Northern Wilderness Program Manager

About the Job

SAWS is hiring a full-time Northern Wilderness Program Manager based out of Roanoke, VA. The successful incumbent will 1) provide strong collaboration, leadership, and partnership with federal land management agencies to best manage, preserve, and steward our nation’s federally designated wilderness areas; 2) maintain a strong partnership with the U.S. Naval Academy and provide program coordination and oversite to our summer midshipmen trail crew; 3) collaborate with local universities and clubs to grow SAWS’ wilderness internship program and opportunities; and 4) serve as a valuable member of the SAWS leadership team contributing critical organization operations such as development, grant management, and training.

This Northern Wilderness Program Manager is an integral connection between SAWS and the USDA Forest Service, particularly the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and MonongahelaNational Forest in West Virginia. The incumbent will become well-versed in wilderness law and federal land management policy and train to be an expert in key national wilderness frameworks such as Wilderness Character Monitoring, Wilderness Stewardship Performance, and Minimum Requirements Analysis. The incumbent will uphold and exemplify SAWS’ values and create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive work environment for their colleagues, employees, SAWS volunteers, and community members.

The Northern Wilderness Program Manager plays a critical role on the SAWS leadership team. The incumbent will help develop our programs and staff to perform at a high level; engage in a transformational relationship with our agency and non-agency partners; help steer our organization to succeed operationally and financially with prudent management and organizational integrity; and develop and support equitable, inclusive practices that are interwoven into our organization. This job is ideal for someone with strong leadership and management skills, someone who is highly collaborative and team-oriented, one with a passion and enthusiasm for the outdoors, a relationship builder with strong networking skills, an individual who excels in task management, adaptable and resilient, and someone who is mission-driven to excel in program management and effective communication. 

Schedule

• Start date flexible, ideally January
• Generally, Monday-Friday, especially fall through winter, flexibility required
• Occasional weekend work required for community outreach events or training
• Must be willing to travel and use personal vehicle (mileage reimbursement included) for in-person meetings, trainings, and organization gatherings.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Wilderness Management and Agency Collaboration:

• Become well-versed in wilderness law and wilderness federal land management policy
• Become familiar with and eventually an expert in key national wilderness frameworks such as Wilderness Character Monitoring, Wilderness Stewardship Performance, and Minimum Requirements Analysis
• Collaborate with USDA Forest Service’s national WCM Central Team
• Oversee regional and national wilderness program accomplishments within the WCM and WSP frameworks
• Compile data and information for 5-year wilderness trend assessments
• Provide strong collaboration, leadership, and partnership with federal land management agencies to best manage, preserve, and steward our nation’s federally designated wilderness areas

Naval Academy Trail Crew Manager:

• Collaborate and coordinate with U.S. Naval Academy faculty program lead and student rep ahead of the summer program.
• Hire and onboard 1-2 U.S. Naval Academy crew leaders for the summer season.
• Oversee transition of USNA students from university to summer work with SAWS including coordinating housing, travel, and work site locations
• Onboard and welcome midshipmen for each block (3 blocks, 5 midshipmen each)
• Coordinate 3 veteran panels for midshipmen centered around learning about career options in conservation
• Collaborate with USFS on appropriate project site locations and work for the midshipmen crew

Wilderness Internship Program:

• Build on and grow wilderness internship opportunities at SAWS with local universities and clubs with internship experiences in wilderness stewardship, GIS, communications, and non-profit management.
• Collaborate with and build relationships with a variety of universities and departments including natural resources, communications, non-profit management, and outdoor leadership.
• Attend community outreach events across VA, WV, and KY.

Organization Leader:

• Assist with regional trainings including onboarding new seasonals and annual Wilderness Skills Institute training.
• Assist with organizational development including fundraising through private grants, corporations, foundations, and agency collaboration across new forests and departments.
• Aid in org data management, grant tracking, and communications.

Benefits

The starting salary is $45,000-55,000 annually for this full-time work based on qualifications and experience. Any work-related expenses for travel will be paid for by SAWS. We offer the following benefits and are happy to share our Employee Handbook:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Health: Employee pays 20% of monthly premium, 50% of premium for dependents.
• Dental & Vision: Employee pays 100% of premiums.
• Life and disability insurance.
• Generous leave accrual and holiday pay.
• Total vacation is front loaded annually and increases with time served at the organization. 1-2 years has 20 vacation days per year, 3-5 years has 25 vacation days per year, and 6+ years has 30 vacation days per year.
• There are 14 paid holidays for each employee. Time off may be granted for employees who desire to observe another religious holiday.
• Sick leave: Total sick leave accrued over time for a total of 7 days (or 56 hours) per year.
• Bereavement pay: Three days of bereavement pay in addition to paid family and standard annual leave.
• Parental Leave
• Two weeks of paid family leave in addition to standard annual leave.
• Up to 16 weeks of parental leave along with flexible work arrangements.
• Flexible work schedule
• Professional development opportunities with financial support options.

Qualifications

• Enthusiasm for the SAWS mission and a shared commitment to our values
• Strong desire to learn about and become an expert about federally designated wilderness law and policy, wilderness character monitoring, and agency wilderness management
• Motivated and a self-starter
• Ability to learn quickly
• Good interpersonal communication and professionalism
• Personable and comfortable building relationships and talking to partners
• Strong written communication skills.
• Ability to work and camp in a remote and primitive setting occasionally
• Demonstrated ability to lead employees, volunteers, or partners on projects both in the field and virtually.
• Demonstrated ability to lead projects to completion at a high standard.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team setting to complete tasks.
• Experience with development such as grant writing
• Travel required for 6-8 weeks a year for trainings, staff meetings, and board retreats including up to 1 week of travel at a time

The qualifications listed above are ideal but not required. If you have many of the qualifications listed, we encourage you to apply. Your experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work, which helps build the competencies, knowledge, and skills that translates directly to this position. Applying gives you the opportunity to be considered.