Conservation Science Manager - South Africa

Location: GVI Limpopo Hub, Karongwe Private Game Reserve, South Africa

Type of role: Permanent (minimum 1 year contract)

Start date: September 2022

Speciality: Research, analyse and evaluate terrestrial ecosystem data focused on big cats, elephants, rhinos, cheetahs, buffalos, vultures and wild dogs. Drive sustainable development and community engagement impact projects by partnering with local stakeholders.

*Please note: To be eligible for this position, you need to:

• Be a South African citizen/resident or have a minimum 2 year visa in place

• Have a South African drivers licence (Professional Driving Permit is an advantage)

About the role

GVI develops and leads long-term conservation approaches and programs, to build local capacity, provide high-quality data on wildlife trends, and protect and restore important habitats. Our South Africa Karongwe “hub” (field station) is located in the spectacular Karongwe Private Game Reserve, overlooking the majestic Drakensberg mountain range in the Limpopo Province. In partnership with the Karongwe landowners and other local partners, our work focuses on monitoring biodiversity and focus species, to inform reserve management decisions.

The goal of the Conservation Science Manager is to deliver ethical and impactful wildlife programs, manage the hub's research and impact reporting and drive sustainable development and community engagement impact projects. The role reports to the hub’s Program Manager and works closely with GVI’s global Conservation Impact Director. You will engage with our participants, ensure the hub has robust data collection and reporting systems in place, liaise with university lecturers/professors around the hub’s research agenda, and write reports to communicate project results.

About you

You are passionate about tackling wildlife conservation issues and believe that how we measure and manage environmental impact is critical to ensuring the protection and preservation of our planet.

You are a self-starter who rolls up your sleeves to get things done and enjoys tackling a wide variety of tasks as part of your day-to-day. You are looking for an opportunity that will allow you to engage, and build relationships, with like-minded people from all over the globe.

What you will do

• Lead and support field staff, volunteers and interns to deliver fieldwork and project activities successfully
• Serve as a role model by demonstrating a strong work ethic and respect for different perspectives and cultures
• Day-to-day liaising with partners to build and maintain relationships, ensuring projects are locally-led and have a maximum positive impact
• Write up project documents and impact frameworks that outline project goals, short and long-term outcomes, expected outputs, proposed activities and required resources
• Develop a monitoring, research and learning strategy; and manage daily data collection
• Deliver participant training workshops and oversee participants’ participation in project work and/or research supervision
• Conduct project evaluations and write up impact reports including results and lessons learnt for each project
• Develop content that champions local voices and thought pieces on important conservation issues, create social media content and drive fundraising initiatives
• Provide information and data relating to research, impact and ethics to Marketing, Sales, Finance and Impact teams in Central Support
• Own overall impact (carbon footprint, wildlife and community) of the Karongwe hub

GVI is a platform for personal growth and transformation. Innovation and entrepreneurship are not only valued at GVI, they are essential to our organisation's success. In addition to providing training and mentorship, we empower our teams to learn by doing and get involved in small, ad hoc teams that often involve people from across the organisation.

What you will need

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or PhD in biology, ecology, natural resources, wildlife management, or equivalent. Relevant experience will be considered in place of a degree.
• First aid qualifications are also advantageous.
• Fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Competencies:

• Highly competent in data analysis and graphing in R, Python, QGIS or ArcGIS, or other programming languages.
• Ability to work with large data sets and produce scientific documents across diverse wildlife disciplines. Evidence of scientific scholarship (e.g. peer-reviewed publications).
• Organised and able to set up systems for managing data, processes and information.
• Excellent English communication skills (oral and written), with speaking ability in Sepedi and/or XiTsonga or Afrikaans being an advantage.

Desired experience:

• Conservation work at remote field sites in different regions
• Conducting ecological surveys focused on savannah ecosystems
• Working with national government agencies, NGOs, local communities, terrestrial scientists and academics, working with students or volunteers advantageous
• Managing research programs and developing wildlife monitoring protocols
• Managing sustainable development and community engagement projects in a similar environment.
• Impact management, or monitoring and evaluation
• Training others or teaching and communicating technical information to non-technical audiences

The successful applicant must comply with GVI’s COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination Policy and Employment Code of Conduct.

What we offer

Package includes:

• Monthly salary
• Accommodation
• Food
• Visa costs (if applicable)
• Emergency medical and travel insurance

In addition, GVI has the following perks:

• Training fund
• Social allowance
• Leadership development
• In-house counselling support
• Growth opportunities across our 17 locations!

About us

GVI is an international multi-award-winning social enterprise on a mission to build a global network of people united by their passion to make a difference. We run programs in 13 countries worldwide aligned to the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

GVI is a platform for personal growth, and our staff have the ability to develop themselves across teams, departments, and even locations! We value passion, authenticity, entrepreneurship and innovation and treat all of our stakeholders with respect and compassion above everything else.

You can find out more about the types of work we do, and who we are as an organization here.

To apply

Please submit your CV/Resume and a cover letter that provides responses to the following questions:

• What drew you to this role, and which part are you most excited about?
• Tell us about what wildlife research topics you are experienced or interested in?
• What do you think are a few key challenges and opportunities related to strengthening wildlife conservation in South Africa?

Please note: We will do our utmost to respond to all applicants, however, given the large volume of applications we receive, this isn't always possible. If you do not hear back from us within three-four weeks, please take it that on this occasion your application was unsuccessful.