Conservation Impact Manager at Space for Giants

About Us

Space for Giants is an international conservation organisation, based in Africa, founded in 2011. Our mission is to protect the natural ecosystems on which Africa’s large wild animals depend, ensuring they are valued by local people. We currently work in 11 countries across Central, East and Southern Africa, focusing on some of the most pressing challenges facing the conservation of megafauna today. We have three thematic pillars of work to achieve our mission which are: 1) The protection and management of natural ecosystems and associated value creation for local citizens; 2) Combating the illegal wildlife trade; and 3) Promoting Human-Wildlife Coexistence. We pride ourselves on our highly collaborative approach with national governments, recognising the importance of being relevant to elected leaders and their constituents, striving to ensure that our conservation work is aligned with their priorities. Grounded in world class science, we bring high quality technical expertise and experience to inform and deliver our conservation programmes, wherever we work. We also pride ourselves on being adaptable and nimble to respond quickly to emerging opportunities and evolving challenges in a very dynamic space.

We have grown rapidly since we were founded – from working to study, protect and manage elephants in a single landscape in central Kenya; to engaging in policy and strategy development across international, national and landscape-level environments. To better position Space for Giants for current conservation challenges and opportunities, we developed a new five-year strategic plan in 2021. This broadened the focus of the organisation beyond African elephants, which are still an anchor and symbol for our work, to the critical ecosystems on which they and other large wild animals, and indeed all of us, depend. To read more visit: www.spaceforgiants.org

Your Position with Space for Giants

With strong research credentials, a proven track record in high quality data collection and analysis in the conservation sector and guided by best practice and proven technology, The Conservation Impact Manager will be responsible for measuring the performance of Space for Giants’ conservation programmes. To achieve this, they will work closely with conservation programmes and country leads, ensuring that there is sufficient capacity across the organisation, as well as appropriate data collection systems in place, to ensure Space for Giants’ performance can be objectively measured against baselines. The Conservation Impact Manager will report to the Director of Conservation, with oversight from the Managing Director for Conservation, and will need to be guided by the Director of Conservation Science, the Conservation Research Advisory Board and the CEO. Moreover, this position will collaborate closely with all SFG divisions including Carbon, Wildlife Justice & Rule of Law, Conservation Investment, and Conservations Science. This position will ideally be based at the Space for Giants HQ in Nanyuki, Kenya, but other locations may be considered.

Responsibilities & Scope

• Develops and maintains a monitoring & evaluation (M&E) strategy to measure Space for Giants conservation impacts, against the goals identified in our Five-Year Strategic Plan
• Drives data collection, storage, visualisation, and reporting (social, ecological, and spatial) and associated protocols necessary to assess Space for Giants’ impact and inform our associated management response
• Monitors current conservation technology and recommends and oversees its adoption and use within Space for Giants, optimising M&E and operational effectiveness, so that we are “best in class in tech”
• Leads and coordinates the training of internal and external (partner organisation) staff to enhance the collection of quality data to support the delivery of our M&E strategy.
• In coordination with senior management, designs and carries out situational assessments and associated surveys to inform the development of landscape and/or species-specific management plans
• Work with the Director of Conservation Science and the Conservation Research Advisory Committee to support data analysis and synthesis for academic publications
• Work with the Space for Giants Conservation, Fundraising, Communication & Finance teams to support grant proposals, reporting, presentations and wider communication
• Builds and maintains positive working relationships among direct reports, interns and points of contact among partner organisations
• Develops and tracks the annual plan and budget of the conservation impact programme, keeping management informed of performance and variance to inform decision-making
• Always upholds and promotes Space for Giants’ core values
• Requires willingness to travel regularly both domestically and internationally, and to occasionally work weekend and evenings

Minimum Qualifications

• At least five years of work in project management, ideally in the conservation sector focused on M&E
• Educated to at least Master’s degree level or equivalent experience in a relevant field
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience in meeting deadlines
• Demonstrated ability to lead, inspire and mentor a team
• Proven proficiency and working experience implementing impact measuring systems, data and information management from multiple streams and associated analyses
• Excellent analytical skills
• Proficient in GIS and related software packages
• Proficient in conservation monitoring technology and methodologies e.g. SMART, PAMS, camera traps, GPS collars, transects
• Knowledge and experience of social science methodologies and analyses
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to interact with Government, private sector, research and third sector organisations
• Demonstrated experience in conservation-related research
• Willingness to go the extra mile to get the job done
• Demonstrated ability to think critically about conservation problems
• Valid driving licence

Desired Qualifications

• Multi-lingual (French and/or Portuguese desirable) and multicultural experience appreciated
• Experience with remote sensing and field-based analyses of habitat types and change over time
• Experience with developing and writing species and protected area management plans
• Familiar with statistical analysis programs, including “R”
• Experience with undertaking socio-economic surveys and analysis of associated data
• Strong team player who can build relationships and work collaboratively across the organisation, including with Space for Giants’ senior leadership and partners
• Self-starter with ability to generate work products with limited support
• Understanding of nature-based carbon credit frameworks and project development

Place of Work

You will be based in Nanyuki, Kenya, working at the Space for Giants office. Your office hours will be from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Reporting and Delivery

The position will report to the Director of Conservation

Contract Term

This is a permanent position. Remuneration is negotiable subject to experience and skills.**