Taking Root is looking for a new Project Manager to join the Quality team and support the development and implementation of Taking Root’s reforestation projects quality processes and tools in the day-to-day as we strive to reverse climate change!
Taking Root's purpose is to accelerate the restoration of the world’s forests. We enable smallholder farmers to grow trees and earn money from the carbon they remove from the atmosphere. Recognized for its best practices by the UN, EU and World Economic Forum, Taking Root is connecting thousands of farmers to the carbon market, improving their livelihoods by restoring forests around the world.
About the role
As the the Quality - Project Manager, you work closely with Taking Root’s implementation partners (eg. NGOs, producer coops, etc.) who implement the reforestation projects with local farmers in Central and South America. The project manager will support reforestation partners to ensure they adopt Taking Root’s data and technology-based approach in accordance with our internal quality standards when establishing new planted forests linked to certified carbon credits with local smallholders who will see their production diversified and improve their climate resilience and livelihoods.
Reporting to the Quality Director, you will be the primary point person at Taking Root for the monitoring of reforested parcel performance. In your day-to-day, you will be paired with a member of the implementation partner’s leadership team. As such, you are expected to invest in developing a coaching relationship with stakeholders from our reforestation partners organizations. Consequently, mastery of the Spanish language is a requirement to ensure success in the position. This is a perfect opportunity for someone who loves the challenge of working with a complex network of internal and external stakeholders to deliver high-impact climate change solutions and gets energized by the thought of building lasting relationships with people from around the world who share our passion for reforestation and working with local communities!
This is a full-time position, and we are open to full-time remote work within Canada, although due to the international travel required, preference may be given to those who are available to work in a hybrid setting in Montreal, Qc, or a remote setting in Toronto, On. We work with a diverse set of international partners and especially encourage Indigenous Peoples, members of racial minorities, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA2S+, and members of other underrepresented groups to apply.
What’s it like to work at Taking Root?
We’re a team of purpose-driven individuals, united in our goal to restore the world’s forests. Our workforce is a mixture of hybrid and fully remote, but we make space for connection and collaboration. Sharing pet photos is encouraged, regular organizational updates are the norm, and each fiscal year starts with an all-team in-person event (appropriately named ‘Roots’, because we love tree puns almost as much as we love trees). Employee health is a priority for Taking Root, and we continually strive to build a work environment that fosters growth, compassion, and transparency.
Our organizational values are:
- We do it for nature.
- Be in service of those stewarding the land.
- Always pursue more impact.
- Face the unknown with courage.
- Help each other grow.
Read more about our values
here.
Responsibilities:
- Quality Planning and goal setting: Support the Director, Quality to define quality criteria and expectations for carbon credits that link forest growth & sylviculture performance with carbon goals attainment. Support the development of a quality management plan that outlines quality standards, processes, and assessment methodologies along the carbon credit production life-cycle.
- Quality Tracking and Monitoring: Lead the implementation and continuous evaluation of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure and monitor the compliance of reforestation and forest management activities to quality standards (leading indicators) and the quality of carbon credits (lagging). Analyze farmers behavioural data and sylviculture data to identify areas for improvement and potential root causes of quality challenges.
- Quality Process Improvement: Continuously assess and improve farmers” activities to help identify how they could enhance their efficiency and reduce quality problems upstream that create additional sylviculture interventions downstream (e.g. replanting).
- Capability building: Ensure that team members of the reforestation partners are adequately trained to perform their work in a way that promotes farmer’s compliance and parcels’ long-term performance for credits’ quality.
- Quality Assurance: Establish and enforce quality assurance processes to ensure that the production cycle meets predefined quality standards. Design and train partners to conduct internal regular audits and inspections to verify adherence to quality procedures (e.g. is pruning done right). Lead evaluation of internal audit data and identification of trends and quality inefficiencies to inform quality process continuous improvement.
- Quality Risk Management: Support the identification of potential risks to quality and help the development of strategies to mitigate or address them. Monitor and manage risks throughout the production lifecycle.
- Documentation and Reporting: Maintain records of quality-related activities including parcel’s forest inventory activities, farmer’s grievances, farmer’s and technicians training, audits, and corrective actions. Provide regular reports to stakeholders on quality performance and any deviations from the plan.
- Compliance: Help ensure that the project complies with the Plan Vivo standard. Collaborates with the Methodology and Standards department to assess operational practices adherence to the evolving carbon certification landscape.
- Communications: Maintain continuous communication and hold weekly progress monitoring meetings with reforestation partners quality counterparts to ensure coordination and reporting of progress.
- Manage and ensures quality of the project data: Utilizing Taking’s Root technology platform, oversees quality of forest inventory data and resolves data corrections as needed in collaboration with the reforestation partner counterpart.
- Collaborates the Product and Engineering Departments to support the development of Taking Root’s technology in accordance with the operational realities of each project. Help design quality monitoring tools and recurring analyses to inform operational leaders (scorecards, etc.)
Skills, Qualifications, and Experience required:
We especially encourage those with unconventional experience, education, or career paths to apply, even if you may not meet the precise requirements listed in this posting.
- 4+ years’ experience of quality project management – including the implementation of quality processes from design to delivery.
- Fluent in Spanish and English (additional French language skills are a plus)
- Strong analytical skills and experience working with qualitative, quantitative and georeferenced data (basic R or Python data analysis skills and Q GIS experience a plus)
- Ability and willingness to travel a minimum of 8-10 weeks per year to project locations. 1-3 week trips distributed along the year depending on operational needs.
- Proactive and problem-solving mentality and positive mindset is essential.
- Strong oral and written communication skills for client-facing work, technical reporting, and training delivery to culturally diverse audiences.
- Ability to lead and coordinate multiple complex projects across multiple internal stakeholders. Capacity to work in fast paced multicultural and highly collaborative environments with short timelines and tight deadlines.
- Experience working in developing countries.
- PMP Designation is a plus.
- Experience working with forestry, agricultural, environmental multinational businesses or nonprofits, or natural resource industries is a plus.
- Experience and skills in continuous improvement (RCA, lean, performance management, leadership coaching, …) is a plus.
- Experience working with certifications/carbon credits is a plus
How to apply:
Please apply via the portal. We value your interest; however, only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.
Taking Root has a diverse team of talented people across gender and racial spectrums. We have created a culture of innovation, diversity, and inclusivity, striving for open discussions, best hiring and operational practices. We hire and promote based on merit, competence, performance, successful milestones, and business needs. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind, be that based on race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, disability, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal or provincial laws.
