Regenerative Ranching and Agriculture (R2A) Deputy, Latin America Region

Latin America

The location of this position is flexible within the countries where we operate in Latin America.

#LI-REMOTE

LA113

The mission of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is to conserve the lands and waters upon which all life depends. As a science-based organization, we develop innovative, on-the-ground solutions to the world’s toughest environmental challenges so that people and nature can thrive. Our work is guided by our values, which include a commitment to diversity and respect for people, communities, and cultures. From a rewarding mission to career development and flexible schedules, there are many reasons to love life #insideTNC. Want to know more? Check out our TNC Talent playlist on YouTube to hear stories from staff or visit Glassdoor.

One of TNC’s primary goals is to cultivate an inclusive work environment so that employees around the globe have a sense of belonging and feel that their unique contributions are valued. We know we’ll only achieve our mission by hiring and engaging a diverse staff that reflects the communities in which we work. Recognizing that people bring talent and skills that have been developed outside the scope of a job, we take a holistic approach to recruitment that considers life experience in addition to the professional requirements listed in our postings. Please apply – we’d love to hear from you. To quote a popular saying at TNC, “you’ll join for the mission, and you’ll stay for the people.”

Food production in Latin America has risen significantly and as the world increasingly looks to the region to feed its growing population, the trend shows no signs of stopping. If the expansion of food production comes at the expense of the natural systems that sustain it, the boom will be a short-lived, and the consequences to global agriculture, in addition to Latin America’s own prosperity and stability, could be severe. Over 70 percent of deforestation in the region is driven by agriculture and ranching and an estimated 50% of production lands have some degree of degradation. For Latin America, this calls for finding ways to expand production and increase yields without expanding further into forests, grasslands and marine areas, as these constitute the life-support systems on which food production and human society depend. Our vision of regenerative production landscapes includes habitat restoration and conservation at scale.

The Nature Conservancy is prominent among conservation organizations in working with producers to reduce their environmental footprints while enhancing productivity and optimizing conservation outcomes. We have pioneering work under way with soy, beef, sheep, anchovy and sugarcane producers in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and elsewhere. We are working with global companies to help them achieve their regenerative agriculture goals in biodiversity, water, carbon and people, by developing and scaling regenerative production systems. Latin America has been the pioneer region in developing a comprehensive regional strategy for regenerative ranching and agriculture. And finally, we have worked, and will continue to work with governments to develop economic incentives and policies to enhance conservation efforts and reduce environmental footprint with food producers. We will build upon these experiences and implement and support a series of regional strategies that will catalyze ours and partners’ work on the ground and at national levels to make our work transformational and move us toward the 2030 Shared Conservation Agenda aspirational goals associated to agriculture under the pillar of “Provide Food and Water Sustainably”

The R2A Deputy liaises with technical staff across the Conservancy and with partners to generate strategies and opportunities that focus on regenerative food production systems, support conservation in and around working landscapes, and contribute to our overarching 2030 organizational goals. The Latin America Region seeks to transform production/consumption value chains across our geographies to incentivize and support the conservation of the region’s 940 million hectares of natural habitat, through regenerative agricultural and ranching production on the region’s 740 million hectares of agricultural land. This will contribute decisively to addressing the region’s climate challenge.

Internally, the R2A Deputy serves as the technical focal point for Latin America’s regenerative agriculture and ranching initiatives to the rest of the Conservancy. They develop systems and processes to improve coordination, communication and planning across Country Programs in Latin America on regenerative agriculture and ranching projects, coordinating with TNC initiatives focused on agriculture related zero conversion and water strategies. They are responsible for collaborating with diverse units across Latin America to disseminate best practices, provide training and analyses to best define, standardize and collect data that reflect organizational measures of success. They are charged with frequent communication and consultation with field staff to ground-truth and come to consensus on sustainable food strategies, develop a specific, actionable business plan and subsequent annual regional work plans with buy-in from all country programs, and other internal and external experts and stakeholders. They compile coherent quarterly conservation reports, as well as communicates upward and outward those field successes that are relevant to the R2A Strategy’s priorities. They coordinate with the Conservancy’s Global Priorities teams to ensure our work is adequately leveraged and represented in international policy and donor events.

