Do you love the Central Valley? Do you want our communities to have healthy beautiful rivers for generations to come? Are you excited to work with a team of ecologists, farmers, and entrepreneurs who really get stuff done? If you answered yes to all of these questions, River Partners needs your help. Notwithstanding our accomplishments and awards, the single best thing about River Partners is the people. Our staff is committed, creative, collaborative and diverse. We produce amazing results and have a lot of fun along the way.

What We Do:

We give new life to river landscapes that protect communities from damaging floods, support diverse wildlife populations, and connect people to water. We design and deliver large river restoration projects across California, using bulldozers and tractors, tablets and binoculars, all for the benefit of communities and natural resources. As the largest habitat restoration contractor in western North America, we are gearing up to head back to work as community-based, green economic stimulus.

Organizational Summary:

River Partners helps local communities revitalize rivers across the state of California. We are a private, non-profit organization with offices in Chico, Sacramento, Turlock, and San Diego. As a project-focused company, we believe in the power of demonstrating environmental improvement through large-scale river restoration and empowering others through partnership and collaboration.

Position description:

The San Joaquin Valley Regional Director works with the Directors of Development, Conservation and Science to advance channel and floodplain restoration projects between the Delta and Bakersfield on the San Joaquin River and tributaries as well as in the Tulare Basin.  The Director will work closely with River Partners’ collaborators to secure funds from local, state and federal agencies to plan, design, permit, implement, and monitor multi-million dollar and multi-year river restoration projects.  The Central Valley Regional Director will be responsible for networking with restoration partners and evaluating the conservation landscape to identify new project opportunities and secure them for River Partners. In addition, the position will provide support and oversight for River Partners’ ecologists and biologists as they develop habitat restoration projects across California. Some travel is required.

The Central Valley Regional Director reports directly to the Development Director.

Travel is expected up to 4 days per month.

Essential functions and responsibilities of this position include:

• Collaborate with Science and Development teams to identify riparian protection and restoration sites that are ecologically significant and develop successful proposals to fund restoration projects.
• Build effective partnerships and coalitions with a diverse group of stakeholders to advance River Partner’s mission and projects.
• Prepare grant applications and develop associated budgets and scopes of work. Negotiate cooperative agreements to secure the funding necessary to successfully implement River Partners’ projects.
• Oversee project management and ensure that activities, budgets and milestones are coordinated and updated on a frequent basis to ensure that project scheduling, spending and reporting can expeditiously support project objectives and billing cycles.
• Develop scoping requests for subcontract work and enter into agreements to ensure that cost and quality expectations are met.
• Interface with funders to ensure grant funds and project expenditures are coordinated and if necessary create and submit change orders in a timely manner to ensure that variances are properly communicated and funded.
• Follow up with funders on late payments to determine the root cause of tardy payment in efforts to ensure that unsatisfactory work performance or incorrect communications are immediate resolved and payments are received.
• Support River Partners’ President, Senior Managers, and Regional Staff in developing strategic plans, budgets, and marketing materials.
• Monitor, oversee and report strategic initiative progress on a quarterly basis to ensure strategy is within the goals and objectives of the organization.
• Coordinate with agency staff and conservation partners in the successful implementation of River Partners projects.
• Actively participate in regional planning efforts including the San Joaquin River Restoration Program (BOR), the Central Valley Flood Protection Planning efforts (DWR), the Middle San Joaquin Regional Flood Management Plan (RD 2092), USFWS and CDFW endangered species recovery efforts, and local and regional water quality and supply initiatives.
• Initiate and direct changes to increase efficiency and meet objectives.
• Establish and coordinate productive partnerships with the agricultural community, conservation organizations, and local, state and federal agencies.
• Represent River Partners before the general public, elected officials, agencies, stakeholders, and non-profits to generate support for River Partners programs.
• Other duties as requested.

Essential Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Must enjoy working outdoors with diverse people and organizations to get things done;
• Creatively solve problems and learn new skills.
• Grant writing experience or ability to delegate and coordinate numerous tasks to meet a hard deadline.
• Effectively communicate complicated biological and marketing information orally and in writing.
• Possess knowledge of ecological restoration techniques and California plants, riparian ecology, hydrology, soils and /or wildlife.
• Ability to work on both a team environment and independently.
• Experience working with California and Federal environmental permitting including NEPA/CEQA, ESA, CDFW Code, California Water Code, Clean Water Act Section 404/401, etc.
• Demonstrate good organizational skills, ability to work under multiple deadlines, and flexibility to handle changing priorities. Must be able to remain dedicated and focused on multiple tasks.
• Excellent verbal, analytical, organizational and written skills.
• Integrity and ethics beyond reproach.
• Commitment and enthusiasm to carry out River Partners mission.

Qualifications:

• Graduate degree desired in natural resources management, ecology, engineering, watershed science, environmental planning, agriculture or related field. JD, MBA, MPA all encouraged to apply. . Relevant work experience a substitute for degree.
• Minimum of five years of appropriate work experience.
• Grant writing experience or proven ability to delegate and coordinate a series of tasks on a tight deadline.
• Professional contract management experience utilizing a project management software a plus (system that integrates with a modular financial reporting and/or ERP system).
• Demonstrate an understanding of environmental permitting requirements and environmental restoration projects.
• Proven success in managing multiple simultaneous projects and deadlines while successfully meeting project objectives within budget.
• Have hands-on experience working with Federal, State and local government grants, to ensure that projects are managed within scope, budget and regulatory compliance such as prevailing wage and labor compliance.
• Experience developing subcontract agreements with standard general provisions and sourcing subcontractors.
• Experience working with Microsoft Office Suite software