Managing Director, Sustainable Debt

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

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, seeks a Managing Director, Sustainable Debt. Situated within WWF’s Nature Finance and Investment (NFI) team, the Managing Director (MD), Sustainable Debt will lead a team that designs and oversees our global strategy to mobilize financing from debt markets for WWF’s nature and conservation priorities. The strategy focuses on opportunities at both the sovereign and corporate levels. The MD will build and lead a team responsible for identifying high impact transaction opportunities, managing WWF’s engagement from origination through close, and strengthening partnerships with sovereign, corporate, financial institutions, philanthropic and multilateral stakeholders. The role will span debt conversions, sustainability linked-loans and related sustainable debt instruments with a focus on ensuring that WWF’s technical strategic and conservation contributions are credible, high quality, and align with organizational priorities.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Direction and Implementation: Responsible for originating, structuring, and scaling WWF's global sustainable debt portfolio to mobilize capital for conservation outcomes. Accountable for transaction origination, structuring, negotiation, execution, and portfolio oversight of WWF-supported sustainable debt initiatives. Identifies and develops high-priority transaction opportunities to mobilize debt markets funding for conservation through mechanisms such as debt conversions, sustainability-linked bonds, sustainability-linked loans, among others in close collaboration with other WWF US teams and Country Offices across our global network.
• Corporate Debt Strategy Development: Builds WWF’s reputation and capability as a provider of science-based KPIs for new corporate debt instruments to drive funding towards high-priority sustainability priorities. Develops and cultivates strategic relationships with private sector firms in key economic sectors related to WWF conservation priorities. Manages relationships with key stakeholders to potential transactions including banks, investors, credit enhancement providers, lawyers, etc.
• Execution: Manages and supports the parallel execution of multiple large debt transactions for WWF under risky, complex, and often-changing political and economic circumstances (in coordination with relevant teams).
• Management: Oversees a small and growing team of professionals within NFI, sets priorities, including a pipeline of potential transaction opportunities. Manages the Sustainable Debt Pillar’s budget and builds the capacity of both WWF US and Country Office staff in support of NFI’s goal of significant capital mobilization to conservation finance.
• External Engagement: Represents WWF in public- and market-facing engagements, sustainable debt fora in the US and abroad. Represents WWF within the Debt for Nature Coalition and works with its members to expand scope and scale of our collective impact.

• Collaboration: Ensures alignment and delivery of integrated conservation finance initiatives, including integration of KPIs into sustainable debt transactions, by aligning those KPIs with WWF’s organizational priorities, which requires collaboration across different programmatic and Country Office teams.
• Resource Mobilization: Leads efforts both to raise donor funds and source investor capital for deal development capacity and specific debt transactions.

• Other Duties: Performs other duties as assigned, consistent with the roles and responsibilities of the position.

Qualifications

Key Competencies

• Executive Presence & Influence: Represent WWF with diplomacy, credibility, and authority while engaging sovereign governments, corporate leaders, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, investors, and other senior stakeholders.

• Strategic Thinking & Execution: Identify high-impact opportunities, assess complex trade-offs, exercise sound judgment, and deliver results in dynamic, fast-moving environments.

• Strategic Partnership Building: Build trusted, long-term relationships and align diverse stakeholders across governments, financial institutions, MDBs, DFIs, private sector actors, and civil society organizations around shared conservation and financing goals.

• Global Collaboration: Work effectively across cultures, geographies, and a highly-matrixed global organization, including coordination with other WWF teams, WWF Country Offices and international partners.

• People Leadership & Team Development: Leads, develops, and empowers high-performing, multidisciplinary, and multicultural teams while fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous growth.

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• Communication: Communicates complex financial and strategic concepts clearly and persuasively through written, verbal, and presentation skills with diverse executive and technical audiences.

Skills and Abilities

• Advanced degree in Finance preferred; advanced degrees in Economics, Business Administration, International Relations, Political Science, or related disciplines will also be considered. Experience in private capital, asset management, capital markets, or related financial sectors is highly desirable.
• Minimum of 15 years of experience in finance, international finance, debt capital markets, development finance institutions or equivalent institutions.
• Strong knowledge of evolving innovative financial tools & nature finance instruments (e.g. debt-for-nature swaps, sustainability-linked bonds, blended finance structures, etc.) with demonstrated ability to negotiate complex financial and legal arrangements that represent new ground for WWF and require excellent judgment.
• Outstanding skills, expertise, and track record in building alliances for change across multiple institutions and partners, including sovereign and corporate partners and a broad range of public and private financial institutions, such as private sector banks, multilateral development banks, bilateral development finance institutions, insurers, and credit enhancement providers.
• Demonstrated success securing and mobilizing financial resources from public and private sources, including philanthropic, institutional, and investor partners, to advance strategic conservation or sustainable finance initiatives.
• A network of potential partners and colleagues from within government, financial, international development communities, corporate, and/or civil society organizations to co-design solutions and initiatives for the future.
• Ability to understand and influence systemic change. Demonstrated results in changing practices and creating new models to improve/achieve environmental sustainability through either public or private sector financial mechanisms.
• Experience leading, managing, and developing high-performing teams in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural environments, including significant experience working in and with the global south.
• Commitment to achieving global environmental sustainability goals, with prior international experience essential; fundraising and resource mobilization experience a plus.
• Fluency in English is required, as well as strong written, verbal, and presentation skills; Spanish and/or additional languages are highly desirable but not required.
• Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to approximately 25% of the time.
• 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: International and domestic relocation assistance may be offered based on available budget.

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 may be considered 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.