Conservation Partnership Manager

The BirdLife Europe and Central Asia (ECA) regional office is looking to recruit an experienced and committed Conservation Partnerships Manager. You will be an important member of the Conservation Team and responsible for representing the organisation across the region in all forms of business engagement. A major part of the role includes managing existing key business partnerships, within strategic sectors that align with the organisation’s global and regional strategy and goals.

BirdLife ECA is a Partnership of 48 national conservation organisations and a leader in bird conservation. Our unique local-to-global approach enables us to deliver high-impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

BirdLife ECA is one of the six regional Secretariats that compose BirdLife International, the global authority on the status of bird species. Based in Brussels, it supports the European and Central Asian Partnership and is present in 47 countries including all EU Member States.

With more than 4,100 staff in Europe, 2 million members and tens of thousands of skilled volunteers, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, together with its national Partners, owns or manages more than 6,000 nature sites totalling 320,000 hectares.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Master’s degree in a relevant scientific or environmental subject with demonstrable skills and experience, or equivalent.
• Experience in working with the extractive sector, particularly mineral extraction.
• Good knowledge of relevant legislation and business standards related to sustainability compliance and reporting in particular to nature (biodiversity).
• Good understanding of NGO-Business engagement and what is required to successfully collaborate.
• Ability to manage multi-level and stakeholder projects.  
• High level of fluency in English (and preferably other European languages).
• Diplomatic with an ability to negotiate and represent the organisation at an executive level.
• The flexibility to travel abroad frequently for short periods (2-3 nights per trip).

The main duties of the Conservation Partnership Manager are to:

• Lead BirdLife Europe and Central Asia’s engagement and collaboration with the private sector, representing the organisation at a regional level and where relevant globally, within various strategically identified business sustainability platforms.
• Manage existing key Business Partnerships with multi-national businesses from the extractive sector to advance and support their nature-positive strategies and sustainability commitments. 
• Explore other potential business partnerships within strategic sectors that could support BirdLife’s Policy and Conservation work.
• Lead on developing local and regional programmes for action with the aim to initiate collaborative projects with clear conservation impact.

Location:

The position is based in Brussels, Belgium. BirdLife offers a hybrid workplace model where presence in the office is required at least twice per week.

You must hold the right to work in Belgium or the EU.

Start date:

As soon as possible

How to apply:

• Attach your CV and a cover letter (Word or PDF format) explaining your motivation for the position. Examples of previous work are welcome but not required.
• Send your applications to recruitment.europe@birdlife.org marking your application with “Conservation Partnership Manager” in the subject line.
• Send your application no later than Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 23:59 CEST. Applications received after the closing date will be automatically discarded.

Date of the interviews:

Interviews are held 22^nd and 23^rd January 2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.