Chief of Staff

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities. To achieve our mission, we partner with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains and in many of our most critically important natural landscapes.

Our alliance spans 70 countries and includes farmers and forest communities, companies, governments, civil society, and millions of individuals. Together we work to protect forests  and biodiversity, take action on climate, and promote the rights and improve the livelihoods of rural people.

As an international nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience in sustainability transformation, we understand that the social and economic well-being of rural communities is tightly connected to ecosystem health. This knowledge has shaped our rigorous programs to advance sustainable land-use and commodity production.

At the Rainforest Alliance we combat climate change, protect forests and biodiversity, promote human rights, and improve livelihoods. The enormity of the social and environmental challenges we are facing requires working together in a broad alliance. This is why we bring farmers, forest communities, companies, and consumers together to change the way the world produces, sources, and consumes.

Why

To protect nature and improve lives it’s becoming increasingly urgent that we approach the way we use our land and produce food and other products in more sustainable ways. For this to succeed we need to fundamentally change the way that businesses operate and source, and the choices we all make as consumers.

How

Our growing global alliance aims to transform our relationship with our natural resources and each other, to create a better future for people and nature together.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.

Position summary:

At the Rainforest Alliance we are looking for a Chief of Staff to support the Chief Executive Officer and the global executive leadership team. With our CEO driving a bold 2030 strategy to multiply Rainforest Alliance’s impact, we need an experienced leader to help steer strategic organisation-wide initiatives that are owned by the CEO, a leader to facilitate effective decision-making and to run day-to-day operations of the office of the CEO.

The candidate will help drive efficiency and impact across the organization by connecting the dots and removing silos, prioritize and support decision making effectively. We are looking for a reliable advisor to the CEO, acting at the strategic level, with executive presence that can handle critical strategic matters. Someone who can think ‘bigger picture’ and is able to operationalize strategy into concrete short-term results, activating the organisation. Our Chief of Staff will play a critical role in keeping our executive leadership team on track and closely connected to our people.

Responsibilities: 

• The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate;

• Drives and complete significant strategic and operational agendas that are owned by the CEO;

• Channels and prioritises key requests for CEO engagement, internally and externally;

• Leads CEO briefings for external and internal engagements;

• Leads the enterprise performance dashboard and provides quarterly reports on progress to the leadership team. Working directly with the CEO and his team to prepare data-driven briefings and updates of strategic priorities and management reviews;

• Oversees and facilitates strategic Leadership Team meetings, including occasional multi-day retreats, driving well-informed decisions and following up and through on action items;

• Drives content development for all internal communications from the CEO and the other C-suite leaders, handles and leads execution of Board announcements and other activities in collaboration with the Communications team and Legal team;

• Understands voice and perspective of the CEO and serves as the linking pin between the CEO and the organization by ensuring his accessibility, visibility and by bringing critical information to the notice of the CEO;

• Collaborates with executive team members to resolve and prioritize business strategies;

• Acts as a sounding board to the CEO by having it’s ears ‘to the ground’. Brings in relevant advisory experts from across the organization;

• Supports CEO’s drive to ensure organization’s adherence to mission, values and policies;

• Steps up as project manager for special projects when needed.

Qualifications: 

• Master/MBA degree in business, sustainability or a related field or a BA;

• 10+ years of experience in consulting/analyst roles and a track record of successful performance;

• 7+ years of project management experience;

• Business savvy – quickly understands the organizational sensitivities and ecosystem to be effective;

• Ability to lead in an effective and trustworthy way;

• Values integrity and discretion and is able to keep confidential information;

• Strong interpersonal skills to build relationships at different levels in the organization and handle multiple priorities in a time sensitive manner;

• Experience as a sparring partner to the CEO is a plus;

• A demonstrated ability to influence without authority;

• Proven track record to collaborate with multiple and diverse group of (executive level) stakeholders and creating alignment independently;

• Excellent communication skills in English, speaking and creative writing. Other language skills is a plus;

• Excellent social skills with ability to interact culturally, linguistically, and respectfully with diverse internal and external individuals and;

• Ability to travel 10-20% per year, nationally and internationally.

Job Level: 1

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Deadline:  January 31, 2023

Notes:

Only candidates authorized to work in the Global South will be considered. These countries include Asia, Africa or LATAM. Only candidates from these countries will be considered.

If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: [email removed - click apply for more details]