Managing Director, WWF Impact

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

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, seeks a Managing Director, WWF Impact.

Major Function

WWF Impact is a dedicated investment function effort that sits within the Nature Finance and Investment (NFI) team. The Managing Director will oversee all of WWF Impact’s activities, which include initiating and managing partnerships with external sustainable investment asset managers and managing an evolving portfolio of direct equity investments into start-ups that further our conservation mission. The Managing Director will manage a highly skilled team of conservation investment professionals in pursuit of successful high impact partnerships and private investment opportunities. The Managing Director will serve on the leadership team of the broader NFI team and will have primary responsibility for managing WWF Impact’s relationships, internally and externally in the market.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership and Strategic Direction: Lead WWF Impact, the dedicated team within NFI where we pursue both direct early stage (catalytic) investing opportunities as well as external partnerships with asset manager partnerships in which WWF serves the role of impact advisor.
  • Asset Manager Partnerships: Oversee the process to forge new asset manager partnership opportunities through effective partner identification, collaboration, diligence, and project / fund development. Work with the WWF Impact team, NFI Management, and WWF programmatic teams to pursue and close high potential asset management partnerships in priority sectors (regenerative agriculture, blue oceans, sustainable infrastructure, circular economy, carbon finance, etc.). Play lead role in negotiating partnerships with potential partners.
  • Catalytic Portfolio: Oversee the early-stage direct investment portfolio (catalytic investing), including opportunity pipeline review, investment analysis, due diligence / legal process management. Ensure that investment memorandums are well-prepared and uphold a rigorous standard for investment and impact analyses. Lead the investment team in presentations and deliberations in internal governance processes.
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• Resource Mobilization: Develop, maintain and advance key internal and external relationships for partnership success. This includes funding partnerships with partners (philanthropic & investment), WWF programmatic goal team and global network relationship management, asset manager relationship management, and portfolio company relationships.
• Management: Oversee a growing team of professionals within the WWF Impact team. Manage WWF Impact’s budget and build capacity of both WWF US and Country Office staff in support of NFI’s goal of significant capital mobilization to conservation finance.
• External Engagement: Represent WWF Impact and NFI at external events, conferences, and workshops. Travel domestically and internationally (up to 25%), to priority landscape regions in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
• Collaboration: Collaborate and develop partnerships across geographies and work closely with WWF’s conservation goal teams, country offices, and private sector engagement and development / capital raising teams to advance integrated nature finance strategies.
• Other duties as assigned.

Key Competencies

• Financial Acumen: Structure and advance innovative impact investments, navigate nuanced and complex decisions, and demonstrate strong deal instincts.
• Private Capital Mobilization and Nature Finance Innovation: The Managing Director will advance nature finance innovations through a combination of new structures / design and partnership models.
• Executive Presence & Influence: Represent WWF with diplomacy, credibility, and authority while engaging investment managers, investors, donors, corporate leaders, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, 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.
• Resource Mobilization: Secure and structure financial support from public and private sources to advance blended finance initiatives and transaction development objectives.
• 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.

Qualifications

Skills and Abilities

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in the financial services sector, including private equity, venture capital, impact investing, conservation finance, environmental and conservation-based investing.
• Advanced degree from a relevant field, such as finance, business administration, economics, international relations, or political science.
• Strong preference for candidates who have worked with or in the field of emerging market private equity in environmental sectors, and have a track record of designing and executing multi-party blended finance solutions.
• Demonstrated experience developing and evaluating investment strategies, conducting due diligence, assessing investment opportunities, portfolio management, deal structuring, and the use of capital instruments.
• Experience working within or alongside multilateral and bilateral finance institutions, including development finance institutions and development banks, in support of investment structuring, partnerships, or capital mobilization initiatives.
• Sector expertise in one or more of WWF’s priority areas (e.g., regenerative agriculture and food systems, blue economy/aquaculture, sustainable infrastructure, or carbon markets), with experience working in Latin America, Africa, Asia, or other emerging markets preferred.
• Awareness of key components of sustainable investment, including investment instruments, term sheets, blended finance techniques, deal structuring, etc.
• Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Financial modeling skills and fluency with Microsoft Excel. Able to review, analyze, and evaluate financial models, financial projections, company valuations, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex problems and to effectively communicate solutions to others.
• Competency in a second language (ideally Spanish or Portuguese) a significant plus.
• Strong coordination and teamwork and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Proven ability to manage and deliver against multiple time sensitive priorities.
• A dynamic, creative, and outgoing personality with a commitment to nature conservation.
• 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.