Director, Great Plains Science

World Wildlife Fund

Director overseeing the Great Plains Science Program at WWF. Ensuring robust science drives grassland conservation and wildlife restoration strategies.

Posted 7/7/2026full-timeRemote • Montana • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $131,800 - $189,500 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Manages a high performing, strong and united team of 2-4 staff members, facilitating good communication, collaboration and sharing of lessons learned.
Provides leadership to the Great Plains team to implement program priorities, including designing research workstreams with staff, tracking progress and evaluating results.
Ensures team members have clear work plans and expectations.
Works with Science team and others (e.g. Sustainable Ranching Initiative, Great Plains Wildlife Initiative, Wildlife Team, Freshwater, etc.) in developing, implementing and regularly evaluating strategies, priorities, budgets, and timelines.
Ensures results are delivered on time and within budgetary guidelines.
Develop, build, and maintain partnerships with leaders in the science community within the government, non-profits, ranching community, Native Nations, and the private sector to support the goals of the GP Program including improving management of grasslands, protecting land from conversion, restoring native grasslands and native wildlife.
Coaches the Science team on partnership development.
Coordinates with Great Plains team, WWF Policy & Government Affairs, and external partners to support science needs for advocacy of policies at numerous levels of government that promote grassland conservation, wildlife restoration, and incentivize sustainable grazing and grassland management.
Serves as part of GP’s leadership team to drive integration of programs within the GP (including identifying emerging opportunities, improving existing conservation projects and troubleshooting and resolving conservation challenges), address regular field office issues, and build team cohesiveness.
In coordination with WWF Development, Private Sector Engagement, and GP team, the Director will lead development and conceptual framework for proposals.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Master’s degree and minimum 10 years' experience, in a related field is required.
PhD contributes towards experience.
Knowledge of, and experience working in, the Great Plains ecoregion
Expert scientific knowledge of the drivers, threats, and opportunities in grassland conservation.
Scientific leadership on grassland conversion, ecological and social indicators, climate mitigation and biodiversity accounting, and wildlife restoration.
Deep familiarity of ecological/conservation principles, including proven experience with monitoring the ecological response of restoration and conservation efforts.
Knowledge of community led conservation principles and understanding of social science that can be applied to measure conservation outcomes.
Deep familiarity of ecological/conservation principles at ecoregional scale, history, and trends.
Excellent knowledge of national and regional conservation arena, key players, and policies.
Ability to think strategically and incorporate input from a variety of stakeholders, collaborators, and fellow staff members.
Experience managing complex projects, and many projects at once, including managing staff, budgets, workplans, timelines, and tracking metrics.
Strong fundraising skills, including excellent skills in writing/editing proposals and reports, setting goals and objectives, and developing budgets and timelines.
Demonstrated success synthesizing and packaging big ideas for individual donors, government grants, foundation, and corporate support.
Experience supervising staff, including developing work plans, providing feedback and managing performance, and providing leadership to a team.
Experience developing and maintaining partnerships with a variety of science partners including, universities, non-profits, private entities, government agencies, tribal colleges, and funders.
Excellent communication skills, both one-on-one and in a group setting.
Ability to take initiative, make decisions, facilitate and inspire the work of others.
Experience managing external consultants/contractors.
Willingness to travel as necessary, which may be up to 5-10%.
Knowledge and experience working with Native nations in the Northern Great Plains preferred.
Cross-cultural experience appreciated.
Willingness and ability to think outside the box, be innovative, and work with a wide range of conservation practitioners.
Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Paid Relocation: Domestic

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Grassland ConservationEcological PrinciplesMonitoring Ecological ResponseProposal Writing and EditingBudget DevelopmentClimate MitigationBiodiversity AccountingSocial Science ApplicationTracking MetricsStrategic Thinking

Soft Skills

Excellent Communication SkillsInitiative and Decision-MakingFacilitation and InspirationCross-Cultural ExperienceCommitment to Inclusion

Certifications

Master’s DegreePhD Preferred