Head of Methodologies & Carbon Project Development (Remote)

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.

Your role:

We are seeking a proactive and collaborative self-starter with intimate knowledge of carbon registries, various methodologies, the carbon project development process (e.g. origination, certification & quality control), as well as best practices in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). We are in need of a candidate who can perform clear and effective communication with standard setting and certification bodies, lead successful project submissions and verification, and interact with project developers, auditors, and registries, for example. A successful candidate will be adaptive and creative with a depth of knowledge on Improved Forest Management (IFM) and Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) methodologies as well as experience in validation and verification of carbon projects, and can excel in a fast-growing biotech startup environment.

We are looking for an experienced Carbon Project Developer to help support project submission to existing methodologies and standards with different registries such as Verra, American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, and new emerging climate initiatives (e.g Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits (4C), Toucan Protocol, Open Forest Protocol) and digital MRV (e.g. Pachama, Chloris Geospatial). The primary objective of this role is to develop an industry leading approach for Living Carbon forest carbon projects that align our projects with best-in-class voluntary carbon market standards and ensure high-quality carbon removal projects.

Living Carbon is using biotechnology to develop high-quality, scalable, forest carbon projects on new types of underperforming land using our own seedling supply and planting partners. We are seeking a proactive and collaborative self-starter with intimate knowledge of carbon registries, various methodologies and the carbon project development process. We are in need of a candidate who can perform clear and effective communication with standard setting bodies and demonstrate successful project submission and verification. A successful candidate will be adaptive and creative with a depth of knowledge on Improved Forest Management (IFM) and Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR) methodologies as well as experience in validation and verification of carbon projects, and can excel in a fast-growing biotech startup environment.

Your responsibilities:

• Lead and manage relationships with registries and standard bodies including Verra, American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, and new emerging registries and opportunities
• Understand all aspects of forest carbon offset projects, registries, methodologies (IFM, ARR, etc.), and the process for issuance of carbon credits
• Provide clarifications to the internal team regarding rules and requirements of standards and methodologies
• Lead the preparation of carbon project descriptions and verification documentation under recognized, or new, voluntary carbon standards to achieve successfully validated projects under Verra VCS or others such as American Carbon Registry and Climate Action Reserve
• Monitor external voluntary carbon standards to stay up to date with changes and help shape Living Carbon's growth strategy
• Build internal knowledge system for carbon standards and co-benefit standards
• Lead development of revision of existing and/or new methodologies under various standards as needed
• Stay on top of VCM best practices
• Interface with project financing stakeholders, field implementation partners and forestry teams to ensure plans reflect standards and methodology requirements
• Assist in developing Living Carbon's long-term verification strategy for new species and traits, including carbon capture and storage technologies that do not correspond to any existing methodology

Requirements and qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in carbon removal methodologies and standards
• Expertise in forest carbon projects and strong understanding of methodologies and carbon registry standard requirements
• Strong understanding of the key principles of the voluntary carbon standards such as Verra VCS/CCB and Gold Standard, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Proven track record within carbon project validation and verification process
• Familiarity with Verra's forthcoming ARR and IFM and other methodologies (a major plus)
• Experience writing, updating and publishing carbon methodologies
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
• Knowledge of new developments in the Voluntary Market Place, including accreditation, codes of best practices (e.g., ICROA, ICVCM), the role of DMRV, alignment with Paris Agreement requirements (e.g., Article 6), for example
• Familiarity with carbon offsetting (e.g., interventions in scope 3), SDG & ESG reporting, and Net Zero is a plus

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.