Due to the high volume of applications we are not able to respond to inquiries via phone

As an EOE/AA employer, WWF will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or protected Veteran status. WWF values diversity and inclusion and welcomes diverse candidates to apply.