Landowner Partnerships Lead

Your role:

Living Carbon is using biotechnology to develop high-quality, scalable, forest carbon projects on new types of underperforming land using our own seedling supply and planting partners. We are in need of a proactive and collaborative self-starter with a depth of knowledge in carbon project origination and development, specifically in working to develop projects with private landowners, related associations, and non-government organizations. The primary objectives for this role are to help define Living Carbon’s landowner partnership strategy, work with existing land partners, develop and roll out a referral program, build and maintain a pipeline of prospective landowners, educate about Living Carbon forest carbon programs, and negotiate and close commercial deals. You will be expected to work with landowners to develop projects in accordance with best-in-class voluntary carbon market standards and deliver the highest-quality carbon removal projects. 

Establishing carbon project partnerships is critical to the success of our commercial strategy at Living Carbon. This role requires a candidate who can clearly and effectively communicate with both external partners and internal teams in a collaborative manner. A successful candidate will be adaptive and creative about bringing Living Carbon’s enhanced trees to market in high-quality afforestation, reforestation, and improved forest management carbon projects, and is someone who can excel in a fast-growing biotech startup environment. This role will report directly to Living Carbon’s Head of Commercial.

Your responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain carbon project landowner pipeline and activities with private landowners in the United States
• Create and maintain landowner lead lists, develop and execute outreach strategy and conduct introductory calls with prospective partners for initial qualification
• Develop a robust pipeline of qualified carbon project prospects through a variety of outreach methods to achieve internal targets for carbon projects
• Synthesize and share feedback from outreach initiatives with the internal team
• Manage pipeline with CRM software (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, etc.)
• Make recommendations for program improvements based on feedback to ensure Living Carbon delivers programs that fit both partner needs and internal business needs
• Research and identify new potential carbon project prospect opportunities based on key partner criteria
• Prepare and present carbon project materials and partnership proposals
• Collect required data from project stakeholders to support financing plans and budgets, technical feasibility, economic feasibility, and legal documentation
• Attend association meetings, conferences, workshop events, and other strategic landowner partnership activities
• Work collaboratively in a remote role with other members of the Living Carbon Commercialization, R&D, and Operations teams

Requirements and qualifications:

• 5+ years of carbon project development experience with proven track record for developing partnerships and/or sales pipeline, and motivated to build new partnerships  
• Familiar with carbon markets, forest carbon projects, and carbon offset standards and protocols
• Experience working with GIS and forest analytics programs a strong plus
• Eagerness to work in a fast-moving organization and comfortable with uncertainties that come with building a company in a quickly evolving market
• Strategic creative thinker and entrepreneurial mindset, interested in building new business models
• Would be described as “willing to do what it takes to get the job done”
• You are empathetic to the problems others face, a good listener, and a team player
• You are easily able to think creatively and critically and take the shortest path to executing on a project or to solve a given issue
• Ability to cognitively switch between different types of projects with low stress
• Autonomous self-organizer who can balance and organize your schedule and day to maximize productivity