Director for European Union Policy

Representation and Networking:  Responsible for promoting CI's policy priorities to key decision makers and centers of influence in Europe and to develop appropriate collaborations to ensure success. The Director will have the unique responsibility of establishing CI's presence and credibility in Brussels.

Strategic Engagement:  Lead CI's strategic engagement on conservation in the EU's Overseas Entities with particular regard to biodiversity and adaptation to climate change.

Serve as a focal point able to support existing or envisaged CI field activities in hotspots with EU Overseas Territories, likes the Caribbean, the Guiana Shield, the Western Indian Ocean islands and New Caledonia.

Policy Engagement:  Lead CI's involvement in EU policy dialogues to inform and influence key EU policies that have a global impact on the maintenance of healthy ecosystems, biodiversity conservation and human welfare. Policy areas of focus will include, but are not limited to climate change, EU overseas development aid and the economics of biodiversity.

The Director will also be responsible for collaborating with the rest of CI's policy team working on related international conventions, US policies and any relevant international fora to ensure that the organization's approach to EU policies is part of a coherent strategy on each topic.

Education, experience, skills and abilities: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Graduate degree in public policy, development studies, international relations/development studies or natural resource management and minimum 5-8 years experience in a policy context.
• Extensive knowledge of the European Union's policy framework and context, specifically those EU policies that have a global impact.
• Established track record of policy work within the EU context, influencing the European Commission, Parliament and Council to achieve policy objectives.
• Extensive contacts within the EU policy community.
• Excellent understanding of conservation, development and political issues in Europe.
• Excellent understanding of the implications of the EU's influence through development cooperation agreement, or presence through its overseas territories, in some important hotspots and HBWAs of the world.
• Strong knowledge of international policies related to biodiversity, climate change (including UNFCCC and CBD), and natural resource management.
• Proven ability to fundraise and network, developing and managing partnerships across a range of stakeholders

• Proven ability to synthesize and articulate critical policy information to help inform and shape the policy framework under which the global conservation agenda should be placed and communicate about the issues to peers, colleagues and general audiences.
• Excellent track record in developing, directing and managing policy work, including mobilizing and investing resources strategically.
• Strong writing and oral skills.
• Proven interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills 
• Expert understanding of current global scale trends and practices in major disciplines of global change and biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management, economic development and policy, agriculture and trade, environment and health, and natural resource management. 
• Knowledge of policy applied to field level
• Knowledge and interest for biodiversity conservation

Language Skills

• Fluent French and English and knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese or German a plus.

• Regular European travel will be required with additional international travel on occasion.
• Must be able to work without direct supervision as supervisor is located at CI headquarters in Arlington, VA.