Head of Carbon Project Implementation

Living Carbon is a public benefit corporation with a mission to responsibly rebalance the planet’s carbon cycle using the inherent power of plants. We believe that gigaton scale CO2 drawdown will only happen if solutions are both beneficial to the environment and profitable to landowners. We’ve developed photosynthesis-enhanced seedlings that capture carbon faster on underperforming and degraded land. In addition to improving carbon capture rates we are also working on extending the durability of nature based sequestration. We’re backed by some of the most prominent investors in Silicon Valley including Felicis Ventures, YCombinator, and Chris Sacca of LowerCarbon Capital.

If you believe that climate change is the defining global emergency of the century and want to join an ambitious project that’s working on a biological solution, we’d love to hear from you.

Living Carbon is a public benefit corporation with a mission to responsibly rebalance the planet’s carbon cycle using the power of plants. We believe that gigaton scale CO2 drawdown will only happen if solutions are both beneficial to the environment and profitable to landowners. We’ve developed photosynthesis-enhanced seedlings that capture carbon faster on underperforming and degraded land. In addition to improving carbon capture rates, we are also working on extending the durability of nature based sequestration. We’re backed by some of the most prominent investors in Silicon Valley including Felicis Ventures, YCombinator, and Chris Sacca of LowerCarbon Capital.

If you believe that climate change is the defining global emergency of the century and want to join an ambitious project that’s working on a biological solution, we’d love to hear from you.

Your role: 

We’re looking for a Head of Implementation to oversee the execution of US-based forest carbon projects with Living Carbon’s photosynthesis enhanced seedlings and other seedlings sourced by our supply team. The primary objective of this role is to develop and manage a portfolio of high-quality forest carbon projects that have the ability to generate large quantities of carbon credits. We are seeking a candidate who can establish and maintain fruitful relationships with project stakeholders including all internal functional groups and external partners who will be critical to the success of projects. In this role, the right candidate will demonstrate strong subject matter expertise in forestry and carbon project development and experience as a leader.

We are seeking a proactive and collaborative self-starter with a history of managing and scaling complex forest carbon projects, particularly afforestation and reforestation projects. We need a candidate who can effectively establish and build relationships with  a wide range of internal and external project stakeholders, has a clear understanding of the project development process, key project requirements, risk management, and can contribute to the exceptional execution of commercial forest carbon projects. A successful candidate will be adaptive and creative with a depth of forestry and carbon project experience, has project management and analytical skills, and can excel in a fast-growing biotech startup environment. 

Your responsibilities: 

• Direct all aspects of US-based afforestation, reforestation and revegetation (ARR) and improved forest management (IFM) carbon removal projects, including project origination, planning, design, permitting, implementing, budgeting, subcontracting, monitoring and maintaining client relationships.
• Establish a repeatable process for carbon project implementation including designing, testing, and optimizing a playbook to expand our project development process to tens of thousands of acres. 
• Work with our methodologies and quantification team to ensure carbon projects are developed to maximize carbon sink and forest health. 
• Work with our forest data science team to assess forest stands, timber management practices, land use baselines, and other criteria to evaluate eligibility under the methodologies of carbon registries. 
• Work collaboratively with internal functional groups and external partners that enable project development to be successful.
• Execute implementation of experimental data collection plots designed in collaboration with the R&D team.
• Support commercial finance team to develop project budgets and financial projections based on project requirements, site characteristics and projected carbon credit issuance.
• Develop and manage a team of in-house foresters and/or trusted on-the-ground partners to successfully execute projects.
• Use project management tools to coordinate logistics and ensure timely project delivery.
• Support financial and technical feasibility modeling and risk analysis to evaluate project scenarios and negotiations.
• Work with our supply chain team to select seedling species and coordinate delivery on a strict planting schedule to meet annual carbon credit delivery obligations.

Requirements and qualifications: 

• MA/PhD/MBA/MS degree and 5+ years of experience in forest carbon project development planning, management and implementation with a preference for US-based project experience.
• Deep knowledge of forest science, forest management, forest ecosystems and/or plant biology.
• Experience in forestry, carbon project development and origination, carbon removal quantification, project financing, carbon registry certification, and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV).
• Experience building teams to develop and implement projects at scale
• Effective communicator with management experience and experience with headcount planning and quarterly goal setting
• Experience developing, managing and implementing projects, including managing finances, coordinating work to meet deadlines and dividing responsibilities to various team members
• Exhibit understanding of carbon registries, standards and methodologies, specifically eligibility criteria for afforestation, reforestation and IFM projects.
• Familiar with forest measurement practices using on-the-ground timber cruising techniques and remote sensing technology. 
• Comprehensive understanding of commercial tree planting land preparation and planting techniques across a variety of tree species and geographic landscapes. 
• Experience using project management software and developing process flows
• Highly organized and detail oriented.

Living Carbon PBC offers competitive compensation, and generous healthcare, dental and vision insurance.

Living Carbon PBC is an equal opportunity employer.

We believe the best solutions to climate change are created by diverse teams. Living Carbon is focused on building a multicultural and inclusive team with strong representation from the many diverse communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. As a public benefit corporation, ensuring solutions to slow climate change are widely distributed to all peoples is critical to the success of our mission. 

Living Carbon PBC offers competitive compensation, and generous healthcare, dental and vision insurance.

Living Carbon PBC is an equal opportunity employer.

We believe the best solutions to climate change are created by diverse teams. Living Carbon is focused on building a multicultural and inclusive team with strong representation from the many diverse communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. As a public benefit corporation, ensuring solutions to slow climate change are widely distributed to all peoples is critical to the success of our mission.