Chief Programmes Officer

Location: UK (London or Bristol) or any of Blue Ventures’ global offices – hybrid working, with regular partner visits and extensive international travel (circa ⅓ time)

Duration: Permanent, full time

Closing date for applications: 7th August 2022

Start date: ASAP

Remuneration: Competitive based on experience

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer, based in UK

Direct reports: Regional Director for Asia, Regional Director for Africa, Head of Advocacy, Head of Evidence and Learning, Head of Monitoring and Evaluation

We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities

Blue Ventures is a marine conservation organization that puts people first. We support coastal fishers in remote and rural communities to rebuild fisheries, restore ocean life and build lasting pathways to prosperity. Our work began two decades ago in Madagascar’s remote coastal communities and is growing globally. Across a dozen countries, we’re partnering with traditional fishers and community organizations to design, scale, strengthen and sustain fisheries management and conservation at the community level. We bring partners together in networks to advocate for reform, and share tools and best practices to support fishing communities across the globe.

Summary job description

We’re recruiting for an experienced conservation leader and strategist to direct Blue Ventures’ global conservation team. This is a pivotal leadership role, responsible for ensuring that Blue Ventures delivers impact at scale for coastal communities and our ocean.

This new senior leadership position is responsible for developing and leading Blue Ventures’ global conservation strategy and vision, ensuring it is informed and inspired by evidence and learning from the field and sites worldwide to deliver transformative change for coastal communities. The Chief Programmes Officer will lead conservation and technical input into our annual planning and goal setting processes, marrying our global conservation strategy with the needs and opportunities of our team and partner communities. The role will support teams to evolve and implement regional and programmatic strategies through close community, colleague and partner engagement.

Setting the example for our culture and values, the Chief Programmes Officer will lead a dynamic, multi-disciplinary, field-focused team supporting communities and partner organisations across a growing global portfolio of sites and initiatives. The role will also manage our specialist leaders of monitoring and evaluation (M&E), evidence and learning, and advocacy.

Driving continuous improvement in operational effectiveness, the role will be responsible for creating a positive professional environment that nurtures and develops the talents of our team, providing leadership, support and mentoring to colleagues worldwide.

The Chief Programmes Officer will be the primary representative of Blue Ventures’ conservation, programmatic, technical and advocacy work globally, and the go-to person for senior government, donor, private sector and civil society engagements. The successful candidate will be expected to proactively pursue and manage these relationships to further Blue Ventures’ mission. This includes fundraising, public speaking and networking at all levels from local communities to Government ministries and international fora, and facilitating and accompanying field visits where required.

The Chief Programmes Officer will be accountable for financial, people and administrative resources, ensuring that our programmes are effective, appropriately resourced and financially sustainable. The role will support our culture, protect our values, and enable our conservation team to thrive. This includes creating a positive atmosphere and a steadfast commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion for employees across all country offices and at all levels within the organisation.

We are seeking to appoint a highly motivated, pragmatic individual who is resourceful and strategic in managing a diverse, multi-cultural team to deliver a broad portfolio of conservation interventions, while understanding and responding to the needs and interests of our partner communities and stakeholders.

The Chief Programmes Officer will demonstrate in-depth technical experience at the intersection of community-based conservation and development, along with outstanding management and leadership skills. The successful candidate will have a strong background in managing and overseeing complex, interdisciplinary and multi-year initiatives, including piloting and testing new approaches, building robust monitoring, evaluation and learning systems, and responding to changing circumstances with pragmatic agility. They will have significant operational and field experience in the delivery of large-scale international development and/or conservation programmes in complex contexts and across a variety of countries, regions and contexts in the Global South. They will have experience leading and empowering senior managers to design, execute and measure impactful community-based programmes in challenging settings.

We are looking for a leader who is open to new ideas, uses a framework of strategic opportunism to recognise and react to change to accelerate impact, and who approaches work with creativity and a spirit of innovation and ambition. They should be committed to building a culture of evidence-based decision-making across programmatic and technical functions, and understand the importance of integrating learning processes into our work and operations.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate experience of recruiting, building and developing individuals and results-driven, learning-focussed teams, and leading and inspiring teams through periods of rapid growth and change while maintaining pace, focus and morale.

The Chief Programmes Officer will serve as a member of the global senior management team and will report to the Founder and CEO, whose other direct reports include the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of People and Culture, and Blue Ventures’ communications and development teams. This is a full time role based in any of Blue Ventures’ global offices with regular overseas travel to work with colleagues, field teams and partners in Africa, the western Indian Ocean, Latin America and the Caribbean, and southeast Asia.

To download the full job description please click here.