Vacancy Partnership Manager, Rare China-China office (Kunming, China)

Partnership Manager, Rare China

Organization Background

Rare is a fast-growing, international conservation organization that runs state-of-the-art communications and outreach projects in more than 40 countries around the world. Named to Fast Company magazine’s list of “Top Social Capitalists” for the last four consecutive years, Rare is committed to bringing a spirit of entrepreneurship and creativity to solving one of this century’s great challenges – building public support for conservation.

Rare partners with more than one hundred groups at the international and local levels, including The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, Aveda corporation, United Nations Environment Programme, Mexico’s National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and many others.

All Rare projects are managed by local partners; we focus both on building community support for conservation and tangibly reducing threats to the environment by working closely with the world’s top local environmental organizations. We recently awarded the Rare Award for Inspiring Conservation to Pulitzer Prize winning conservation leader E.O. Wilson who described Rare’s value as follows: “In an original manner, Rare attends to conservation where it has ultimately the most lasting effect, through education tuned to the culture and needs of local people.”

Description of Position

Rare’s success – in fact the success of local conservation outreach globally – is contingent on attracting the best and brightest leaders at the community level. Rare has already trained more than 200 local conservationists both in the field and at Rare’s four university centers (in the UK, Mexico, Indonesia, and China). Yet given Rare’s expected growth in both scale and impact by 2011, we need to greatly increase Rare’s investment in recruiting new conservation leaders and partnering organizations at the local level.

The Partnership Manager, based at Rare’s office in Kunming, is a vital position at Rare that will be responsible for developing and facilitating a robust Pride candidate pipeline to ensure growing demand for Rare’s work around the world and the highest caliber of Pride campaign managers. As the primary interface with all potential new partners in the Mandarin-speaking world, the Partnership Manager will have the opportunity to help create a key program from the ground up, and interact with a vast network of partners around the world.

Using prior experience in program marketing and community engagement, this position will identify suitable candidates for Rare comprehensive capacity development program by leveraging and maintaining Rare’s regional network of contacts and partners, as well as serving as an ambassador to new target audiences in the Mandarin-speaking conservation community. The Partnership Manager will also work closely with Rare’s Director, China and Director of Strategic Partnerships to create aligned recruitment strategies and methods and coordinate prospective partner interviews, participation in Rare global workshops, and submission and review of completed new partner application packages. The Partnership Manager will also have the opportunity to work with Rare’s growing alumni network to harness their enthusiasm and knowledge to contribute to a cohesive global network of conservation practitioners that ensures a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Under supervision of Rare’s Director, China the Partnership Manager will be responsible for:

Brand Awareness and Outreach

• Build Rare’s brand among current and potential partners to generate increased demand for Rare Pride through new partner outreach and lead generation
• Represent Rare at conferences and meetings to further awareness of Rare and build the pipeline of high quality applicants
• Hold regular meetings with partners
• Support and Facilitation of all China-based Pride Recruitment
• Coordinate China recruiting efforts with Rare's global recruiting strategy through regular communication, planning, and implementation with Rare’s Director, Strategic Partnerships and global recruiting team

Support the development of a regional recruiting strategy

• Utilize Rare’s existing network of contacts and Pride alumni
• Build new recruiting streams and relationships in the global conservation community in line with Rare’s global recruitment strategy
• Regularly manage and update Rare’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, Prideforce
• Lead applicants through the recruiting process by communicating with leads and applicants regularly
• Ensure a healthy recruiting pipeline against timing and targets
• Organize and help to deliver recruiting workshops
• Support and assist accepted applicants through the required preparatory phase prior to university training

Marketing and Communications

• Coordinate the marketing and communications of Rare Pride successes, campaign news, new partnerships, alumni newsletters and recruiting efforts
• Manage and maintain regional Pride alumni network, including facilitating adoption of the network through online and offline communications tools and creatively designing new approaches to engage current and past Rare partners
• Customize globally-provided recruiting tools
• Manage local revision and production of materials, as necessary

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably with an international focus in communications, biodiversity conservation, environmental education, international development, environmental policy, or related field
• Work experience of at least 4 years required
• Prior success in marketing, recruitment, pipeline development and management, and/or social network development preferred
• Experience in mentoring, training, coaching or guidance, especially in a long-distance setting
• Strong background in leadership, community engagement, and relationship building
• Knowledge of key players in the national, regional and international conservation/community development community helpful
• Experience in online communications and alumni network development desired
• Proficiency in MS Office suite required, experience with SalesForce or other online sales and/orpipeline management tool preferred
• Written and spoken fluency in English and Mandarin Chinese
• Experience in coordinating communications and marketing efforts across long distances
• Strong project management skills required
• Intercultural/multicultural experience and attitude
• Note that willingness for significant travel is required (up to 25%)

Benefits and Application Procedure

Rare not only inspires conservation, we also inspire our employees. In addition to fully covered health insurance, a retirement savings plan, and generous vacation/holiday leave time, Rare’s benefits include an annual training budget for continuous learning and growth, a bonus plan that ties to individual and organizational performance, and a flexible and fun work environment. And to make sure no one gets cabin fever, there’s an annual staff retreat that allows everyone to experience and support Rare’s work in the field.

To Apply

please send a cover letter and resume to:
Email: humres@rareconservation.org
Fax: 703-522-5027
Mail:
Attn: Human Resources
1840 Wilson Blvd.
Suite 204
Arlington, VA
22201 USA