Senior Director, Climate Finance and Carbon Markets - 25045

Overview

Major Function World Wildlife Fund-United States (WWF), one of the world’s leading environment organizations, seeks a Senior Director to lead its work on innovative financial structures for climate finance and carbon markets.  The Climate Finance team works with interested partners to mobilize long-term sustainable funding including carbon credits, direct corporate investment, philanthropic grants, public finance, guarantees, and other innovative financing mechanisms. Through its Climate finance products, WWF aims to use its global reach, landscape knowledge, and diverse partnerships to showcase high-quality Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that mitigate climate change.  WWF’s approach to NbS addresses climate mitigation, the threats and drivers of nature loss, while incorporating transparent governance and equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms for the communities in the focus geographies.

The initial program that the Senior Director would lead is structuring the finance and deal origination for the WWF Planet Portfolio. Planet Portfolio is a joint program of the WWF Climate and Forest teams. – The objective of Planet Portfolio is to originate and implement NbS interventions for both private and public actors that will demonstrate and set the bar for high-integrity climate mitigation, positive nature impacts and community benefit-sharing. Operationally the Planet Portfolio is split into two main functions or pillars: (1) a landscape origination and support role (housed in the Forest team) to collaboratively develop and deliver NbS portfolios; and (2) a deal origination/finance role (housed in the Climate team) that develops integrated financial models and appropriate transaction models to fund projects in each participating landscape. Planet Portfolio is currently piloting this approach in five tropical forest geographies: Yucatan, Mexico; Madre de Dios, Peru; Atlantic Forest, Brazil; Northern Highlands/Diana, Madagascar; and the Central Annamites, Viet Nam.

Beyond the work on Planet Portfolio, the person in this role will develop a vision for expanding climate and nature finance models with other WWF goal teams and ecosystem types (e.g., freshwater, oceans, agricultural lands), and collaborate within Climate, Private Sector Engagement, and other teams to generate demonstration deals and strategies that drive towards climate and nature market transformation. Reporting Structure:     The Sr. Director will report to the Senior Vice President – Climate and will directly manage two professionals responsible for climate finance deal origination, financial modeling and carbon credit pricing.  For the Planet Portfolio initiative, the Sr. Director will have a secondary reporting line to the Planet Portfolio Program Lead.

 

Position Length:  Full-time, Regular

FLSA Status:            Exempt

 

Salary:              The expected compensation range for this position is $139,800 to $200,900. 

 

Please note: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship.  In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.  

 

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities of the position include:

• Lead the deal origination/finance pillar of Planet Portfolio with a specific near-term focus on the successful execution/closing of corporate engagement transactions in selected landscapes.
• Evaluate the potential for WWF to implement investment opportunities that create climate mitigation through the generation of a financial return and/or the issuance of carbon credits.
• Lead due diligence on high potential opportunities and assist with structuring deal terms for chosen interventions. Manage the two directors (lead on climate finance and lead on landscape finance).
• Oversee and contribute to the development of climate finance proposals to private and public sector investors together with relevant staff from WWF resource mobilization teams.
• Build the Climate team’s capability to identify, and structure carbon market projects as well as other public, private, and blended sources of funding for NbS interventions through novel deal structures.
• Oversee development of standardized templates and integrated landscape cost models for individual NbS interventions and (where needed) integrate cost and financial models with natural capital valuation, return on investment and impact metrics.
• Prepare and present detailed investment documentation for internal and external stakeholders as needed, including pitch decks, financial models and partnership structures.
• Represent the Climat