Conservation Data Advisor - Africa

Conservation Data Advisor - Africa

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 regional teams to consistently generate, trust, and use high‑quality data and evidence through strong MEL systems, standards, and practices. The role works as a close partner with regional MEL leads to align CDT support with regional MEL priorities, processes, and ways of working.

The Africa Conservation Data Advisor must reside and have work authorization in one of the TNC Africa program locations (Kenya, Tanzania, or Zambia).

Essential Functions:

The Africa Regional Advisor will help the CDT provide more direct and integrated support for conservation data that meets the demand of conservation teams and leaders within TNC's Africa Region to generate and use evidence to improve the quality of their decisions and their impact.

The Africa Conservation Data Advisor position will build and maintain strong, trusting relationships with key leadership and experts in the Africa Region, including monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) regional team and specialists, scientists, and portfolio managers. They will collaborate with MEL staff in Africa to ensure CDT's support is aligned with their vision for conservation science data, MEL and reporting to support evidence for adaptive management in Africa Portfolio. The Africa 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 Africa MEL lead, CDT colleagues, and the CST Africa regional counterpart to ensure aligned support across MEL and strategy processes. 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.

We're Looking for You:

• Provide targeted guidance and support focused on the generation and use of evidence in adaptive management, aligned with regional needs.

• Provide direct support to 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 regional portfolio management and reporting processes.

• Support teams to use evidence syntheses and close key science evidence gaps identified through their adaptive management processes and to ensure confidence in their reported outcomes.

• Support other members of the regional team to use conservation data tools as they support other high priority teams and programs.

• Build enabling conditions for the generation and use of evidence in adaptive management and prioritization in the Africa Region.

• Build trusting relationships with key TNC leadership in the Africa Region.

• In collaboration with MEL Regional team and MEL Specialists, build the enabling conditions for use of robust evidence in adaptive management.

• In close collaboration with Africa MEL staff, enhance data analytics processes to convert quality assured and evidence-based data into useful reporting and learning products (such as impact briefs, analytical summaries, and data reports) to inform program, portfolio, and leadership decisions.

• Collaborate with staff in CDT to ensure the region's conservation data meets data quality & reporting standards and support regional leadership to drive accountability to these standards.

• Work with Africa Regional Conservation / Strategies leadership to identify top priority teams needing conservation data and learning support, and focus support on them.

• Collaborate with other Africa Regional leadership team members to help influence and advance specific enabling conditions in the region for improving data quality and its use in adaptive management and prioritization, including further integration of conservation and financial data and planning.

Grow CDT's Impact

• Measure / monitor value provided by CDT support in the region.

• Identify opportunities to scale up support models to meet the needs of the region and expand CDT's impact, working in partnership with other regional CDT leads.

• Provide feedback to CDT on opportunities to improve or enhance support models identified in collaboration with regional leadership.

• 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 science related field and 4 years of experience in advancing data quality and the use of data in management / business, preferably in a large conservation or development organization or agency or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Experience with conservation and/or development metrics and their monitoring and evaluation data systems, impact measurement and results-based reporting for programs and portfolios.

• Proven experience in supporting rigor, consistency, and validation of program indicator methodologies.

• Strong working knowledge of data analysis and visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, GIS, Python, Excel, R), sufficient to guide analytics design, review outputs, and support capacity building across regional teams.

• Experience leading and mentoring teams and building capacity of team members.

• Record of supporting conservation strategy and decisions with data.

• Experience leading or participating on cross functional teams.

• Willingness to work a flexible schedule in order to align with a variety of time zones.

• Experience with self-directed navigation of complex and open-ended projects to achieve outcomes.

• Knowledge of, and commitment to, centering equity, justice and inclusion principles and practices in a professional setting.

• Experience working and communicating with a wide range of people.

• Ability to work effectively across cultures, countries, and regional contexts.

• Excellent interpersonal skills.

• Deep multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience within the Africa Region.

• Willingness and authorization to reside and work in designated TNC Africa program locations (Kenya, Tanzania, or Zambia) with travel to other countries in the region (Gabon, Angola, and South Africa).

• English language proficiency.

Desired Qualifications:

• Record of helping scale conservation strategies or solutions using data, such as through MRV systems for ecosystem markets.

• Domain area expertise in one or more of the following: large-scale protection or management of lands/freshwater/oceans, climate or biodiversity policy, renewable energy siting, natural climate solutions, conservation finance and markets, regenerative agriculture, sustainable fisheries or aquaculture, watershed management, community-based management, or equitable conservation.

• Experience managing complex projects including the financial aspect and coordinating the work of peers and partners

• Self-driven with a bias towards action.

• Ability to leverage the latest technology to achieve desired results.

• Excitement about working on an agile team that is continually adapting their own ways of working.

• Experience with Indigenous and Traditional knowledge.

• Experience with a growth mindset, creativity, and resourcefulness.

• Experience with strategy or strategic initiatives.

• Second language proficiency in French or Portuguese.

Salary Information:

The starting pay range for a candidate selected for this position is generally within the range of $83