Conservation Data Advisor

This is a 2-year term limited position.

What We Can Achieve Together:

The Conservation Impact System Team (IST) in the Chief Conservation Office plays a critical role in supporting global conservation implementation. The IST supports conservation teams, leaders, and executives to generate and use evidence in adaptive management and reporting so that TNC can achieve its goals for biodiversity, climate, and people. The IST is comprised of the Conservation Data Team (CDT) and Conservation Strategy Team (CST) that partner closely to provide support. The CDT is responsible for conservation data capacity building, data quality, science & systems, and organizational reporting, including reporting and recommendations to executives and the global board. This position focuses on enabling Portfolio Management Priority (PMP) teams to consistently generate, trust, and use high‑quality data and evidence for adaptive management, reporting, outcome verification and decision-making through strong MEL systems, standards, and practices. The role works as a close partner with PMP conservation teams and MEL leads to align CDT support with regional MEL priorities, processes, and ways of working.

We’re Looking for You:

The Conservation Data Advisor will help the CDT provide more direct and integrated support for conservation data that meets the demand of Portfolio Management Priorities (PMPs) conservation teams and leaders to generate and use evidence to improve the quality of their decisions and their impact.

The Conservation Data Advisor will cultivate an understanding of what drives customer satisfaction (customer = TNC PMP conservation teams and leaders) and contribute to effective delivery of CDT support. The lead will serve as a cross-cultural/organizational broker and learning advocate, ensuring that the products and practices developed are shared and co-evolve, resulting in a conservation data toolkit that is common to TNC and contextually relevant.

The Conservation Data Advisor position will build and maintain strong, trusting relationships with key leadership and experts, including monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) specialists, scientists, and portfolio managers. They will collaborate with MEL staff to ensure CDT's support is aligned with their vision for conservation science data, MEL and reporting to support evidence for adaptive management in the PMP Portfolio. The Conservation Data Advisor will work with regional MEL leaders and partners to align science data support with priority needs to improve MEL data quality and adaptive management practices. The position collaborates closely with MEL leads, CDT colleagues, and CST regional counterparts to ensure aligned support across MEL and strategy processes.

The Conservation Data Advisor will provide hands-on operational, documentation, and verification support that enables PMP Teams to meet conservation data, reporting, and outcome verification requirements. This role is designed to function as a capacity multiplier. The position helps teams complete essential work that is often delayed due to limited capacity. This position would help teams move from requirements to completion by organizing information, coordinating evidence collection, strengthening documentation, improving reporting readiness, and ensuring conservation outcomes are verification-ready. This position will help deliver CDT offerings and provide technical and data science support. This role uses a learn-by-doing approach to the development, implementation, and iteration of CDT offerings to quickly learn and adjust.

Responsibilities & Scope:

Build enabling conditions for the generation and use of evidence

• Build trusting relationships with key MEL specialists and TNC leadership associated with the PMP Portfolio.
• Coordinate with MEL, CDT, and conservation teams on evidence and reporting needs.
• Work with PMP Strategy leadership to identify top priority teams needing conservation data and learning support, and focus support on them
• Support teams improve the quality and completeness of conservation data needed for reporting, outcome verification, and decision-making.
• Ensure compliance with data quality, verification, and reporting standards and support leadership to drive accountability to these standards.
• Support maintenance of conservation data systems, including relationship records, metadata, and outcome documentation.
• Identify and address data quality, documentation, and reporting readiness gaps across priority outcomes.
• Coordinate and support collection and organization of evidence, documentation, and supporting materials required for organizational reporting, learning, and verification processes.
• Track data quality improvements and support consistent implementation of data and reporting standards.

Provide targeted guidance and support focused on the generation and use of evidence

• Provide direct support to PMP teams, grounded in agile, data science, and implementation science principles and values
• Ensure support provided to teams is regionally and culturally appropriate, using a collaborative approach to design offerings and engaging local contractors as needed
• Ensure conservation data science support provided to teams is aligned with and supportive of the PMP portfolio management and reporting processes
• Assist PMP teams with conservation data and reporting processes.
• Support outcome review, verification, and submission processes, through developing and updating Data and Methods Files, compiling and organizing evidence documentation, identifying documentation gaps, and preparing verification packages.
• Support PMP teams to use conservation data, evidence, and reporting products to inform adaptive management and continuous improvement.

