Chief of Party, USAID/AREP, Value-chain Opportunities for Indigenous Conservation Enterprises (VOICE)

About Palladium
Palladium is a global leader dedicated to designing, developing, and delivering positive impact on lives and livelihoods worldwide. At the heart of our mission is promoting inclusive and sustainable development, ensuring that our solutions address global challenges while safeguarding the future. We build sustainable, transformative institutions and market systems that create lasting change. Operating in over 90 countries, our diverse team of 4,000 professionals shares a commitment to creating a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient world.

This Proposal Opportunity
The USAID Amazon Regional Environment Program (AREP) Value-chain Opportunities for Indigenous Conservation Enterprises (VOICE) Activity is a 5-year activity that aims to improve indigenous and Maroon peoples' capacities across the Amazon region to pursue inclusive community development involving commercial activities that are environmentally and economically sustainable as well as respectful to indigenous rights and culture. This activity will promote regional conservation of natural resources in the Amazon through forest protection, sustainable practices, strengthened local governance, and associated activities.

The primary components of this activity are as follows:

1. Support targeted Indigenous and/or the Maroons in the Amazon to keep the forest alive through conservation enterprises.

2. Improve governance and technical capacities of Indigenous and/or Maroons to enhance and strengthen activities that promote forest conservation and sustainability in their territories, solutions, and fostering economic growth.

Position Summary  
The Chief of Party (COP) will be ultimately responsible for the efficient and effective oversight of all elements of the activity. Their primary responsibilities are to provide overall leadership, management, and general technical direction of the program, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and actors, and a focus on achieving the desired results. This individual must identify issues and risks related to implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate adjustments. This individual must act as the key liaison with USAID and all other counterparts, implementing partners and stakeholders involved with the program. The position requires significant coordination skills, broad general and technical knowledge, an ability to cope with multiple interests and challenges, experience in developing countries, and skills to ensure coherence and consistency in the face of urgent deadlines. The candidate must be willing to travel 30-50% of the year and it preferably located in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru or Suriname.   

*This is an anticipated project, and all positions are contingent upon award from USAID. *   

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

Oversee and guide strategic, technical, programmatic, financial, and managerial aspects of large-scale project activities.Lead thought leadership efforts in biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, climate change, community-based governance, nature-based solutions, and private sector engagement.Act as the primary liaison for USAID, the Governments of Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Suriname, and key stakeholders, particularly indigenous communities and federations.Foster broad and effective stakeholder engagement and manage relationships with public and private partners essential for the long-term success of the Activity in the Amazonian region.Achieve project objectives, outcomes, and deliverables while adhering to financial, operational, and USAID reporting standards.Supervise and support a core team of technical and administrative professionals, collaborating with the US-based management team for efficient project operations.Assess and address project operations to proactively identify and resolve challenges.

Key Competencies Required:

A master’s degree in forestry, environmental governance, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, nature-based solutions, economic growth, or related fields.At least 10 years of leadership experience in large size (>$10 million) international development programs, with expertise in strategic planning, management, supervision, and budgeting.Demonstrated experience in forest conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and natural resource management in the Amazon region.Technical experience in one or more of the following: developing and piloting the nature-based solutions in restoring forests, mangroves, or other ecosystems, advancing climate-smart agriculture, developing market-led conservation enterprises, developing payment for ecosystem services, fostering market linkages to scale conservation enterprise incomes, improving access to climate financing, and improving forest governance capacity and incentives.Demonstrated experience working with indigenous groups and/or the Maroons in the Amazon region to promote culturally-aligned ecosystem management.Strong knowledge of USAID contract management, policies, procedures, regulations, and reporting requirements.Prior experience with USAID projects and a solid understanding of USAID’s development priorities is preferred.Proven success in building partnerships with the private sector, local communities, civil society organizations, and government institutions.Exceptional ability to develop and communicate a unified vision across diverse partners and lead multi-disciplinary teams.Proven commitment to gender equity and social inclusion. Demonstrated experience in inclusive development working with women, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ+, and/or youth populations.Strong communication skills, both written and interpersonal.Fluency in English with strong oral and written proficiency.Fluency in Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Dutch preferred. 

Brazilian, Ecuadorean, Guyanese, Surinamese nationals with relevant experience are encouraged to apply.  

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.    

Should you require any adjustments or accommodation to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.  

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.