Chief Program Officer

Island Conservation envisions a world filled with vibrant biodiversity, resilient oceans, and thriving island communities. We are the only international non-profit conservation organization with the mission to restore islands for nature and people worldwide. Islands are special places that provide outsized returns on our conservation investments. Island Conservation is committed to holistic island-marine ecosystem restorations that combine efforts to improve community livelihoods and climate resiliency, manage invasive species, and reestablish native animals and plants.

Learn more about us at www.island conservation.org.

Island Conservation is seeking a Chief Program Officer (CPO) to lead the performance, integration, and delivery of our global program portfolio.

Reporting to the CEO and serving as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, the CPO will oversee senior leaders across Impact & Innovation, Partnerships, Operations, Latin America, and the Pacific.

This is a highly collaborative, execution-focused leadership role for someone who knows how to turn strategy into action. The CPO will ensure that priorities are clear, leaders are aligned, resources are focused on the highest-impact opportunities, and commitments translate into measurable conservation outcomes.

While primarily focused on leading and strengthening the organization internally, the CPO will also play an important role in fundraising, Board engagement, and strategic partnerships. The successful candidate will bring together people, programs, resources, and systems so that Island Conservation can deliver its mission effectively at a global scale.

• Program priorities are clear, owned, and consistently delivered without requiring ongoing CEO oversight to maintain momentum.
• Senior Directors operate as an aligned, high-performing leadership team with strong accountability and collaboration.
• Simple and transparent systems provide visibility into priorities, progress, risks, and results.
• Teams and functions work together effectively, reducing duplication and increasing conservation impact.
• Risks, capacity constraints, and trade-offs are surfaced early enough to make thoughtful decisions and realistically sequence commitments.
• Programmatic priorities are clearly articulated and positioned to attract funding and strengthen external partnerships.
• Resources are allocated strategically across the portfolio to support the organization’s highest-impact opportunities.
• The global program portfolio demonstrates measurable conservation outcomes aligned with Island Conservation’s strategic vision.

• Lead and manage Senior Directors across programmatic functions, establishing clear priorities, ownership, and accountability.
• Translate organizational strategy into quarterly and annual program priorities with clear owners, timelines, and deliverables.
• Establish simple, shared systems to track progress, commitments, risks, and results across the program portfolio.
• Ensure risks, delays, and trade-offs are identified early and addressed proactively.
• Drive portfolio-level prioritization and decision-making, aligning resources with the highest-impact opportunities.
• Ensure conservation programs are designed and delivered to a high standard and aligned with organizational strategy and impact goals.
• Oversee resource allocation and financial performance across the program portfolio.
• Directly supervise Senior Directors across Impact & Innovation, Partnerships, Operations, Latin America, and the Pacific.
• Establish clear expectations and accountability for leadership and organizational performance.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and coaching to support…