Wildlife Conservation Manager

POSITION SUMMARY:  The Wildlife Conservation Manager (WCM) plans, prioritizes, and implements management activities to protect wildlife on Catalina Island. WCM supervises small and large-scale wildlife management and monitoring projects including supervising wildlife biologists, technicians and interns. Wildlife biologist guides monitoring and management of rare and endemic wildlife species on Santa Catalina Island. She/he guides, and participates as necessary in introduced species control, habitat restoration, and reintroductions. The position is also expected to interact with staff at all levels within the organization and partner organizations, including donors, land owners, contractors, volunteers, and the community.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Wildlife Program Manager will perform any combination of the duties listed below as needed or assigned:

• Leads development of wildlife conservation strategy for Catalina Island Conservancy in collaboration with Senior Director of Conservation.
• Serves as a main point of contact with universities and other institutions on developing partnerships for conservation of wildlife on Catalina. Maintains a vibrant professional network of contacts.
• Trains crews in fieldwork and joins team when needed. Manages Wildlife Biologists, Technicians, and interns within wildlife conservation program. Meet regularly with employees to ensure that all focus on priorities.
• Effectively communicate progress and results through professional organizations and publications to CIC staff, general public, and internal/external media.
• Formulates and reports annual goals.
• Monitors and reports on island wildlife conservation.
• Identifies and pursues funding opportunities from foundations and government agencies to finance monitoring and wildlife management projects.
• Supports and provides consultation to Senior Director of Conservation in delivery of organizational priorities.
• Ensures that programs follow legal requirements and ensures that safety is followed across programs.
• Collaborate with Conservation Operations Manager on performing essential administrative functions including, but not limited to, the following:  develop and manage operating; purchase services and materials; maintain and care for equipment and tools; implement safety policy and procedures for assigned areas. 
• Works with development and communications on writing articles and envisioning donor events.
• Recommend appropriate resource management practices to improve the ability of the Conservancy to accomplish its mission.
• Updates and enhances knowledge by continuing education for professional growth, i.e., attends relevant conferences, seminars and certification programs.
• Performs administrative functions with accounting team including, but not limited to, the following: develop and manage operating and capital budgets; purchase services and materials; maintain and care for equipment and tools; maintain payroll and human resource records; conduct performance evaluations for assigned employees; implement safety policy and procedures for assigned areas.
• Performs other duties as needed or assigned by Senior Director of Conservation.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:

• Professional knowledge of Southern California native wildlife and natural history, as well as recent trends in conservation practice.
• Experience designing and managing projects including budgets, grant writing, and supervising personnel.
• Experience in implementing wildlife projects including managing work crews, including planning, scheduling, contracting, hiring, supervision and evaluation.
• Ability to manage, analyze and prepare technical reports or papers on wildlife monitoring data including using Microsoft Access, Excel, and statistical software like Program R.
• Ability to adapt and respond to unexpected ecological (e.g. fire, new invasions) or programmatic (e.g. changes in priorities or funding) circumstances while still progressing towards core program objectives.
• Ability to work effectively on interdisciplinary team balancing conservation, education and recreation goals.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to function and thrive within complex, multi-goal (conservation, education, recreation) organization with diverse professional staff.
• Ability to guide the of use standard wildlife sampling methods for project-specific or island-wide monitoring,
• Excellent written and oral communication skills. Demonstrated skills in budget management and proposal/grant/report writing.
• Demonstrated skills in budget management and proposal/grant/report writing.
• Ability to schedule, coordinate, organize and manage diverse activities in a dependable manner.