JOB TITLE: Program Director

SALARY RANGE: $60,000 – $80,000

START DATE: SEPTEMBER 2014

Please send resume to bob.christensen3@gmail.com by August 31, 2014.

SUSTAINABLE SOUTHEAST PARTNERSHIP: The Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP) is an innovative alliance of community-based organizations, Alaska Native tribes, and regional organizations from economic, environmental and social sectors. The SSP is working to establish a common understanding and commitment to a Triple Bottom Line approach to sustainable community development (social, economic and environmental values) in Southeast Alaska. This is a community-based program whose guiding principles are self-reliance, prosperity and resilience and we are currently focused on working on four rural southeast Alaska priorities, including: food security, renewable energy independence, natural resource stewardship and sustainable economic development.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

BA/BS degree and 5 years’ experience in community development practice or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Strong interpersonal communications and relationship building skills.
Experience with cultivating funding and technical assistance opportunities.
Experience managing complex or multiple projects, including managing budgets and coordinating the work of other professionals and partners across multiple disciplines.
Experience in partnership / coalition development.
Supervisory experience.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

The Program Director provides leadership, vision and strategic direction in all aspects of the SSP, including:

Exemplifies and articulates the vision and ideals of the Sustainable Southeast Partnership.
Provides leadership for the team working within the partnership.
Sets goals for staff and manages and directs their work in cooperation with their sponsoring organization.
Responsible for tracking progress on partner projects and performance through regularly scheduled reporting.
Builds overall capacity of the partnership, its members, and partners through strategic actions and programs.
Develops best practices for triple-bottom-line development and is able to articulate and demonstrate how the region and partners can achieve environmental, social, and economic priorities.
Engages local community support for the Sustainable Southeast Partnership’s efforts.
Negotiates complex and innovative solutions with government agencies and other entities to implement triple bottom-line strategies and solutions.
Prepares and maintains the Partnership annual budget as well as a summary of program indicators and an events timeline.
Reports to and consults with a Leadership Team composed of partner representatives and regional and community catalysts.
Supports Leadership Team in some fundraising activities.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

7-10 years-experience in community development practice or equivalent combination of education and experience (experience with community economic development and the application of a “Triple Bottom Line” approach especially desirable.
Experience with and desire to work with Alaska Native communities.
Demonstrated experience with work plan development that includes long-term conservation and/or human well-being outcomes, goals, objectives, activities and indicators of progress.
Knowledge of current trends and practices in sustainable community development work.
Knowledge of Southeast Alaska and pertinent state/federal policies related to region’s environmental, social and economic challenges and opportunities.
Capacity for catalyzing engagement and collaboration with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds.
Experience or aptitude for providing adaptable capacity development tools and techniques.
Excels at managing time and diverse activities under deadlines while delivering quality results.
High capacity for communicating clearly via written, spoken, and graphical means.
Ability to work within a network of organizations with varying goals and practices while finding common-ground solutions, mediating conflicts, and building collaborative partnerships.
Demonstrated leadership and visionary qualities and able to work effectively with and through others in a decentralized and geographically dispersed organization.
Extensive networking with high-level environmental, cultural and economic organization contacts; political savvy.
Proven interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills.
COMPLEXITY/PROBLEM SOLVING:

Cultivates a common understanding amongst staff and partnership organizations of the SSP overall goals, methods and theory of change.
Facilitates collaboration between partner organizations within the SSP and between the SSP and other stakeholders and support organizations.
Promotes awareness of opportunities for synergy on interdisciplinary community projects.
Negotiates complex agreements, sometimes in political environments.
Develops and implements creative ideas to improve overall performance.
Formulates, evaluates, and decides broad organizational policies and long-term programs.
Resolves complex issues involving multiple program areas independently.
Anticipates, diagnoses, and resolves complex problems and identifies creative solutions.
Interprets guidelines, evaluates information, and modifies processes to adapt to changing circumstances.
Manages and prioritizes tasks from multiple sources.
Designs, implements, and directs complex and diverse projects, encompassing multiple programs and coordinating the work of other professionals, inside and outside the organization. Incorporates cross-disciplinary knowledge to support program objectives.
DISCRETION/LATITUDE/DECISION-MAKING:

Ensures program accountability and legal compliance.
Consults peers to review own work.
Assesses decisions’ potential impact on colleagues’ work, public image, scientific and social credibility, and financial and legal standings.
Makes decisions based on incomplete or ambiguous information and accepts associated risks.
Makes independent strategic decisions frequently based on analysis, experience, and judgment.
RESPONSIBILITY/OVERSIGHT – FINANCIAL AND SUPERVISORY:

Supervises staff at remote locations.
Establishes and maintains optimal performance standards within budget.
Develops and administers budgets and ensures sound financial performance.
Writes requests for proposal (RFPs) for grant/contract funding for program and oversees contractors.
Judges talent, assesses staff’s strengths and weaknesses, creates strong morale and team spirit, and motivates individuals and teams toward desirable results.
Recruits, retains and manages high quality and effective staff.
Supervises work inside and outside organization.
Sets financial goals, evaluates return on investment, and develops corrective strategies to improve future results.
Supervises community and regional catalysts (Partnership Staff).
Develops long-term strategies and achieves strategic goals and objectives.
Communicates strategic project goals and objectives.
Using common software applications (e.g.; Word, Excel, Web browsers) and social networking tools (i.e. Google +).
COMMUNICATIONS/INTERPERSONAL CONTACTS:

Support trust-building between SSP staff, SSP Partners and a growing percentage of the region.
Negotiates complex agreements.
Works effectively under pressure.
Diffuses tension among colleagues comfortably.
Builds cooperative relationships and collaborates with diverse groups, including land owners, conservation partners, economic development organizations, tribes, government officials, donors, board members, and the general public, to recruit support for the partnership and publicize partnership efforts.
Commands attention, adjusts tactics midstream as necessary, and manages group processes during presentations or discussions.
May speak with and in front of varied audiences on scientific topics and the partnership’s mission
Collaborates with a wide range of people.
Produces results in a team environment.
May develop and present proposals to achieve program goals.
WORKING CONDITIONS/PHYSICAL EFFORT:

The Program Director may work in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain, and under physically demanding circumstances. These conditions will:

require frequent travel by air and water to rural communities in southeast Alaska.
require occasional physical exertion and/or muscular strain.
present occasional possibility of injury.
require long hours in isolated settings.
How to apply
Send resume’ and other relevant materials to bob.christensen3@gmail.com by no later than August 31, 2014.