Regional Director, Conservation Programs (Hawaiʻi

Regional Director, Conservation Programs (Hawaiʻi)
Position Description

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) has a long-term commitment in Hawaiʻi to support healthy coral reefs through integrated, mauka-to-makai approaches that reduce land-based pollution, strengthen community stewardship, and improve the resilience of reef-dependent social and ecological systems. CORAL’s Hawaiʻi strategy currently centers on two connected priorities: advancing watershed and wastewater solutions, and strengthening community-based marine management in Maui Nui.

As CORAL’s Hawaiʻi portfolio evolves, the organization is shifting from primarily project-level implementation toward a more catalytic role that connects science, partnerships, policy pathways, and investment to enable broader systems change. This includes sustained engagement in statewide wastewater coordination, attention to watershed-scale sediment reduction through land use and management, and exploring how CORAL can more deeply engage in policy processes to shape and influence reef-positive conservation outcomes beyond individual sites.

CORAL seeks a Hawaiʻi-based Program Director to provide leadership across the Hawaiʻi portfolio, guide strategic development, maintain high-level relationships, and represent CORAL in key forums, including policy and coordination spaces. The role is also expected to help identify and shape a focused pipeline of high‑impact opportunities. The Hawai’i Director will report to CORAL’s Associate Director of Program Operations and manage a local team and contractors currently based across Maui Nui and Hawaiʻi Island.

• Provide senior strategic leadership for CORAL’s Hawaiʻi hub, including staff, consultants, projects, and budget, ensuring alignment with CORAL’s Hawaiʻi strategy and broader organizational direction.
• Strengthen enabling conditions for community- and Indigenous-led conservation by connecting stewardship, science, policy, and partnerships to deliver flexible, durable reef conservation outcomes.
• Advance systems-level strategies on sedimentation, community stewardship, wastewater, and reef‑relevant policy and finance, identifying and prioritizing high‑impact opportunities where CORAL can most effectively lead, support, convene, or partner.
• Maintain and deepen trusted relationships with Native Hawaiian communities, cultural practitioners, government agencies, funders, coalitions, landowners, and other key stakeholders, ensuring work is grounded in Indigenous knowledge, cultural values, and community priorities.
• Represent CORAL in strategic forums related to watershed stewardship, wastewater transition, marine management, climate resilience, and broader Hawaiʻi conservation and policy issues.
• Provide clear leadership for Hawaiʻi‑based staff and consultants (workplans, expectations, coordination), including leading regular Hawaiʻi Hub meetings that foster collaboration, transparency, continuous alignment, and proactive risk management.
• Oversee a portfolio of active projects and an annual, board‑approved Hawaiʻi budget, ensuring effective implementation, donor and grant compliance, accurate reporting, and timely close‑out.
• Collaborate with CORAL leadership and the Development team to maintain a strong pipeline of funding‑aligned projects and support proposal development, information requests, and donor engagement.
• Help scope and assess strategic opportunities for CORAL’s engagement in the broader Pacific, drawing on lessons from Hawaiʻi to inform future geographic and programmatic expansion.

• Provide overall strategic leadership for CORAL’s Hawaiʻi program, setting priorities and ensuring alignment across goals, geographies, and partnerships.
• Translate the Hawaiʻi Hub Strategy into a clear implementation plan with resourced workplans, budgets, timelines, and Hawaiʻi‑specific metrics that guide implementation, learning, and reporting.
• Lead the Hawaiʻi Hub in close collaboration with local staff and global support teams (development, marketing, communications, science, strategic impact) to ensure Hawaiʻi is integrated into CORAL’s…