Iconic Place Lead Guatemala’s Selva Maya

Location: Ciudad de Guatemala o Flores, Petén (Guatemala)

What We Can Achieve Together:

The Maya Forest Lead – Guatemala is responsible for guiding and implementing conservation initiatives within the Guatemalan portion of the Maya Forest. The position ensures strategic alignment with national and organizational conservation priorities and supports the effective execution of the Theory of Change (ToC) for the Maya Forest in Guatemala.

The person in this role will work in close coordination with the Conservation Director to plan, implement, and monitor conservation strategies within the country. The position provides strategic leadership, technical guidance, and operational support to advance The Conservancy’s work in Guatemala.

The incumbent will lead a team of conservation professionals in Guatemala’s Selva Maya, fostering collaboration, accountability, and high performance to achieve the desired conservation outcomes.

This position will operate within a matrix organizational structure and requires strong experience in conservation, as well as the ability to influence and collaborate effectively without direct authority across teams and programs and with trusted partners in the region.

Although the role focuses exclusively on Guatemala, the position will remain connected—when relevant—to an informal network of peers working in other Iconic Places across Latin America. This provides opportunities for learning, innovation, and the exchange of best practices. “Iconic Places” refers to priority landscapes and seascapes across the Latin America Region.

The selected candidate will work from a home-office and report directly to the Conservation Director.

• Ensure that all national initiatives remain consistent, coherent, and strategically aligned with organizational priorities.
• Provide information, analysis, and decision‑making frameworks to guide the definition of high‑level conservation priorities in Guatemala’s Selva Maya.
• Lead, together with key personnel from the Guatemala Business Unit, trusted partners in the region and external consultants when necessary, the implementation of projects within the Selva Maya region of Guatemala, ensuring high-quality execution, collaboration, and strategic alignment.
• Coordinate the design, implementation, and evaluation of national initiatives in the Maya Forest of Guatemala, in close collaboration with the Conservation Director and other internal teams.
• Identify or develop opportunities for strategic interventions aligned with the theory of change (ToC), including community-led conservation, protection, regenerative ranching and agriculture, forestry, sustainable tourism, freshwater initiatives, and climate-related actions.
• Lead internal processes to periodically update the ToC and the interventions derived from it, ensuring the participation of the Guatemalan conservation team.

• Prepare and submit annual budgets for review by the Conservation Director, finance teams, and other relevant stakeholders together with the supervised personnel.
• Ensure optimal management of financial resources under this position’s responsibility, including planning, budgeting, fundraising support, and execution, in coordination with finance and operations staff.
• Oversee effective tracking of budgets and shared funding for national initiatives.

• In collaboration with the Conservation Director, engage key staff and capacities across Guatemala, as well as regional and global teams when relevant, to advance the goals of the Maya Forest Iconic Place.
• Connect national conservation priorities with regional and global opportunities, ensuring Guatemala benefits from available initiatives and resources.
• Build and supervise an effective conservation team with a holistic understanding of challenges and opportunities in the region Selva Maya; develop necessary competencies through supervision, capacity building, partnerships, or external contracting.
• Mobilize internal resources to advance relevant regional/global strategies, such as Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, Durable Biodiversity Protection, Regenerative…