Senior Director, Climate Finance and Carbon Markets - 25045

Overview

Major Function World Wildlife Fund-United States (WWF), one of the world’s leading environment organizations, seeks a Senior Director to lead its work on innovative financial structures for climate finance and carbon markets.  The Climate Finance team works with interested partners to mobilize long-term sustainable funding including carbon credits, direct corporate investment, philanthropic grants, public finance, guarantees, and other innovative financing mechanisms. Through its Climate finance products, WWF aims to use its global reach, landscape knowledge, and diverse partnerships to showcase high-quality Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that mitigate climate change.  WWF’s approach to NbS addresses climate mitigation, the threats and drivers of nature loss, while incorporating transparent governance and equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms for the communities in the focus geographies.

The initial program that the Senior Director would lead is structuring the finance and deal origination for the WWF Planet Portfolio. Planet Portfolio is a joint program of the WWF Climate and Forest teams. – The objective of Planet Portfolio is to originate and implement NbS interventions for both private and public actors that will demonstrate and set the bar for high-integrity climate mitigation, positive nature impacts and community benefit-sharing. Operationally the Planet Portfolio is split into two main functions or pillars: (1) a landscape origination and support role (housed in the Forest team) to collaboratively develop and deliver NbS portfolios; and (2) a deal origination/finance role (housed in the Climate team) that develops integrated financial models and appropriate transaction models to fund projects in each participating landscape. Planet Portfolio is currently piloting this approach in five tropical forest geographies: Yucatan, Mexico; Madre de Dios, Peru; Atlantic Forest, Brazil; Northern Highlands/Diana, Madagascar; and the Central Annamites, Viet Nam.

Beyond the work on Planet Portfolio, the person in this role will develop a vision for expanding climate and nature finance models with other WWF goal teams and ecosystem types (e.g., freshwater, oceans, agricultural lands), and collaborate within Climate, Private Sector Engagement, and other teams to generate demonstration deals and strategies that drive towards climate and nature market transformation. Reporting Structure:     The Sr. Director will report to the Senior Vice President – Climate and will directly manage two professionals responsible for climate finance deal origination, financial modeling and carbon credit pricing.  For the Planet Portfolio initiative, the Sr. Director will have a secondary reporting line to the Planet Portfolio Program Lead.

Position Length:  Full-time, Regular

FLSA Status:            Exempt

Salary:              The expected compensation range for this position is $139,800 to $200,900. 

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities of the position include:

• Lead the deal origination/finance pillar of Planet Portfolio with a specific near-term focus on the successful execution/closing of corporate engagement transactions in selected landscapes.
• Evaluate the potential for WWF to implement investment opportunities that create climate mitigation through the generation of a financial return and/or the issuance of carbon credits.
• Lead due diligence on high potential opportunities and assist with structuring deal terms for chosen interventions. Manage the two directors (lead on climate finance and lead on landscape finance).
• Oversee and contribute to the development of climate finance proposals to private and public sector investors together with relevant staff from WWF resource mobilization teams.
• Build the Climate team’s capability to identify, and structure carbon market projects as well as other public, private, and blended sources of funding for NbS interventions through novel deal structures.
• Oversee development of standardized templates and integrated landscape cost models for individual NbS interventions and (where needed) integrate cost and financial models with natural capital valuation, return on investment and impact metrics.
• Prepare and present detailed investment documentation for internal and external stakeholders as needed, including pitch decks, financial models and partnership structures.
• Represent the Climate Finance team in all internal and external meetings around carbon markets and climate finance.  Support WWF’s position on nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation as outlined in our new WWF Network Position on Carbon Finance and advance thought leadership on carbon market transformation.
• Serve as part of the Climate management team and support ongoing climate finance strategy development.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Key Competencies  

• Innovative Problem Solving and Strategic Leadership. The ability to investigate a problem and propose innovative solutions in a timely, efficient manner to address both immediate and longer-term challenges.  Thoughtfully and sensitively deploys and adapts different structures to a myriad of country contexts.
• Initiative. Self-starter with ability to manage the team’s work and deliverables to produce high-quality results.  Ability to work against deadlines and under frequently changing circumstances.
• Outstanding teamwork. Ability to work across units and influence outcomes without direct control. Ability to engage individuals working in different roles and countries; capable of training and guiding team members with a high degree of cultural sensitivity. Must be client-focused and enjoy problem solving and working with teams.
• Exceptional people and project management skills. Must be able to lead and manage direct reports and manage the team’s work and deliverables to produce high-quality results. 
• Solution-focused adaptability. Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced, changing environment, executing quickly on a range of strategic and transactional responsibilities, as well as thinking critically to add value and solve problems. Ability to work against deadlines and under frequently changing circumstances.
• Self- Awareness and emotional intelligence. Incorporates constructive feedback, owns mistakes, and holds oneself accountable.

Required Skills and Experience

• Graduate degree in economics, business administration or finance.
• Minimum of 8-12 years of transactional experience making ecosystem-based climate investments, investing in project finance deals or structuring carbon credit transactions.
• Proven experience in working with a variety of transaction structures, including impact bonds, equity funds, structured finance products and blended finance transactions.
• Experience in carbon markets a strong differentiator including familiarity with landscape data collection, carbon calculations and carbon credit pricing.
• Superior financial and business analysis experience and skills, including demonstrated ability to understand and oversee discounted cashflow modeling.   Strong understanding of nature-based solutions for climate; experience with structuring forest landscape investment vehicles an advantage.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.  Ability to present arguments and analysis in a clear and succinct manner to WWF management, partners and funders. Solid writing and editing skills.
• Estimated 15-25% travel to developing countries.
• Fluency in Spanish, French or Portuguese is an advantage.
• Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.
• Identifies and aligns with WWF’s core values: Courage, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration:
  • 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 that we learn and evolve. 
  • RESPECT – We honor the voices and knowledge of 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. 

Salary : $139,800 - $200,900