Utah Watershed Restoration & Partnerships Manager

This is a remote position that must be based in Utah's Greater Salt Lake region (e.g., Salt Lake City, Ogden, Logan, Park City, Heber City, or Provo).

WRI's U.S. Forests and Water program, part of the global Cities4

Forests initiative, works to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, restore degraded forests, and protect watersheds across the U.S. The program focuses on designing, implementing, financing, and scaling projects with local partners to build disaster resilience, strengthen water security, protect and enhance infrastructure, create jobs and recreation opportunities, and boost rural prosperity.

In Utah, WRI has served as a strategic partner for the U.S. Forest Service, water and electric utilities, state agencies, conservation organizations, academia, and local governments for nearly a decade and has worked to improve watershed health and reduce wildfire risk across the Great Salt Lake Basin. A key component of this work is the Utah Resilience Fund, an innovative fund that brings together public, private, and philanthropic funding to scale watershed restoration and long-term resilience.

Additional information on the U.S. project portfolio can be found here.

The Utah Watershed Restoration Manager will help advance watershed restoration, partnerships, and resilience projects across Utah, with an initial emphasis on the Jordan River watershed and its forested source watersheds. This position is focused on developing a pipeline of restoration projects from planning to implementation by coordinating partners, advancing policy priorities, supporting funding acquisition, and helping deliver on-the-ground restoration outcomes at scale.

Working closely with the Utah Watershed Resilience Manager, Research & Project Development Manager, Cities4

Forests' senior leadership and a diverse network of local partners, the Manager will build and maintain relationships with municipalities, water providers, conservation districts, state and federal agencies, community organizations, and other stakeholders. The role will help identify restoration opportunities, remove implementation barriers, navigate policy and permitting processes, secure project funding, and support successful project delivery.

The successful candidate brings a strong understanding of Utah's water, watershed, forest, and wildfire landscape, an established network of relationships within the Greater Salt Lake region, and experience coordinating complex environmental or infrastructure projects. This position is ideal for someone who enjoys working directly with communities and partners to turn plans into action and create measurable benefits for watersheds, communities, and ecosystems.

• Lead planning, implementation, and scaling of watershed restoration and resilience projects across priority watersheds, with an initial focus on the Jordan River watershed and Greater Salt Lake Basin.
• Partner with utilities, local governments, agencies, NGOs, and land managers to identify, prioritize, and advance restoration projects that improve watershed health, water security, and wildfire resilience.
• Help utilities consider financing approaches for integrated grey and green infrastructure strategies.
• Help move projects from concept to implementation by supporting project development, permitting, funding, stakeholder coordination, and delivery across public and private lands.
• Support development of near- and long-term restoration strategies informed by watershed science, wildfire risk, partner priorities, and implementation readiness.
• Track project performance, budgets, and outcomes, and support monitoring and evaluation efforts.

• Build trusted relationships with utilities, local governments, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, community groups, and other partners.
• Lead watershed collaboratives, technical committees, and partner working groups to align priorities and accelerate restoration outcomes.
• Monitor and participate in water, forestry, wildfire, and watershed policy discussions relevant to WRI's work and restoration goals.
• Identify opportunities to align restoration priorities with local, state, and federal programs and funding sources.
• Develop recommendations and strategies that remove barriers to implementation and increase investment in watershed resilience.
• Lead the drafting of grant proposals and funding applications to support the work in Utah.
• Develop and steward…