Meru Landscape Manager

Inspired by Elsa the lioness, whose journey to freedom in Kenya was depicted in the 1966 film Born Free, the charity works globally, and in Kenya, to protect wildlife and their ecosystems. 

Established in 2003, Born Free Kenya champions human-wildlife coexistence through hands-on conservation efforts, education, and community initiatives. In Amboseli and Meru National Parks, we monitor lions, giraffes, and elephants, and we employ strategies to promote the co-existence of people and wildlife in the surrounding community lands. We also support sustainable livelihoods, provide conservation education, and collaborate with partners to protect people, wildlife, and their habitats.

Born Free Foundation is seeking a dedicated Meru Landscape Manager to lead the Meru Landscape Programme. The core purpose of Meru Landscape Manager is to provide technical and operational leadership for all programmatic work within a designated geographic area/ ecosystem – a landscape.

The role ensures effective programme delivery, strong partnerships, sound financial management, team supervision, and compliance with organisational, donor, and government requirements. The role serves as the primary representative of the organisation in the area, working closely with communities, government agencies, wildlife authorities, partners, and donors to achieve long-term-conservation impact. This role will provide landscape leadership and coordination by supervising day-to-day-work, supporting staff induction and capacity development, managing performance and staff welfare, ensuring compliance with organisational policies, timely submission of quality Landscape Programme reports and acting as the primary link between field teams and management to deliver programme objectives effectively.

● Lead the planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of all Born Free programs within the Meru landscape.

● Ensure alignment with national strategy, landscape plans, and organisational priorities (e.g. species protection, habitat management, community engagement and livelihoods, climate, or HWC mitigation).

● Oversee day-to-day field operations, species monitoring and protection, human-wildlife coexistence, community engagement, logistics and administration.

● Oversee the effective implementation of all current projects, ensuring quality, timeliness, and alignment with agreed objectives.

● Ensure that project deliverables, targets, and commitments are met on time, to quality standards and within the approved budget.

● Drive adaptive management by writing and keeping up to date project protocols, analysing field data, identifying challenges, proposing solutions and providing technical reports and operational summaries, including annual reports.

● Build strong, respectful relationships with local communities, leaders, and community-based organisations, supported by the Community Engagement Technical Lead.

● Lead implementation of human–wildlife coexistence initiatives, livelihood programmes, and conservation education activities.

● In consultation with the Country Director, the Head of Kenya Programmes and the Community Engagement Technical Lead, represent the organisation at county government, wildlife authorities, forestry agencies, and local security structures.

● Facilitate co-management, community governance structures, and support community conservation areas where relevant.

● Resolve community concerns and grievances through ethical, transparent, and respectful processes.

● Develop, propose and, when approved, manage the annual landscape budget in line with organisational financial priorities and procedures.

● Ensure cost effective and transparent use of resources, value for money, and full compliance with Born Free financial rules

● Manage day-to-day project budgets and ensure all expenditure complies with Born Free’s internal procedures and regulations.

● Identify risks and opportunities at landscape level and ensure mitigation measures are in place and actioned.

● With support from Finance & Administration manager, monitor expenditure against budgets on monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

● Propose budget re-forecasts, variations and any programmatic changes in a timely manner

● Provide leadership, supervision, and mentorship to landscape staff, including project officers, assistants and community conservation assistants

● Oversee implementation and tracking of project activities by team members, via daily liaison with team members to ensure adherence to workplans, schedules, and delivery standards.

● Manage performance, conduct appraisals for direct reports, and identify training and development needs.

● Promote a positive, safe, inclusive, and accountable work environment and ensure that Born

Free’s values, goals, and objectives are clearly communicated, understood, and upheld by the team.

● Ensure staff adhere to safeguarding, health & safety, and security protocols.

● Convene and lead regular (monthly) project management meetings, ensuring robust reporting, risk management, and progress/completion of agreed follow-up actions.

