Regional Nature Finance Advisor, SEAP

Job Description & Requirements

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is advancing nature finance across both terrestrial and marine conservation systems in the Southeast Asia–Pacific (SEAP) region. Current nature finance priorities include innovative financial mechanisms for protected areas in support of biodiversity conservation, species, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). Increasingly, WCS programs require robust nature finance strategies - spanning public, private, and blended finance - to ensure the long-term sustainability of conservation investments. To strengthen and sustain program impact and ensure the high-quality delivery of technical inputs, WCS seeks someone with expertise in designing, evaluating, and operationalizing nature finance mechanisms, including those applicable to forest, coastal, and marine contexts across diverse ecological and community settings.

The position will provide short-term technical guidance, analytical support, and strategic recommendations to WCS SEAP Regional and Country Programs to develop and implement nature finance mechanisms, in alignment with international standards and best practice and WCS country program priorities. These mechanisms could include trust funds (permanent or extinguishable), debt for nature swaps, Payments for Ecosystem Services, levies and entrance/access fees, bonds, results-based financing schemes (such as carbon or conservation standards), biodiversity offsets, insurance schemes, or other private or public sector and blended finance instruments intended to generate long-term funding for conservation. WCS Country Programs include Papua New Guinea (PNG), Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Responsibilities:

• Develop a broad and quick understanding of the nature finance and NbS landscape in the SEAP region, including trends, comparable organizational approaches, and relevant funding and finance actors (with particular attention to Singapore as a regional finance hub) in order to understand and build out the unique role for WCS in this landscape.
• Conduct an internal regional scan of the nature finance and NbS opportunities within WCS’s landscapes in the SEAP region to identify and prioritize needs.
• Contribute to the development of a regional strategy for nature finance, including participation in internal planning workshops.
• In countries with potential for REDD+ finance, support the development of landscape strategies consistent with requirements of international carbon standards. Specifically, scope the potential for carbon finance mechanisms for the WCS Indonesia and Solomon Islands Programs.
• Support WCS PNG to identify opportunities to strengthen community livelihoods by improving market access for biodiversity friendly and climate resilient natural resource commodities, ensuring gender equity, fair benefit sharing, and private sector linkages.
• Advise on the development of business plans to support equitable community livelihoods associated with existing protected and conserved areas in PNG.
• Ensure internal coordination within and between WCS across country, regional, global, markets, and legal teams.

Minimum Requirements and Job Skills:

• Advanced degree in environmental science, climate finance, ecological economics, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 7–10 years of relevant experience in nature finance, market-based livelihood development, or nature- based solutions design and implementation.
• Demonstrated experience supporting conservation or climate related initiatives, preferably in the Asia Pacific region.
• Familiarity with sustainable financing mechanisms for both forest-based and marine/coastal conservation.
• Strong analytical, interpersonal, and written communication skills.

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience in field‑based conservation and community engagement, with familiarity in FPIC, GEDSI, and equitable benefit‑sharing approaches.
• Experience working in the non-profit (NGO) or international development sector.
• Existing engagement and professional relationships within the Singapore nature finance, climate finance, and sustainable finance ecosystem.

WCS is an equal opportunity employer, and the organization complies with all employment and labor laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in hiring and ensures that candidates from all backgrounds are fairly and consistently considered during the recruitment process. We are dedicated to hiring and engaging a diverse workforce. We are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment and look for future team members who share that same value. The organization provides equal employment opportunities for all qualified candidates. The organization does not discriminate for employment based on gender, race/ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship status, caste, genetic information or any other covered status or characteristic protected bylaws and regulations/and similar categories.