Southern California Program Manager

California Trout is a 41-year old conservation focused non-profit with the mission to protect and restore wild trout, steelhead, salmon and their waters throughout California. We are a "highly rated" organization according to Charity Navigator (a leading non-profit evaluation service) with a strong financial foundation. CalTrout is headquartered in San Francisco and has five regional conservation offices around the state: Arcata, Mt Shasta, South Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Lakes, and Southern California.

Position Overview:

This individual will be responsible for leading CalTrout's steelhead recovery efforts along the southern California coast. A number of conservation projects are already funded and underway. The primary projects include:

1. leading our steelhead habitat restoration efforts in key watersheds including the coastal tributaries near the border of San Diego and Orange counties and the Santa Clara watershed,
2. playing a key role in the legal and regulatory processes to improve habitat, fish passage, and flows in both the Santa Ynez and Santa Clara Rivers, and
3. representing CalTrout in the effort to remove the Matilija Dam, improve fish passage, and restore habitat in the Ventura River watershed.

While these projects are well-funded today, we expect this individual to be able to define a vision, grow the program and help ensure its financial sustainability. This individual will be tasked not only with executing and overseeing all projects, but with the financial administration and program reporting (with central finance and development support) associated with large agency, corporate, and family foundation grants. In addition, this individual should be proven at identifying and securing additional funding to support future projects and regional growth. This is a great opportunity for someone to further define the region's long-term vision, project roadmaps and build out plans (including staffing).

Responsibilities:

This individual is expected to work closely with:

1. Other CalTrout regional program managers in order to share best practices and develop coordinated species conservation and recovery programs and policy.
2. Key university partners including UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara to ensure that our steelhead initiatives have a strong foundation in science
3. CalTrout's advocacy effort and lobbyist in Sacramento to help influence legislation and regulatory policy required for success
4. State and Federal agencies along with other NGOs to coordinate conservation and recovery planning / implementation
5. CalTrout's Marketing, Development and Finance teams to raise funds, build donor support and meet fiscal year goals while building a long-term sustainable program

This individual will play a major role in cultivating agencies and foundations, and is comfortable engaging with our Board, major donors, and prospects in order to build support.

Qualifications:

• Master's or PhD degree in biology, fisheries, ecology, hydrology, environmental science/studies or related field preferred with ideally 10 years of related work experience.
• Demonstrated ability to establish a vision, define and grow a broadly-scoped conservation program (not just projects)
• Experienced in the application of the Endangered Species Act in both policy and law
• Knowledgeable of, if not experienced in, California's anadromous fish and their primary challenges / issues
• Experience in complex legal proceedings and challenges
• Experience in securing large agency, corporate and family foundation grants, managing and administering such grants, and cultivating relationships with funders
• Outstanding team player with the interpersonal skills to build strong internal and external relationships
• Strong leadership skills to manage and influence numerous and diverse stakeholders often with competing agendas
• Proven experience developing, directing, and managing projects, staff and budget.
• Availability to travel, primarily throughout California (valid CA driver's license)
• Experience doing field work including biological and ecological assessments (stream and snorkel surveys, habitat/stream monitoring, flow measurements, etc.

To Apply:

Please submit cover letter, resume, and writing sample by e-mail or fax to:

Jeff Thompson
Executive Director

No phone calls please.