Restoration Program Manager – Enabling Conditions

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL•Arlington, VA

About The Position

Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, biodiversity, and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. POSITION SUMMARY - This position is based in Arlington-VA, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Kenya, South Africa, or Madagascar Conservation International is seeking a highly organized, strategic, and results-oriented Restoration Program Manager – Enabling Conditions to support a global initiative advancing ecosystem restoration across more than 20 countries. This role contributes to the Global Coordination Project of the Global Environment Facility’s Ecosystem Restoration Integrated Program (ERIP), a multicountry initiative focused on addressing the key policy, financial, institutional, and governance barriers to scaling restoration. This initiative brings together governments, international organizations, and partners to strengthen the enabling conditions for restoration, including policies, financing mechanisms, institutional capacity, and cross-sector coordination needed to scale restoration efforts for climate, biodiversity, and people. The Manager will coordinate the day-to-day implementation of strategic partnerships and technical workstreams, supporting restoration planning, financing, diagnostic tools, and capacity-building efforts. Reporting to the Senior Director, Restoration Partnerships, this role ensures high-quality delivery, strong partner coordination, and alignment across teams and institutions. The ideal candidate is a proactive and confident program manager with demonstrated experience working on enabling conditions for restoration, natural resource governance, or environmental policy and finance. They will bring strong project management skills, the ability to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder environments, and a track record of driving delivery across global programs. This role requires both strategic thinking and a hands-on approach, including contributing to global convenings and key program moments as part of a small, collaborative team.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in environmental policy, international development, natural resource management, or a related field.
4 to 6 years of relevant experience in project management, partnerships, or policy-related roles in the environment, climate, or development sectors.
Demonstrated experience supporting multi-partner initiatives involving international organizations (e.g., governments, NGOs, UN agencies).
Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, timelines, and deliverables simultaneously.
Experience coordinating or facilitating multi-stakeholder processes, including workshops, dialogues, or regional exchanges, particularly on policy, planning, or financing topics.
Ability to synthesize technical information and discussions into clear insights, including identifying key messages, trends, and opportunities with relevance to enabling conditions for restoration (e.g., policy, finance, governance).
Proven ability to work effectively across teams and institutions with diplomacy, sound judgment, and cultural awareness.
Experience engaging with government stakeholders and diverse partners in a global context.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking and presentation skills.
High level of organization and attention to detail.
Demonstrated ability and willingness to contribute to both strategic and operational aspects of program delivery, including supporting complex events and convenings.
Demonstrated experience working on enabling conditions for ecosystem restoration, natural resource management, or climate action, such as policy frameworks, financing mechanisms, institutional strengthening, or governance processes
Fluency in English (written and spoken).
Professional proficiency in French or Portuguese.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (Master’s or equivalent) in a relevant field.
Experience working on ecosystem restoration, natural climate solutions, or natural resource governance with a focus on enabling conditions (policy, finance, or institutional frameworks).
Familiarity with restoration enabling conditions, policy processes, or restoration planning and financing.
Experience working with GEF or other multilateral environmental funding mechanisms.
Familiarity with Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and related global processes.
Experience contributing to knowledge products, synthesis reports, or analytical outputs.
Proficiency in French strongly preferred.
Additional languages (e.g., Portuguese or Spanish) are an asset.

Responsibilities

Manage the day-to-day implementation of high-impact partnerships and agreements supporting restoration, enabling conditions (e.g., policy, finance, governance, and institutional strengthening).
Track deliverables, timelines, and milestones, ensuring high-quality and timely delivery.
Maintain strong working relationships with partners and proactively address challenges and bottlenecks.
Support the development and onboarding of new collaborations, as relevant.
Coordinate delivery of key program workstreams, including enabling conditions diagnostics, policy, and financing support,capacity building, and tools that strengthen restoration planning and investment readiness.
Ensure alignment, consistency, and quality across partners and countries with a focus on addressing systemic barriers to restoration at national and subnational levels.
Work collaboratively to resolve implementation challenges in a proactive and solutions-oriented manner.
Support the coordination and facilitation of regional dialogues on restoration enabling conditions, focused on identifying and addressing key policy, financial, and institutional barriers, ensuring strong participation from countries and partners involved in the Ecosystem Restoration Integrated Program (ERIP).
Work closely with partners to translate diagnostic findings into meaningful discussions on key challenges, bottlenecks, and opportunities.
Support the consolidation and synthesis of insights emerging from diagnostics and dialogues.
Contribute to the development of knowledge products, briefs, and presentations, helping translate technical outputs into actionable insights.
Support delivery of capacity-building activities and multistakeholder engagement processes.
Help identify opportunities to amplify learning through relevant regional and global networks.
Represent the program in technical discussions, workshops, and global events, including on topics related to restoration enabling conditions, policy, and finance, as appropriate and in coordination with the Senior Director
Ensure external engagement and messaging are aligned with internal teams and organizational positioning.
Support the dissemination of program learnings, including through country partners and stakeholders.
Support tracking of progress against indicators and targets related to strengthening enabling conditions for restoration in collaboration with the M&E team.
Ensure timely collection of inputs from partners.
Contribute to high-quality program reporting and documentation.
Work closely with the Senior Director and broader team to ensure alignment across workstreams.
Collaborate effectively across internal teams and partners.
Contribute to a team culture of collaboration, accountability, and shared delivery.
Support the planning and delivery of global knowledge exchange activities, focused on advancing restoration enabling conditions across countries and partners, including major program events and convenings.
Contribute to both content and logistics, ensuring smooth and high-quality execution.
Take a proactive, hands-on approach to support key program moments as part of a small, global team.
Other duties as assigned by supervisor.