Sr Program Officer, Forest Carbon Accounting – 22044

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world's leading conservation organizations, seeks a Senior Program Officer, Forest Carbon Accounting.

Overview

This position will be based in Washington, DC; other remote work locations can be considered. Works closely with the Senior Director - Forest Carbon Science and the WWF-US Forest team in the elaboration and delivery of forest carbon accounting guidance and products as needed for WWF-US forests and partner's programmatic work. Works with WWF-US Forest team members as well as with country teams and partners in the design, evaluation, elaboration and incorporation of ex-ante and ex-post forest carbon estimates as needed for programmatic work planning, proposal elaboration, and impact assessment. Contributes to building WWF-US, WWF Network country team, and partners capacities for delivery and improvement of estimates of forest-based contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Contributes to inform WWF's positions on climate change policy, carbon accounting, carbon markets, standards, and participation in international negotiations (e.g., UNFCCC - Paris Agreement articles 5&6 and the transparency framework, multilaterals engagement – GCF, GEF, etc.) and private initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical expertise in carbon accounting design, implementation, and assessment for key projects and partnerships.
• Deliver ex-ante and ex-post emissions and removal estimates as required for WWF programmatic work; including production/use of input data towards generation of activity data and emissions factors as needed (includes GIS and Remote sensing data processing as well as carbon data production and use).
• Keep up to date and be able to deliver critical assessment of proposed state of the art approaches to carbon accounting, data and analysis approaches that can be used for emissions and removal estimates.
• Keep up to date with relevant context elements as these relate to implications for use and delivery of estimates (e.g., academic research, standard development, relevant reporting frameworks and their application)
• Identify, contact and/or work in collaboration with potential partners to access/produce and deliver relevant datasets and capacities (e.g., academia, other NGOs, support agencies, national teams, etc).
• Collaborate with WWF Network teams and partners in defining/developing (research) methodological approaches to be used in forest related accounting.
• Contribute to build the capacities of WWF staff to replicate/apply the methods used.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in Forestry, Ecology, Biology, Remote Sensing, Computer Science, or any forest carbon accounting relevant field and a minimum of 6 years of professional experience required; OR an advanced degree in the afore-mentioned fields and a minimum of 3 years of professional experience required.
• Requires at least 2 years of experience in forest carbon accounting related work streams for national or project level estimates.
• Relevant experience in elaboration and delivery of carbon estimates for mitigation action design and implementation at either national, subnational (ideal) or project scales.
• General knowledge and understanding of carbon accounting frameworks and standards/guidelines: UNFCCC, IPCC 2006 guidelines (refined 2019), GFOI methodological guidance, FCPF methodological framework, ART-TREES, Gold Standard, Verra-VCS, CORSIA, etc. Including the relevance of legal and political context.
• Solid bases of statistics.
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary/multicultural environment.
• Excellent written and spoken communications skills.
• Solid capacity in processing, use and interpretation of remote sensing data for the estimation of emissions, including coding in relevant languages/statistical packages and platforms such as Google Earth Engine-Java Script, AWS, Python, R, etc. Ideally with both active (e.g., SAR, LiDAR) and passive optical data use and processing.
• Use of geospatial data processing software and online platforms and code repositories: e.g., Google Earth Engine, Amazon Web Services, Jupiter Notebooks, QGIS, ArcGIS, GitHub, Jupiter, GDAL, ERDAS, ENVI, IDL, etc.
• Understanding of use of field data: Permanent plots, forest mensuration, allometric models, forest inventory techniques.
• The candidate will need to be willing to/be able to learn from colleagues and partners, be very pro-active and self-motivated and able to design and implement solutions to problems.
• Experience in field data collection and processing, preferred.
• Fluency in at least one additional language: Spanish, French for country interactions, preferred.
• International work/research experience, preferred.
• Experience in delivery/facilitation of technical training to others, preferred.
• Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.
• Identifies and aligns with WWF's core values: Courage, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration:
  • Demonstrates courage by speaking up even when it is difficult, or unpopular.
  • Builds trust with colleagues by acting with integrity, owning mistakes, and holding oneself accountable.
  • Welcomes other points of view and ideas, recognizing and embracing different and contrary perspectives with kindness, curiosity, and encouragement.
  • Makes conscious efforts to promote cooperative practices, behaviors, and ways of working across many groups and individuals.

To Apply

• Submit cover letter and resume through our Careers Page, Requisition #22044.
• Due to the high volume of applications we are not able to respond to inquiries via phone.

As an EOE/AA employer, WWF will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or protected Veteran status. WWF values diversity and inclusion and welcomes diverse candidates to apply.

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