● Develop and lead the monitoring and evaluation process for the programmatic activities (including baseline data development) according to approved protocols and policies

● Oversee data collection using MEAL tools, SMART patrol systems, or other monitoring platforms at Landscape level

● Ensure accurate and timely reporting of all activities in the landscape

● Support programme baseline surveys, ecological monitoring, evaluations and lessons learned processes.

● Use evidence to inform decision-making, adaptive management, and proposal development.

● Prepare and submit monthly updates, bi-annual and annual reports, technical papers, and other reports as required by the Head of Kenya Programmes and other internal stakeholders.

● Work closely with the Kenya Communications Manager and wider Born Free Communications team to generate high-quality content for publications, press releases, factsheets, blogs, and reports related to the programme and landscape.

● Support the development of project proposals for fundraising and engagement with potential donors and partners.

● Implement organisational and donor policies, including safeguarding, anti-corruption, procurement, and code of conduct.

● Monitor security risks and ensure the safety of staff, assets, and beneficiaries.

● Maintain active relationships with relevant authorities and coordinate relevant joint actions whenever safety, legal, or emergency issues arise.

● In consultation with the Head of Kenya Programmes, The Kenya Country Director, and the Community Engagement Technical Lead, represent the organisation in landscape level conservation and community engagement forums, technical working groups, and government meetings.

● Build and maintain partnerships with NGOs, research institutions, private sector actors, and development partners at landscape level.

● Identify opportunities for collaboration and resource mobilisation at the local level and liaise with appropriate staff for further support.

● Promote Born Free’s objectives and ensure strong visibility of its work within the Meru Landscape.

● Collaborate with and seek the input and advice of the Community Engagement Technical Lead on all community related activities, including those undertaken with schools.

● Bachelor’s degree in Conservation Biology, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Science, or related field (master’s preferred).

● Minimum 5-7years of experience managing conservation or community development programs.

● Proven experience in team leadership, budget management, project implementation, and stakeholder engagement.

● Prior experience within a conservation or animal welfare organisation is strongly preferred.

● Experience working with wildlife authorities, community conservancies, indigenous communities, or protected area systems.

● Familiarity with donor-funded projects (USG, EU, FCDO, GEF, Foundations) will be an added advantage.

● Strong understanding of MEAL tools, including ecological monitoring or SMART systems.

● Strong leadership, coordination, and people management skills.

● Excellent communication and relationship-building abilities.

● High integrity, cultural sensitivity, and conflict resolution skills.

● Strong analytical, strategic and critical thinking, and problem-solving capabilities with the ability to drive programmes forward with urgency, care, and due diligence.

● Ability to work in remote areas under challenging field conditions.

● Demonstrated ability in project planning, proposal writing, budgeting, and financial management.

● Proficiency in analytical tools and working with databases and spreadsheets.

● Strong interpersonal, presentation, and technical report-writing skills.

● Ability to prioritise, manage time effectively, meet deadlines, and deliver against agreed targets.

● Capacity to build and maintain strong relationships across diverse stakeholders, including communities, government agencies, NGOs, researchers, and Born Free networks.

● Flexible, adaptable, proactive, and able to manage competing demands.

● Strong alignment with Born Free’s values and commitment to compassionate conservation.

● Valid driving licence (Class BCE) with demonstrated experience driving manual four-wheel-drive vehicles in challenging terrain.

● Fluent in English and Kiswahili; knowledge of local languages is an added advantage. Internal Key Relationships

The Meru Landscape Manager will work closely with programme and operations teams, including Amboseli Landscape Managers, Community Engagement Technical Lead, Communications Manager, GIS & Data Manager, Fundraising & Partnerships Manager and Field Project Officers and the wider global Born Free team.

Interested and qualified candidates should forward their CV and cover letter by 5pm on Friday 19th June 2026.

Note: This job description outlines the roles, duties, and responsibilities of the post. It is not intended to detail all specific tasks. Born Free reserves the right to alter the content of this job description to reflect the changing needs of the organisation but is a correct reflection of the main duties of the post at the time of writing.

Thank you for your interest in working for Born Free, Kenya.