Director, Small Cats Program

Position title: Director, Small Cats Program

Reports to: Executive Director, Conservation Action        

Panthera Division: Conservation Action 

Position Type: Full-Time

The Organization

Panthera, founded in 2006, is devoted exclusively to the conservation of wild cats and their ecosystems. Utilizing the expertise of the world’s premier cat biologists, Panthera develops and implements global conservation strategies for the most imperiled large cats – tigers, lions, jaguars, snow leopards, cheetahs, pumas and leopards – as well as all species of small cat. Representing the most comprehensive effort of its kind, Panthera works in partnership with local and international NGOs, scientific institutions, local communities and governments around the globe to achieve its mission. For more on Panthera, visit www.panthera.org.

Summary

*There is flexibility surrounding the location of this position. More information will be provided during the interview process. There are a number of suitable Duty Stations, but critically, the job will entail extensive international travel (potentially up to 75% of the time for someone based outside small cats’ range), as the job is essentially networking, setting-up and managing partnerships.

The Director, Small Cats Program, provides the overall leadership and managerial oversight of this flagship species conservation initiative. Uniquely designed to address the conservation needs of 33 species of small cats, ranging from the diminutive rusty-spotted cat to the >20-kg Eurasian lynx, Panthera’s Small Cats Program combines our significant institutional footprint with that of a growing network of strategic conservation partners known as the Small Cat Conservation Alliance (SCCA). This highly collaborative approach allows Panthera to work at an unprecedented scale and to play a crucial role in building diverse, highly impactful conservation programs for all 33 species of small cats.

Underpinning the Program, Panthera’s Small Cats Conservation Strategy seeks to balance the requirement to better understand the ecology and conservation needs of this understudied guild with immediate opportunities to better protect and monitor key populations throughout the Americas, Africa and Eurasia. From an internal perspective, this position works closely with Panthera’s other Species Program Directors and a combination of Regional and Country Directors to ensure the organisation takes every opportunity to gather data and better protect small cats within our overall programmatic footprint.

Principal Responsibilities & Duties:

• Lead the development and coordination of the Small Cat Conservation Alliance (SCCA). This unique group of organizations is committed to the collaborative conservation of small cats around the world and currently includes, Panthera, the Ayers Wild Cat Conservation Trust, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (MbZSCF), IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group, Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation (SWCCF) and Segre Foundation;
• Organize annual meetings that strengthen and diversify the Small Cat Conservation Alliance. Actively manage SCCA-related partnership contracts, grant making opportunities and other institutional agreements that support the small cat conservation mission;
• Develop institutional partnerships with intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, CITES, etc, in order to secure greater support for small cat conservation priorities;
• Develop partnerships with Zoos and Academic Institutions to raise the conservation profile of small cats in both public and scientific fora;
• Work closely with Panthera’s Business Development team and their counterparts in the SCCA to develop comprehensive fundraising strategies for the small cat conservation initiatives around the world. This will include significant contributions to written project proposals, associated budgets, and donor reports.
• Spend 30-45% of time traveling internationally.

Required Qualifications & Experience:

• 10-years management experience in the conservation sector supported by formal qualifications (MSc or higher) in conservation science or a related field;
• Proven ability to design, build and manage new conservation programs in a range of geopolitical settings;
• Significant experience working with high-level government staff and policy-makers;
• Exceptional project planning and management skills;
• Proven ability to effectively manage a range of interdisciplinary teams, both large and small;
• Significant experience developing and managing large project budgets (i.e., >$1M);
• Excellent communication, facilitation and diplomacy skills;
• Confident public speaker and able to represent Panthera’s programs on the world stage;
• Proven ability to support major fundraising efforts (i.e., multi-million-dollar propositions) with respect to individual donors, charitable foundations and government agencies;
• Willingness to travel regularly and work outside conventional hours/environments;
• Language skills are an advantage.