Externally, the R2A Deputy will be an active participant in high-level technical discussions on regenerative ranching and agriculture. They will support, complement and often stand in for the Regenerative Agriculture Director in engagements with governments, corporations, lending institutions, other non-profit groups, foundations and the academic community, to promote strategies and solutions in the three areas of science & innovation, policies, incentives & collective action, and business models and market, that can contribute to achieving the R2A Strategy’s overarching goal. They play a strong supporting role in engaging and stewarding relations with corporate partners and other donors , and will support fund-raising efforts, particularly through the development and preparation of compelling proposals for projects with a regional or multi-country scope of impact, that bring resources to both the Region and Conservation Programs. They support and may lead the development of key partnerships with public & private organizations to identify and resolve technical issues and to widely communicate solutions, innovative scientific methods, analysis, tools and frameworks to address the natural system needs. They position the Conservancy’s Latin America Program as a major sustainable food partner within the space for conservation with development at scale.

A strong understanding of the environmental aspects of farming and ranching for both small and large holders, as well as related sustainable technologies is important for this position. Pre-existing knowledge of responsible sourcing initiatives and the role that corporations play in driving positive or negative trends in Latin America’s natural landscapes is critical. Knowledge of the Latin American policy arena (subsidies, incentives) is helpful.

The R2A Deputy directly supervises a team of 1-3 staff, and builds strategic, scientific, and technical capacity in the field through coordination of the “R2A Management Team” composed of 5-6 additional staff. They will report to the Latin America Regenerative Agriculture Director.

RESPONSIBILITIES & SCOPE

• Support the implementation of cutting-edge regional strategies to address systemic barriers to regenerative food production in coordination with country and global teams
• Work with the Conservancy’s Regional Leadership team, the Global Provide Food and Water Sustainably team, and other TNC Regions and global teams to engage major international agencies, corporations and foundations that work on agriculture and to do so in a manner that mitigates negative impacts on biodiversity conservation and environmental services provisions.
• Identify and cultivate high-leverage partnerships to advance regenerative food production and deliver on conservation goals.
• Work in collaboration with country and/or the development teams in fund-raising efforts in building compelling large-scale cases with regenerative ranching and agriculture content. May be responsible for leading or co-leading a whole system program
• Recruit, retain and manage high quality and effective multi-disciplinary staff with responsibility for their performance management, training and career development.
• Develop long-term strategies and achieves strategic goals and objectives
• Make independent strategic decisions frequently based on analysis, ambiguous information, experience and judgment.
• Requires frequent travel domestically and internationally (approximately 30-50% per month), and evening and weekend hours. This may include visits to conservation, ranching and agricultural field sites in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain, and under physically demanding circumstance

Minimum Requirements

• BA/BS degree and 12 years’ experience in regenerative ranching and agriculture and conservation practice or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Fundraising experience, including working with corporate partners and other donors. Experience designing, implementing, and directing complex or multiple projects of strategic importance, including managing finances, supervising multidisciplinary professionals, and coordinating the work of partners while meeting deadlines.
• Supervisory experience with teams, including motivating, leading, setting objectives, and managing performance.
• Experience in partnership development with corporate and non-profit partners in the agriculture, ranching and finance sectors, community groups and government agencies.
• Experience working with methods and standards of regenerative agriculture information systems and initiatives.
• Experience conceiving and implementing strategic and creative initiatives.
• Experience negotiating.

To apply for job ID 53068, submit your materials online by using the Apply Now button at https://careers.nature.org/ by 11:59 PM EST on March 31st, 2023. Need help applying? Visit our recruitment page or contact applyhelp@tnc.org.

The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to diversity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.

Do you have military experience? Visit our U.S. Military Skills Translator to match your military experience with our current job openings!

TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to applyhelp@tnc.org with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.

Where legally permissible, TNC requires all new employees to be fully vaccinated and willing to keep up to date with vaccines that protect against COVID-19. By accepting an offer of employment, you agree to comply with this requirement, unless you are entitled to a legally mandated exemption.

An attractive salary and benefits package is part of TNC’s value proposition to our employees. TNC strives to provide competitive pay and bases salaries on the geographic location of the role committing to being equitable across groups and providing hiring salary ranges when possible.

Since we support flexible and remote work for our employees, many positions have a flexible location within countries where we’re registered as a Non-government Organization and established as an employer. This may mean we’re unable to provide a hiring salary range in the posting for some of our positions. However, candidates invited to be part of our interview process will be provided their location specific range upon request.