Grow CDT’s impact

• Measure / monitor value provided by CDT support
• Identify repeatable solutions, best practices and opportunities to scale up support models to expand CDT’s impact
• Connect teams facing similar implementation challenges and facilitate learning exchanges among teams.
• Provide feedback to CDT on opportunities to improve or enhance support models identified.
• Help identify opportunities where CDT tools or processes could better meet team needs
• Use a learn‑by‑doing approach to test, adapt, and improve CDT support over time
• Support CDT’s work in other regions by proactively recognizing potential collaboration areas, capturing and sharing learnings, and participating in cross-regional exchanges

What You’ll Bring:

• Master's degree in conservation, environmental science, natural resource management, or related field and 5 years of relevant experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience working at the intersection of conservation science, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and organizational reporting.
• Experience supporting conservation programs, portfolios, or initiatives through monitoring, evaluation, learning (MEL), performance measurement, reporting, adaptive management, or conservation planning processes.
• Experience organizing, synthesizing, and communicating scientific, technical, or programmatic information to support conservation implementation, reporting, learning, or decision-making.
• Experience improving the quality, completeness, consistency, and use of conservation, performance and monitoring data.
• Experience developing and implementing practical tools, processes, guidance, or workflows that that strengthen data quality, reporting readiness, organizational learning, and operational effectiveness.
• Experience coordinating across multiple teams, disciplines, and organizational units to achieve shared conservation objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage complex projects, identify solutions, and drive work to completion in a collaborative environment.
• Strong written, verbal, analytical, and facilitation skills, including the ability to communicate technical information to diverse audiences.
• Experience working effectively across cultures, geographic regions, and areas of expertise.
• Knowledge of and commitment to incorporating equity, diversity, inclusion, and respect into professional practice.
• Willingness to work a flexible schedule to accommodate collaboration across multiple time zones.
• English language proficiency

Desired Qualifications :

• Experience supporting outcome verification, evidence review, reporting readiness, quality assurance, or continuous improvement processes.
• Experience providing conservation data support to TNC priority portfolios, conservation strategies, or other high-priority conservation initiatives at the regional or global level.
• Experience contributing to conservation monitoring, reporting, and verification, impact measurement, performance management, or organizational reporting systems.
• Experience developing templates, guidance, workflows, or other tools that improve efficiency and consistency.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize scientific, technical, and programmatic information into actionable insights, practical recommendations, and decision-support products.
• Experience identifying process improvements and implementing solutions that improve data quality, documentation, or reporting.
• Expertise in one or more of the following: large-scale protection or management of lands/freshwater/oceans, climate conservation, environmental policy, watershed management, community-based management, or equitable conservation
• Self-driven with a bias towards action
• Excitement about working on an agile team that is continually adapting their own ways of working
• Experience with a growth mindset, creativity, and resourcefulness
• Preference for candidate to be in, or able to support, North American business hours to facilitate collaboration with PMP teams and key stakeholders.

Salary Information:

This position may be based in any country where TNC has an established entity, taking into consideration legal restrictions, such as non-national ratios and immigration processing times. For U.S. based applicants only, the starting pay range for this position is generally within the range of $83,000 - 124,200 for annual base salary and is based on location, qualifications, specific skills, and experience. This range only applies to candidates whose country of employment is the USA. For all other applicants, pay ranges will be in local currency, the pay range will be based on the local labor market, and not tied to the above pay range. Your geographic location will be confirmed during the recruitment and used to determine your actual pay range. Additionally, for all applicants, actual pay will fall within a range based on a variety of factors including, for example, the candidate’s qualifications, specific skills, and experience.

The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to equal employment opportunity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization is a priority, and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.

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TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to applyhelp@tnc.org with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.