Director, Forest Management Program Development and Innovation (Remote - Worldwide w/ significant overlap with U.S. business hours)

Job Title:                 Director, Forest Management Program Development and Innovation

Location:                Remote - Worldwide (with significant overlap with US business hours)

Reports To:            Senior Director, Forest Carbon Program Development and Innovation

Verra is a global leader helping to tackle the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges. As a mission-driven non-profit organization, Verra is committed to helping reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods, and protect natural resources across the private and public sectors. We support climate action and sustainable development with standards, tools, and programs that credibly, transparently, and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up projects that verifiably deliver these benefits. We work in any arena where we see a need for clear standards, a role for market-based mechanisms, and an opportunity to generate significant environmental and social value. Verra manages a portfolio of programs, including the:

• Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) – the world’s leading carbon crediting program, with more than 2,000 registered projects in 80 countries, and accounting for two-thirds of all voluntary carbon market transaction volume.
• Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta) – a flexible framework for assessing and reporting on the sustainable development benefits of project-based activities.
• Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards – to identify projects that simultaneously address climate change, support local communities and smallholders, and conserve biodiversity.
• Plastic Waste Reduction Program – to enable robust impact assessment of new or scaled-up waste recovery and recycling projects around the globe.

Verra seeks a leader for our forest management activities in the global north, particularly those related to afforestation, reforestation and revegetation, and improved forest management.

A day with Verra’s Program Development & Innovation Department (PDID) might include…

• Meeting with key stakeholders to learn more about opportunities for growing Verra’s role in forest carbon in North America.
• Collaborating with your team members to develop a new dynamic performance benchmark methodology for natural climate disturbance.
• Participating in a working group to explore potential changes to how market leakage is quantified for forest carbon projects in the VCS Program.

Specific functions you will be responsible for leading…

• Ensuring Verra scales our forest management carbon emission reduction and removal activities and grows such activities to meet opportunities for more significant climate change mitigation and sustainable development contributions.
• For VCS Program methodologies:
  • Overseeing the revision of our improved forest management methodologies, the development of additional methodologies, and the potential phasing out of certain existing methodologies as new ones are published.
  • Managing the development of future iterations of Verra’s new VM0047 Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation methodology and the ABACUS label.
  • Coordinating the assessment of forest management-related methodology idea notes and related approvals.
• Guiding initiatives, including supporting the advance of digital measurement, reporting, and verification (DMRV) in Verra’s forest management activities, exploration of leakage for forest carbon projects, and other updates for the forthcoming Version 5 of the VCS Program (in collaboration with the technology solutions, audit and accreditation, sustainable development, and project review teams).
• Managing appropriate stakeholder engagement, communications, and training in all areas of forest management innovation.
• Managing 2+ team members across multiple time zones.
• Representing Verra at industry-related events as a thought leader, to include leading panel discussions and giving presentations.

You bring with you…

• 12+ years overall experience, with at least 8 years focused on the forest carbon space, preferably in afforestation, reforestation and revegetation and improved forest management.

• Deep understanding of climate change mitigation, GHG accounting, forest reference level estimation, MRV design, forest carbon methodologies, standards, and crediting programs.

• Excellent team and project management skills; including outstanding organizational skills.

• Superior writing ability.

• Standards experience would be a plus.

• Ability to prioritize and work under tight deadlines.

• Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining strong working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; fluency in English is essential.

In this role, you will grow and expand your expertise by…

• Helping to advance forest carbon in the voluntary carbon market, particularly in the global north.
• Gaining exposure to systems, projects, and partners leading the way in forest conservation driven by climate finance.
• Working with a dynamic and passionate team of professionals across different Verra teams with a variety of skills and expertise.
• Having exposure to a range of professional development options within Verra.

You will join an inclusive team...

• Of leading experts in the natural climate solutions space.
• From diverse locations and backgrounds, including carbon market experts, forest carbon innovations and REDD+, climate negotiators, researchers, and more.
• Committed to driving finance at scale to projects and programs that advance climate action and sustainable development through high-quality standards and programs.

Compensation at Verra

Verra pays employees competitively in the market to help us attract and retain top talent. Pay is based on several factors, including market location, and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We recognize employees who go beyond expected performance with salary increases and/or promotions, but the bar for earning those rewards is high.

For this position, the salary range is between $107.899 - $155,621 USD. The compensation band is based on a U.S. base salary range and shares the min and max base salary for the position. This position is eligible for remote work.

The final compensation offered will be contingent upon role, level, and location. Our Talent team can share the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

We will recognize employees who go beyond expected performance with salary increases and/or promotions, but the bar for earning those rewards is high.

Salary is one component of Verra’s total compensation package which also includes:

• Health, vision and dental care, and life insurance;

• Verra contributions to each employee’s retirement plan;

• Verra contributions as required by national labor laws in countries where staff are located;

• Paid Time Off (PTO), comprising 22-30 days plus ten floating holidays, sabbatical after five years of service, and other leave allowances; and

• Funds to support professional development.

How to Apply

To apply, please send us the following:

• Cover letter (not to exceed one page) + Resume/CV (not to exceed two pages)

*Please add app.bamboohr.com to your contact list to ensure you receive emails from us*

Verra provides equal opportunity for all job applicants and employees and is committed to providing a work environment free of discrimination. We conduct our recruitment and hiring without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, genetics, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, and local law.

Keywords

forest carbonprogram developmentinnovationafforestationreforestationrevegetationforest managementclimate change mitigationGHG accountingMRV designforest carbon methodologiesstandardscrediting programs