Sr. Director, Community Bioeconomy Finance

Company Description

Founded in 1961, WWF works to help people and nature thrive. As a global conservation organization, WWF operates in more than 100 countries, partnering with communities, companies, and governments to protect wildlife, conserve vital habitats, and advance sustainable solutions. Grounded in science and driven by collaboration, WWF works to help nature by conserving biodiversity, supporting resilient communities, and addressing climate change. Nearly 1 million people in the United States and more than 5 million globally are WWF members.

Job Description

Major Function

The Senior Director, Community Bioeconomy Finance Strategy will design and advance durable financial solutions that support Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in and around protected and conserved areas.

This role will lead WWF’s strategy to mobilize, structure, and advise stakeholders on finance that strengthens community-led bioeconomy enterprises and the local financial institutions that sustain them. The Senior Director will operate across WWF’s Project Finance for Permanence (PfP) portfolio and other priority landscapes, particularly in the context of Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), while also advancing new models that can be scaled through PfPs and other conservation platforms.

The position combines strategy, financial innovation, institutional development, community engagement, and partnership leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Architecture

• Lead the co-design of inclusive, equitable, and fit-for-purpose community bioeconomy finance strategies and financing architectures across priority landscapes and seascapes.

• Identify where Project Finance for Permanence (PfP) initiatives can incorporate community finance mechanisms and where complementary financial approaches are required to advance durable conservation outcomes.

• Advance institutional capacity-building strategies that strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ and community organizations’ ability to govern, access, and deploy finance in support of their economic and conservation priorities.

• Pilot, evaluate, and refine innovative community finance models—including locally governed financial institutions and blended finance approaches—and translate lessons into scalable frameworks for integration within PfPs and other WWF initiatives

Strengthening Local Financial Ecosystems

A central component of this role is supporting the development, greening, and scaling of locally and domestically governed financial institutions that serve IPLCs.

• Advancing models that strengthen IP-/LC-led grant funds, VSLAs, SACCOs, credit unions, community banks, and other locally governed institutions.

• Supporting the greening of MSME lending portfolios within domestic financial institutions.

• Designing structures that enable local institutions to access concessional, blended, or catalytic capital.

• Ensuring that financial architecture enhances long-term institutional durability, inclusion, and local governance.

• Establish and lead a lean, partnership-based Community Bioeconomy Finance Learning Lab to design, test, and scale innovative financial models—including locally governed financial institutions and community-led mechanisms—that strengthen Indigenous and community conservation economies and can be integrated into PfPs and other WWF initiatives.

Partnerships and Capital Mobilization

• Build and steward relationships with Indigenous leaders, community organizations, governments, DFIs, investors, banks, NGOs, and philanthropic partners.

• Mobilize catalytic capital and philanthropic support to test and scale community finance models.

• Represent WWF in global finance and conservation forums related to community bioeconomy and equitable conservation finance.

Financial Mechanism Design and Execution

• Lead feasibility assessments, enabling conditions analyses, and financial opportunity mapping.

• Structure blended finance vehicles, catalytic capital structures, public-private partnerships, or results-based finance mechanisms aligned with country conservation strategies.

• Support negotiation and closing of financing arrangements with governments, DFIs, impact investors, foundations, and NGOs.

• Provide senior advisory support to WWF country teams and partners on financial structuring and transaction design.

Nature-Based Enterprise and Value Chain Advisory

• Support co-creation of conservation-aligned bioeconomy business models with Indigenous Peoples and communities, particularly in the context of OECMs.

• Provide strategic oversight of financial modeling (P&L, cash flow projections) for early-stage enterprises.

• Facilitate connections to domestic and international markets.

• Ensure that enterprise development is directly linked to conservation incentives and outcomes.

• Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Key Competencies:

• Blended Finance Design & Scaling: Designs and executes blended and catalytic finance structures and translates pilots into scalable models embedded within PfPs and other platforms.
• Local Financial Systems Strengthening: Builds and strengthens locally governed financial institutions (e.g., SACCOs, community funds) and connects them to sustainable capital flows.
• Capital Mobilization & Deal Execution: Originates, structures, and closes financing with governments, DFIs, investors, and partners to deliver conservation-aligned outcomes.
• Strategic Finance Architecture: Designs integrated financial strategies across landscapes, aligning community enterprise, conservation outcomes, and institutional durability.

Skills and Abilities:

• Minimum 12 years of experience in development finance, impact investment, project finance, or related fields at the intersection of conservation and community economic development.
• Advanced degree in economics, finance, economic development, management, or related field.
• Demonstrated experience strengthening or working with local financial institutions (e.g., SACCOs, community funds, credit unions, rural banks).
• Experience designing blended finance structures and/or catalytic capital mechanisms.
• Practical experience working with terrestrial or ocean-based bioeconomy enterprises in developing country contexts.
• Strong ability to work inclusively with Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
• Experience building multi-stakeholder partnerships across public, private, and philanthropic sectors.
• Strong financial modeling and analytical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in entrepreneurial and evolving institutional contexts.
• Strong program management capabilities.
• Fluency in English required; Ability to work in Spanish strongly preferred.
• Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.
• Identifies and aligns with WWF’s core values:
  • COURAGE – We demonstrate courage through our actions, we work for change where it’s needed, and we inspire people and institutions to tackle the greatest threats to nature and the future of the planet, which is our home.
  • INTEGRITY – We live the principles we call on others to meet. We act with integrity, accountability and transparency, and we rely on facts and science to guide us and to ensure that we learn and evolve.
  • RESPECT – We honor the voices and knowledge of people and communities that we serve, and we work to secure their rights to a sustainable future.
  • COLLABORATION – We deliver impact at the scale of the challenges we face through the power of collective action and innovation.

Additional Information

Please note: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.  

Relocation is not provided for this position.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) promotes equal employment opportunities for all qualified individuals regardless of age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.