Country Director, United States

Tilt Collective•Madison, MS

3h•Hybrid

About The Position

This role is being managed by our search partner, ACRE. The Country Director, United States will lead and execute Tilt Collective’s US program, aiming to create one of the most impactful US philanthropic programs advancing balanced food systems. The role involves refining Tilt’s US strategy, overseeing grantmaking, and managing a portfolio of grantees. Additionally, the position will focus on strengthening the US NGO movement and garnering support for the issue and for Tilt among existing and new donors. This will be done with significant autonomy, while drawing on the expertise of Tilt’s global team.

Requirements

Extensive and demonstrable professional experience in climate and health, with experience addressing food systems. This could be in a government, private sector, civil society, or philanthropic context, with a preference for relevant experience in philanthropy, advocacy, and/or civil society settings.
Experience in designing high-level strategies and translating them to implementation, with an acute focus on impact.
Strong networking and interpersonal skills to build connections with partners and grantees.
Experience engaging donors, ideally in a philanthropic setting.
Strong civil society, donor and business stakeholder network in a relevant national context, and a solid reputation in the field.
Ability to work across different disciplines or fields of food system transition (environment, health, farming, animal rights, social development, food security, consumers).
Adaptable and able to work effectively in a dynamic and changing landscape.
Commitment to building an inclusive and collaborative working culture.
Ability to work within a virtual, remote team, as well as in-person when required.
Experience in budget management.

Nice To Haves

Curious – Tilt exists to address a dynamic, complex, multi-faceted problem. Success requires a hunger to continuously learn, including into areas that lie beyond one’s existing knowledge base and comfort zone.
Decisive – We will often have to make decisions at speed with imperfect information. Success in the role requires an ability to do this, while being humble enough to recognize the assumptions we are making.
Ambitious – We want to make a significant impact on a difficult issue. Success in the role requires belief that we can do this.
Entrepreneurial – We exist to advance an issue further than it has gone before. Success in the role requires creativity, persistence and proactively identifying opportunities. It may involve challenging common assumptions.
Empathetic – Everything we do relies on trust and partnership with a small group of individuals. Success in the role requires an ability to understand their diverse perspectives and needs. It also requires sometimes communicating difficult decisions (e.g. to potential grantees).

Responsibilities

Refine Tilt’s US strategy to identify the most critical levers of change, the most effective approaches Tilt should prioritize, and the ecosystem required to achieve it. The strategy should cover all three of Tilt’s pillars of work: policy change, private sector, and narrative change.
Articulate Tilt’s US strategy clearly and concisely, in a way that can be understood by donors and other audiences.
Proactive outreach to different parts of the food systems field – learning from the environment, health, consumer, farmer, and other constituencies to develop an effective strategy.
Work with the Tilt Collective leadership team, other country/region leads, and thematic program leads to identify cross-learning and opportunities that span various markets.
Scope a range of potential US grantees and initiatives across a range of fields (e.g. health, economy, food security, climate, animal advocacy, water). This may include helping to fund new initiatives or organizations.
Prioritize grantmaking considering a range of factors. These include, but are not limited to: the potential impact of the grants over time, different budget scenarios, and the needs of the ecosystem.
Manage the process to secure grant approvals. This will require engaging with Tilt’s Leadership Team and Grants function to ensure grant proposals meet organizational requirements.
Provide ongoing support and strategic guidance to grantees during the grant execution period.
Provide regular reporting on grant-making strategy and grantees – in collaboration with Tilt Collective Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation team.
Establish and ensure the execution of directed networks, in which coordination mechanisms are in place to align grantee efforts towards common goals.
Identify gaps in the ecosystem and seek to fill them, potentially through grantmaking.
Learn from other leaders in the field (e.g. philanthropic initiatives, civil society groups, private sector, and policy groups) to inform the development of the ecosystem. This includes keeping abreast of relevant developments in the political economy, technology, science, trade, and other areas as relevant.
Engage with philanthropy and grant-making institutions to support Tilt’s fundraising, in coordination with Tilt’s fundraising team.
Help to build the salience for Tilt’s US program and for Tilt as a delivery partner among donors.
Collaborate with Tilt’s fundraising team to create donor-facing briefings and other materials about Tilt’s US program as required.
Represent Tilt Collective externally as required.