Interim Advocacy Director (maternity cover)

Business for Nature is looking for an Interim Advocacy Director (maternity cover) (November 2024 - May or June 2025, 6-7 months)   We are looking for an Interim Advocacy Director to join our global team and coordinate our advocacy efforts as a maternity leave cover. This is a senior leadership and strategic role with the organization and the postholder will also sit on and contribute to Business for Nature’ senior management team. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a multi-stakeholder international coalition, work alongside our network of 100 partners worldwide and with leading businesses help to drive Business for Nature’s mission and strategy. This is a unique opportunity for professional and personal development through different skills, perspectives, and experiences. By being part of the senior management team, the individual will strengthen their strategic leadership, decision-making and team management; by working in a hugely collaborative network, they will boost relationships and extend their professional network; by working in a small team, they will experience an agile work environment.  We are looking for a passionate individual who can lead the implementation of Business for Nature’s advocacy strategy with experience in people and team management as well as program management, experience of working with a policy audience, and ideally good understanding of environmental issues and experience working with business. To be successful, the candidate should be a self-motivated team player who has excellent organizational, management and communications skills with the ability to simultaneously handle multiple projects and maintain a high level of attention to detail. Overview   

• Title: Interim Advocacy Director, Business for Nature
• Reports to: CEO, Business for Nature
• Manages: BfN’s Advocacy team (5 people) 
• Term: ideally starting 4 November 2024 until mid-May 2025 (with possible hand-over in Oct 2024)
• Location: Anywhere, provided you have the right to work, ability to work remotely and travel occasionally 
• Position/type of contract : Full-time or part-time negotiable 
• Application deadline: 15 September 2024 
• Gross Salary range for 6 months (total): USD 30-60,000, depending on location, for full time position 

This is a good-faith range based on the equivalent of a full-time (40 hour/week) employment contract. Salary may vary based on number of hours worked, local market and experience. The range listed is one component of the total compensation package for employees.   We are hosted at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a US-based organization, which offers a competitive compensation and benefits package including health coverage, retirement/pension benefits, and holidays.   Who are we    Business for Nature (BfN) is a global coalition of more than 100 influential partner organizations as well as forward-thinking companies. Together, we drive credible business action and policy ambition to achieve a nature-positive economy for all by 2030. Our priorities are to:

1. Provide the courage, comfort, and technical expertise to governments so that they adopt, implement and enforce ambitious policies that help create a nature-positive economy
2. Scale and speed up business action by strengthening, clarifying and amplifying why and how companies should act now
3. Drive ambitious national implementation of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD) Global Biodiversity Framework by embedding the role of business in the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and sharing learnings across regions

Our values   

• We aim high: We deliver high quality work with urgency that will have real impact.
• We are collaborative: We work with and recognize others to simplify the landscape to reach better outcomes for people and the planet.
• We are inclusive: We employ and work with people and stakeholders from different backgrounds and geographies.
• We are open: We listen, learn and bring light-heartedness to our work without underestimating the challenges we face.

About our advocacy work    Through our advocacy work, we aim to unify and amplify an ambitious leading business voice that calls on governments to adopt transformative policies, legislation and regulation that in turn would lead to accelerating business action on nature. Our objective is therefore to provide the courage, comfort and technical expertise to governments so that they adopt, implement and enforce ambitious policies that ensure the creation of a nature positive economy by 2030. We actively engaged in the Biodiversity COP15 negotiations of the Global Biodiversity Framework. Now that the Framework is adopted, our advocacy strategy is centred around ensuring its successful implementation at global, regional and national level. Business for Nature’s current advocacy priorities are focused on:

1. The overall implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, including the adoption by governments of ambitious National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), that provide clear roles and responsibilities to business and outline the upcoming regulatory framework.
2. The engagement in multi-lateral processes like the International Seabed Authority ongoing negotiations, in support of the deep-sea mining moratorium.
3. The reform of environmentally harmful subsidies and incentives to ensure the elimination of perverse subsidies and the increase of positive incentives, to ensure that financial flows are aligned with the mission of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Key responsibilities    Lead and manage the Advocacy team 

• Ensure the team is coordinated, continues to have a clear workplan and objectives and that communication flows between team members 
• Manage the day-to-day work of the five team members, providing strategic and technical support as required 
• Support any HR related issues with the team 

  Lead the advocacy program management

• Ensure the advocacy strategy is translated into impactful activities and outputs to meet the advocacy objectives 
• Ensure the program is implemented effectively, timely and impactfully
• Overall overview and accountability of the implementation of global advocacy projects 
• Overall overview and accountability of the implementation of national and regional advocacy projects 
• Ensure BfN’s new policy positions are clear, pragmatic, ambitious and grounded in business reality

  Support internal and external outreach 

• Ensure liaison with other BfN teams and coordination
• Lead the engagement with BfN’s Leadership Group and Business Advisory Group 
• Ensure effective engagement opportunities for the CEO with governments as relevant based on the strategy

  Join BfN management team

• Contribute to BfN’s strategy, vision and overall decision making 
• Help drive BfN's vision and strategic priorities, and uphold its values 

  Qualifications, skills and experience   

• A degree in political sciences, environmental management, economics, sustainable development, or any other relevant field
• Experience in leadership and people management 
• Excellent track record in program and project management 
• Experience in advocacy/policy and engaging directly with policymakers
• Ideally, experience in working with businesses
• Technical expertise on BfN’s advocacy priorities (outlined above) would be a plus but not essential 
• A talent for working in multi-stakeholder partnerships and managing multiple stakeholders 
• Excellent English written and oral communications skills particularly to convey complex ideas, thoughts and concepts for a general audience
• Strong organizational and time management skills including a capacity to track details. 
• Strong sense of responsibility for taking projects from inception to completion.

Work environment   Business for Nature offers a competitive, modern, and flexible working arrangement: 

• We are hosted at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a US-based organization 
• Flexi-time and part-time possibilities 
• Dynamic working atmosphere 
• Open culture encouraging interaction and sharing of ideas and opinions  

  Process to apply   To apply for this position please submit the following materials to contact@businessfornature.org with the subject line “Interim Advocacy Director: First name, Last name” by 15 September 2024. 

1. A CV / resume 
2. A cover letter outlining why you are suitable for the role 
3. salary expectations, keeping in mind the range provided above

  Important notes  

• Candidates who applied through LinkedIn or other channels without a cover letter will NOT be considered 
• We will only respond to candidates selected for the interview process.