About Us:

The American Forest Foundation (AFF) unlocks the power of family forests as a climate solution while helping thousands of landowners care for their land and improve forest health. Through its Family Forest Carbon Program, AFF expands access to the voluntary carbon market for family forest owners from all walks of life while producing high quality forest carbon credits to help companies reach their net zero goals. The organization's strategic direction seeks to enable family forests to capture and store one billion tonnes of carbon by 2050.

We do not do this alone. AFF works across a broad coalition of conservation partners, corporations, and policymakers to equip family forest owners with financial and technical support to implement sustainable forest management practices on their lands and activate their forests as a critical tool in the fight against climate change.

AFF is in a mode of complex problem solving and rapid iteration. All teams at AFF are working to discover solutions to the planet's most pressing climate issues through developing and iterating viable and scalable models for impact. AFF is driven by values of our shared purpose, measurable and verifiable results, and learning for continuous improvement to tackle big conservation challenges.

About the Role:

Led by the Product Implementation team, AFF is piloting new program opportunities for landowners to engage in the carbon markets. The Pilot Program Manager is an important pillar in pilot program development and successful execution, alongside their teammates: the Landowner Engagement Manager and the Senior Manager of Technical Operations. The Pilot Program Manager is responsible for the administration, delivery and innovation of pilot program design.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as Scrum Master for pilot program team, managing the day-to-day workflow and sprint workplans.
• Monitor pilot program performance to ensure timely completion of deliverables and provide regular reports on program status to internal stakeholders.
• Manage pilot program tracking tools and databases to ensure accuracy and alignment.
• Develop and maintain a backlog of pilot program design improvement opportunities.
• Prepare and monitor program budget(s), adapting plans as necessary to successfully achieve goals within budgetary constraints.
• Establish and steward trusting relationships with external partner organizations in forestry and adjacent relevant sectors.
• Identify opportunities to lower costs per VCU (e.g., operational cost-efficiencies and/or increasing conversion rates across stages) as part of the team's continuous push to iterate and improve upon the pilot program design and the organizational business model.
• Coordinate closely with the Climate Finance and Policy teams to co-develop externally shareable content for key stakeholders.

Candidate requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in sales, marketing, or natural resources management from an accredited college or university, business, or related field preferred. Three to five years of experience.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Ability to identify key metrics and track success, including an excellent understanding of establishing and measuring program KPIs.
• Experience working in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, relying on sense of shared purpose and personal relationships to motivate action.
• Experience working with partners to identify their needs and adjust program tactics as a result.
• Proven ability to think strategically, analyze critically, and translate ideas into actions
• Assertive facilitation to drive partnerships toward action.
• Willingness to listen to other opinions, incorporate diverse viewpoints, and foster consensus where possible, even when such consensus does not reflect one's personal opinion.
• Ability to communicate effectively--to listen, influence, motivate, and lead.
• Experience in working with farming and/or forestry communities across Alabama, Georgia or South Carolina (preferred).

Core Competencies:

• Agility - Thriving in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments by anticipating and responding to changes with swift, focused and flexible actions.
• Collaborating with Others - Working together with others in a cooperative and supportive manner to achieve shared goals.
• Ensuring Accountability - Holding yourself and others to high standards of accountability, creating an infrastructure and transparent organization culture that supports and measures personal and organizational responsibility and accountability.
• Problem Solving - Identifying problems and the solutions to them. Your contributions and leadership will be appreciated. Our staff is passionate, dedicated and good at what they do, and will be deeply grateful for your efforts to create and preserve an environment that is both fun and fair.

Job Function Competencies:

• Leading Change - Recognizing the need for change, being open to new ideas and methods, and championing transformational change within the organization and beyond.
• Achievement Orientation - Focusing efforts on achieving high quality results consistent that meet or exceed standard expectations.
• Creativity and Innovation - Generating viable, new approaches and solutions.
• Resilience - Staying energized, productive and focused in the face of challenges, ambiguity, change or strenuous demands, creating a supportive environment that helps others become more resilient and productive.

What's attractive to the right candidate:

• You have the unique and exciting opportunity to work with amazing colleagues, partners and landowners to help connect forest landowners with technical and financial assistance to better steward their land and achieve vital landscape-scale conservation impacts.
• You have the opportunity to apply what you have learned in a practical and innovative on-the-groundwork with landowners and partners.
• Your contributions and leadership will be appreciated. Our staff is passionate, dedicated and good at what they do, and will be deeply grateful for your efforts to create and preserve an environment that is both fun and fair.
• We offer a flexible work environment that respects your life outside of work.
• Salary is commensurate with experience.
• AFF offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package.

Contact us to apply:

We know there are great candidates who may not check all these boxes, and we also know you might bring important skills that we haven't considered. If that applies to you, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are committed to creating a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status or any other basis protected by law.