Director, Nature Based Solutions

AstraZeneca • Gaithersburg, MD

1d • $146,583 - $193,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Would you like to contribute to AZ Forest's mission to combat climate change, restore biodiversity, and enhance ecological and community resilience? As a Director of Nature Based solutions, you will play a pivotal role in delivering AZ Forest's commitment to plant and maintain 200 million trees by 2030. Your work will involve restoring over 100,000 hectares of land and supporting over 80,000 livelihoods. Collaborate with external partners as an AZ Forest project adviser and be an integral part of a small internal team. Your contributions will be crucial to the success of this flagship program and our Climate and Nature strategies.

Requirements

• A Bachelor's degree in a scientific, environmental sustainability or engineering subject area.
• Project Management experience, able to demonstrate delivery of carbon projects, ideally in international locations.
• Strong communicator with the ability to influence others and experience of working with a variety of high-level internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of forestry, agroforestry, or applied geography including landscape restoration projects.
• Strong understanding of voluntary carbon standards including VERRA VCS and Gold Standard.
• Ability to analyse complex information, extract key findings and present in a clear and concise manner.
• Skilled in providing relevant and timely advice and recommendations.
• Experience of the application of carbon projects within a broader, corporate strategy.
• Experience of working in cross-functional team in corporate environment.

Nice To Haves

• A deep understanding of the applications of nature restoration projects and their climate, biodiversity and socio-economic potential.
• Experience of working on carbon or forestry projects on-the-ground in international locations.
• Knowledge of Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) projects.
• Awareness of carbon market trends and initiatives such as SBTI, ICVCM, and VCMI.
• Good appreciation of policy and legislation related to land-based carbon projects.

Responsibilities

• Work with partners to track and manage the delivery of projects against agreed project plans and alignment with the Circular Bio economy Alliance principles.
• Results focused in setting strategies, project milestones and key deliverables in order to deliver projects on time in full
• Advise on emerging risks and challenges from projects, and work with partners on mitigating actions.
• Provide ground-truthing of project reports and mitigating actions, through direct observations of project progress, while building positive relationships with business partners.
• Advise on technical issues and undertake research and consultation with experts as required.
• Work with local AZ team on external customer engagement, connecting implementation partners with government and other external collaborators.
• Enable insights and standard methodology to be constructively shared across projects.
• Act as eyes and ears on the ground where needed to monitor project progress especially following audit reports or for-cause intervention.
• Assess and advise on biodiversity and socio-economic plans and research.
• Provide technical expertise on project development opportunities, including sourcing and evaluating projects in concept and feasibility stages.
• In working to deliver these goals, actively demonstrate, role model, and reinforce AstraZeneca’s values and behaviours.
• Please note this role will involve international travel to project locations approximately 25% of your time. Locations may include parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Benefits

• Recognizing the importance of individualized flexibility, our ways of working allow employees to balance personal and work commitments while ensuring we continue to create a strong culture of collaboration and teamwork by engaging face-to-face in our offices 3 days a week.
• Benefits offered included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.

What This Job Offers

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