AFOLU Project Development Specialist (f/m/d)

Permanent employee, Full-time · Berlin, Remote, Luanda

Your mission

This is a techno-managerial role in the climate department at KAYA head office. The responsible colleague will be a critical link between the scientific staff in the head office and the colleagues in the offices in the countries where the landscape-scale conservation and restoration projects are being developed. The ecosystems in focus are forests, agricultural and grasslands. The work would involve ensuring the adherence of projects, through their lifecycle, to the regulations set forth by various certification standards. The AFOLU Project Development Specialist will work closely with the Landscape Specialists, Earth Observation Specialist, and GHG Accounting Specialist. Periodic travel to project sites for monitoring and evaluation will be an integral part of this role.

Your responsibilities

Steer the feasibility assessments and baseline studies of forestry, agriculture and grassland projects by coordinating the activities of head office climate department and country offices
Write project concepts and project idea notes based on the inputs gathered from the colleagues in the climate department
Ensure adherence of project development and implementation to the selected scientific forestry, agriculture or grassland methodology
Be the organisation’s focal point to Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, BioCarbon Registry, Plan Vivo Standard and Preferred by Nature Certification, and track developments there
Steer the certification standard-mandated public consultation process in the projects under development
Support the Head of Operations in the planning and scheduling of project operations
Steer the complete but mainly the certification standard-mandated documentation process through the life cycle of the project
Coordinate the certification standard-mandated third-party validation and verification process in the projects under development
Support Head of Climate and the Finance Office in building project financial plans

Your profile

Strong understanding of one or more from Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, BioCarbon Registry, Plan Vivo Standard and Preferred by Nature Certification
Deep knowledge of multiple AFOLU methodologies under the above-mentioned standards and certifications
Over five years of experience in managing or coordinating multi-team conservation and restoration projects with the potential to show samples of work done
Willingness to live and work in Berlin. Remote work may be considered for applicants who express a strong preference and can effectively demonstrate their suitability for remote collaboration during the interview process with KAYA Team
Willingness to commit to a full-time (40-hours) role
Willingness to travel overseas for work, especially to sub–Saharan Africa
Openness to co-creating structures, processes and culture at a start-up while being patient through the developmental phase
Possibility to contact former employers
In addition to English fluency, languages desired are French, Portuguese, and/or Spanish
Education in agricultural, forestry or landscape management is desirable
Knowledge of national AFOLU regulations and policies in sub-Saharan African countries is a plus

What we offer

Offer of a job with purpose
Opportunity to work for the planet and people
Opportunity to learn about climate change mitigation and adaptation from first-hand experience
Global exposure through international colleagues and intercontinental work
Possibility to become part of an organisation in its developmental phase
Chance to experience life in Berlin

Please send us your latest CV along with a summary on why you would like to work at KAYA. Please note, that along the interviewing process we may wish to contact former employers for reference of your work. In case of any questions to aid your application process, please write to us at work@kaya.global.

We at KAYA stand for equal opportunities and recruit based on capability and performance. We welcome everyone - who shares our passion and cares about contributing to our vision - to hand in their application.

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About us

KAYA is an environmental organisation started in 2023 by purpose-driven professionals with different cultural backgrounds and with several years of experience in nature conservation, clean energy, rural development, real estate, and e-commerce. KAYA’s vision is to mitigate climate change by working with nature. In doing so, it also aspires to support the impacted communities and societies in accessing new livelihoods and becoming more resilient. KAYA's mission is to develop multi-year landscape-scale conservation and restoration projects in terrestrial ecosystems. It will bring the developed projects upon maturity to the market for payments for their ecosystem services.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for your interest in KAYA Climate Solutions GmbH. Please fill out the following short form. Should you have difficulties with the upload of your data, please send an email to work@kaya.global.