The Gabon Program Deputy Director serves as a strategic partner, advisor, and counsel to the Program Director and delivers management and leadership support to the Gabon Program by overseeing the day-to-day management of the conservation operation. The Deputy Director provides effective decision-making, project management, and execution of strategic initiatives across all portfolio/sub-programs and is responsible for creating and maintaining cross-functional relationships to influence outcomes and enable program success. Reporting to the Gabon Program Director, the position will be based at the TNC office in Libreville.

The Gabon Program Deputy Director provides technical and program management support to TNC field operations in Gabon. They translate strategic vision into action and encourage employees to innovate, problem-solve, and engage proactively. They are champions driving program business priorities from conception to completion, holding teams accountable. They convert abstract ideas into smooth operations – demanding structure, establishing processes, and creating efficiencies within the program. They oversee adherence to timelines, budgets, and expected results. The Deputy Director is an integrator, hearing staff concerns and finding common ground to build a foundation of trust, inspiring engagement in the program vision, and creating cohesion among program leads, managers, and staff. The Deputy Director serves as proxy to the Country Director when not available, based on clear communication and shared expectations and agreements. They act as a strategic thought partner, counselor, and sounding board, and they triage problems to only bring pertinent issues to the director’s attention in an organized, concise manner.

• Serves as a thought and strategic partner to the Gabon Program Director, standing in on meetings, providing good perspectives, and promptly following up on action items with the team.
• Promotes team integration and cross-functional communication and collaboration among multiple stakeholders to support program initiatives.
• Facilitates collaborative implementation of conservation programs work plans, manages special projects, and ensures action items are executed.
• Designs and runs program review meetings, including structuring and helping to deliver program-wide timely communication to ensure all teams are on board with the proper level of information.
• Supports the process for annual budgeting and work planning for the Gabon program.
• Manages (creates & updates) dashboards for reviewing key program deliverables and performance indicators.
• Creates systems and processes to streamline Gabon conservation programs operations.
• Supervises staff and manages staff performance partnership process ensuring alignment with annual program planning objective setting and proactively follows up with teams to track progress to determine actionable recommendations for improvement for objectives that are not being accomplished within set timelines.
• Leads Gabon program staffing plans and initiatives in collaboration with Africa HR
• Provides analysis, recommendations, and options to the Program Director regarding high-impact decisions and tracks high–priority initiatives to identify any potential obstacles.