Colorado River Basin Senior Manager

World Resources Institute

20h • Remote

About The Position

The Cities4Forests (C4F) and Natural Infrastructure Initiative team is seeking a full-time Colorado River Basin Senior Manager. This Senior Manager will engage with various partners, including utilities, government agencies, land managers, tribal entities, corporations, and other key stakeholders. The goal is to advance an emerging forest and nature-based solutions project pipeline across the Upper Colorado River Basin. This will set the stage for additional funding and conservation finance transactions. You will partner closely with Blue Forest. The partnership will involve evaluating and advancing project maturity. It will also lead and support analysis and engagement to further project readiness. Additionally, the role will explore the appropriateness of different financial mechanisms, including revolving loan funds and associated cash flows. You will also develop outreach and communication materials. Furthermore, it will help manage an emerging and growing geographic focus of the portfolio. The Senior Manager will co-lead utility engagement and project and portfolio management. You will report to the Director and will collaborate across the US Cities4Forests team.

Requirements

• Master's degree in forestry, hydrology, environmental science or management, business, economics, management, or related field
• 10+ years of relevant experience in NBS, forestry, climate resilience, water, or sustainable finance
• Background in utility and beneficiary engagement related to conservation, water, and/or disaster risk reduction.
• Experience or familiarity with the CO River Basin and ideally key stakeholders
• Experience managing projects and portfolios
• Willingness to travel approximately 25% of the time including trips across the Upper Colorado River Basin and Washington, D.C.
• Demonstrated fundraising success
• Experience helping develop project implementation budgeting.
• Strong communication skills both orally and in writing.
• Calm in fast-moving environments
• Creative, collaborative, and solutions-oriented
• Comfortable working in a remote-setting in close collaboration with the broader team and partners.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with project finance, infrastructure investing, or credit analysis
• Familiarity with municipal finance, water utilities, or ratepayer-backed financing models
• Experience with the deployment of capital or funding across public and/or private lands
• Experience working with institutional investors, asset managers, or development finance institutions
• Knowledge of environmental markets or ecosystem service valuation (water, carbon, resilience)

Responsibilities

• Lead water and energy utility engagement to align risk reduction and infrastructure protection with forest and NBS project benefits.
• Lead corporate engagement connecting volumetric and water quality benefits delivered by projects with corporate watershed and replenishment targets.
• Work with land managers and conservation partners to understand and advance enabling conditions to move projects towards implementation.
• Oversee business case development to promote a compelling rationale for beneficiary contributions.
• Support the structuring and negotiation of funding agreements, repayment mechanisms, and performance-based contracts
• Develop strategies to move pilot projects to scale.
• Write memos and present findings to internal and external stakeholders
• Manage the portfolio with Blue Forest and other important partners
• Develop and deliver workplans for individual projects and the portfolio, including Ensure deliverables are of high quality and on track and adaptively manage
• Track progress and co-lead internal and external reporting
• Support the Director and senior leadership with proposal development and fundraising strategy implementation to support both project implementation and organizational budgets for the WRI-Blue Forest partnership
• Develop funding memoranda, pitch materials, and financial narratives for funders and investors
• Produce external-facing materials (project and fundraising decks, project and portfolio summaries)
• Contribute to thought leadership on basin management, conservation finance, scaling approaches, and resilience investment models
• Represent WRI in meetings, workshops, and external convenings
• Contribute to WRI relevant outputs (briefs, blogs, tools, and presentations)

Benefits

• Access to the WRI global network with the opportunity to exchange with and learn from passionate colleagues working at the cutting edge of their fields across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US
• The chance to have an impact and to develop your career within a mission driven organization with access to varied learning and training opportunities
• A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• The opportunity to join and get involved in different working groups and affinity groups to shape the future of WRI
• Commitment to hybrid working model with flexible working hours
• Generous leave days that increase with tenure.
• Medical Coverage, Dental Coverage, Vision Coverage, retirement plan access and employer contribution.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior