Conservation and Environmental advocacy

Position: Campaign Manager
Organization: Canadian Parks And Wilderness Society - British Columbia
Location: Remote and optional hybrid (Vancouver office), BC-based. If you choose to work from home, you must have a suitable workspace that offers a degree of privacy for meetings.

Position Overview

The Lands & Freshwater Program Conservation Manager brings project management, drive, political analysis and advocacy experience to CPAWS-BC’s lands & freshwater conservation campaigns. This role includes campaign planning and strategy, partnership building, fundraising, and project management.

This role is a fit for you if you can adapt strategies on the fly, are comfortable working with both government officials and community partners, and are passionate about creating conditions for positive environmental policy change that will secure a healthy future for people and ecosystems. You’ll need to come prepared with a working knowledge of the political landscape in BC and the fundamentals of nature conservation and stewardship.

If you’ve got a knack for driving change through strategies that win, we’d love to hear from you!

Position Details

Position type: Full-time, permanent (funding dependent)

Location: Remote and optional hybrid (Vancouver office), BC-based. If you choose to work from home, you must have a suitable workspace that offers a degree of privacy for meetings.

This position is preferred to be located within a campaign or key event area such as northern BC, the South Okanagan, Victoria or the Lower Mainland.

Work hours: Daily work hours are flexible, provided they overlap with the core work hours of 9am-3pm and abide by CPAWS-BC 4-day/32-hour work week, Monday through Thursday.

Compensation: $75,000 annually, plus comprehensive health and dental benefits (after 3 months) and 4% RRSP matching (after 1 year).

Posting date: January 29, 2025

Closing deadline for applications: We intend to review applications on a rolling basis, we encourage interested applicants to apply early and by no later than February 18, 2025.

Start date: As soon as possible. We hope to have someone in place by mid-April 2025 at the latest.

Responsibilities & Duties

STRATEGIC PLANNING & CAMPAIGN DELIVERY

• Lead the development of lands & freshwater conservation campaign strategies with creative tactics to achieve conservation campaign goals on specific campaigns or files.
• Provide political analysis to inform decision-making and campaign tactics.
• Secure impactful media in key moments and act as a spokesperson on specific landscape conservation campaigns.
• Monitor and evaluate campaign performance, adjusting strategies and resources as needed to respond to shifting priorities and political opportunities.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS & POLICY ADVOCACY

• Deliver presentations and represent CPAWS-BC in forums, meetings and events, advocating for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem protection.
• Support positive relationships with key staff and elected officials within governments at all levels.
• Use the latest information on environmental issues, conservation science, engagement theory, and political intel to inform CPAWS-BC’s goals, strategies and advocacy.

COLLABORATION & PARTNERSHIP

• Build and sustain partnerships with Indigenous governments and organizations where there is a shared interest and alignment with CPAWS-BC’s mission and mandate.
• Coordinate and facilitate coalitions of stakeholders, ENGOs, industry and key interest groups with shared interests in nature conservation and protected areas management.
• Take on additional tasks as assigned by the Conservation and Executive Directors.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & HUMAN RESOURCES

• Support the land & freshwater conservation team including coaching and mentorship, and conduct performance reviews for direct reports.
• Draft and oversee project budgets, identify funding gaps and opportunities and lead fundraising efforts for specific terrestrial initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with funding deliverables and reporting requirements.
• Provide advice and support to CPAWS-BC leadership.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

EDUCATION

• No minimum education is required. CPAWS-BC recognizes the value of both formal education and lived experiences.
• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in environmental science, natural resource management, political science, public policy or a related field would be an asset.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in conservation or environmental advocacy, including team and/or project management.
• Demonstrated success in campaign strategy development and execution, including leading government and public relations.
• A track record of securing impactful media coverage and creating public awareness of complex issues.
• Strong knowledge of key conservation challenges and opportunities in BC.
• Experience working with or for First Nations.
• Experience securing funding through grants and maintaining positive funder relations.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Ability to recognize and adapt plans based on changing circumstances.
• Ability to work independently, launch projects and drive them forward.
• Exceptional facilitation skills and positive experience building partnerships.
• Proven ability to manage budgets.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a collaborative approach to leadership.
• Ability to receive and implement feedback.
• Bring a positive attitude.

Core & Behavioural Competencies

CORE COMPETENCIES

These are the essential skills and attributes that we expect all those in manager-level positions to bring to their teams and work at CPAWS-BC

• Decision quality: Provide and act on analysis of a shifting political landscape and dynamic, small-team workplace to guide campaigns and workplans to meet organizational goals and targets.
• Balances stakeholders: Effectively build formal and informal relationships with partners outside the organization. Balances the needs of multiple organizational partners and CPAWS-BC’s mandate to find and advance shared goals together.
• Action-oriented: Effectively prioritize work and take on challenges to advance campaign goals. Identify new opportunities to push conservation work forward. Respond with an appropriate level of urgency and energy to challenges and obstacles.
• Manages complexity: Make sense of complex information and react appropriately, including changing priorities or tactics, and adjusting campaign plan, if needed. Work to uncover the root causes of difficult problems and recommend a path forward.
• Financial acumen: Ensure financial sustainability to support campaign goals and organizational capacity.

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

These are the essential skills and attributes that we expect all staff members to bring to the workplace at CPAWS-BC

• Collaborates: Build partnerships and work collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
• Values differences: Seek to understand different perspectives and cultures; contribute to a work climate where differences are valued and supported; apply others’ diverse experiences, staples, backgrounds and perspectives to get results
• Demonstrates self-awareness: Use a combination of feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and weaknesses; willing to admit mistakes and gain insights from experiences
• Self-development: Show personal commitment and take action to continuously improve; accept assignments that broaden capabilities; learn from new experiences and others as well as structured learning; make the most of available development resources
• Instills trust: Gain the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.

About CPAWS-BC

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – British Columbia (CPAWS-BC) is part of one of Canada’s oldest non-profit conservation groups. We have been defending lands and waters in BC since 1978 and are dedicated to keeping BC’s natural environment thriving forever. Nature is BC’s best hope.

CPAWS-BC works on the unceded territories of Indigenous Peoples. We recognize that all people have the right to a healthy environment. Identity, culture, and survival are often deeply rooted in people’s connection to the land and ocean. However, not all people have equal access to and decision-making powers over the use of land and ocean. As a conservation organization, we have a responsibility to uphold the values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion of marginalized voices and perspectives.

We are a small, dedicated team working hard to protect land and waters in every corner of BC and deep into the ocean. Join us and help safeguard homes for grizzly bears, huge colonies of seabirds, threatened grasslands, endangered orca habitats, and vital stretches of boreal forest, keeping British Columbia wild forever.

Our office is located on the shared, unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

The Benefits of Being on Our Team

• A 4-day, 32-hour work week (Monday-Thursday)
• Flexible work schedule outside of core organizational work hours (9am-3pm)
• Vacation entitlement starting at 3 weeks, increasing to 4 weeks after 5 years, plus an additional paid break over the December holidays.
• 10 paid sick days annually to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
• An extended health, vision and dental benefits package, which includes life insurance and long-term disability.
• A completely free and confidential employee and family assistance program

Application Process

To apply, please submit one combined PDF document that includes a one-page cover letter and your resume to hiring@cpawsbc.org with the subject line: Conservation Manager

We encourage you to use your cover letter to tell us how your background and experience align with this role and share any information about yourself that you think is important for your application. Please mention you saw this at GoodWork.ca.

You will receive an auto-response informing you that your application has been received.

CPAWS-BC is committed to expanding a diverse, equitable, and inclusive conservation movement. We are invested in creating an organization representative of a wide variety of backgrounds, identities, cultural ways of knowing and life experiences, and welcome applications from Indigenous, Black, and racialized people, and those who face systemic barriers to employment.

We know research shows that society has conditioned communities of colour, trans and gender non-conforming people, immigrants, people with disabilities, and other marginalized candidates to more frequently not apply to a job because they don’t feel that they meet all the qualifications listed even if they are qualified. If you meet some of the requirements and you are passionate about our mission, we encourage you to apply and look forward to learning more about you.

Our Commitment to Decolonization

CPAWS-BC works on the stolen lands and waters of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples have stewarded their territories since time immemorial and continue to do so today.

The conservation movement in Canada was founded on white supremacy and actively sought to erase Indigenous Peoples. One way was the forcible removal of Indigenous Peoples from their lands and waters, and the attempted severing from their culture. The whiteness of conservation remains in both leadership and values, which continues to perpetuate systemic oppression and erasure of Indigenous Peoples. But Indigenous Peoples have resisted and endured. As a conservation organization, we have a responsibility to decolonize our work and to ensure that we are supporting Indigenous stewardship, resilience, and resurgence.

The staff and Board at CPAWS-BC recognize that decolonization is an ongoing process that requires all of us to be actively involved and responsible. CPAWS-BC is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within every aspect of our work to protect lands, inland waters, and ocean.