Posted on March, 20 2025

Want to make a positive difference to the future of people and our one shared home, the Earth? Working at WWF could be your opportunity of a lifetime.

All around the world, people are waking up to the deepening crisis of nature loss. A growing realisation that nature is our life-support system. And that nobody will be spared from the impacts of its loss. Here at WWF, we are helping to tackle this enormous global challenge. Our people come from hugely diverse backgrounds and with a variety of expertise, ranging from HR and finance to advocacy and conservation science. We welcome applications from anyone who believes they can help us create a better future for people and wildlife.

What we do

We are an independent conservation organisation, striving to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife. From individuals and communities to business and government, we are part of a growing coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Together, we seek to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable.

Role purpose

The Regional Director, South East Asia (SEA) will lead the strategic planning and future institutional development of WWF in the region and enable the SEA Country Offices (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar) to play a leading role in the WWF Network. At the same time, the Regional Director will seek to fulfil the organisation's mission of ‘people living in harmony with nature’ by ensuring the relevance of WWF’s conservation work to people and development in the Asia Pacific region, The Regional Director SEA will also provide strong people leadership, and deliver operational excellence combined with effective implementation of conservation strategies and initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership and Strategy

• Provides effective leadership and line management for all members of the senior leadership team in Asia Pacific, including the SEA Country Offices, and leadership at the highest organisational level.
• Leads the development and implementation of the AP region's shared vision and strategy in conjunction with the Regional Director, East, Central Asia and the Pacific (ECAP), ensuring all staff in the SEA region are supported to contribute to WWF’s Global Goals.
• Provides overall direction and leadership in executing WWF’s strategic objectives to deliver conservation impact in the SEA region.
• Builds a culture of performance, positivity, creativity, and work ethic within all offices in the SEA region.
• Builds a purpose-driven culture and commitment to seeking an engaged workforce at regional and country levels, driven by staff engagement survey results and action plans.
• Ensures WWF in the SEA region has a solid long-term organisational development strategy and is financially strong to deliver on its conservation agenda.
• Role models the WWF organisational values and sets the ‘tone at the top’ in providing inspirational leadership to the region.

Conservation and Impact

• Provide line management and institutional support to ensure strategies, initiatives and programmes deliver the greatest impact towards WWF's Global Goals.
• Support the implementation of effective impact, monitoring and reporting systems.

External Engagement

• Oversees WWF policy and advocacy efforts in the AP region in conjunction with the Regional Director, East, Central Asia and the Pacific (ECAP) and contributes to global advocacy efforts impacting conservation in the region by ensuring the development of sound advocacy strategies and practice; and lobbying at the highest level to advance WWF conservation goals;
• Ensures effective communications, in partnership with Country Offices, with governments, international organisations, other non-governmental organisations, industry, and the public to maintain and develop a strong profile of WWF and its activities, as well as leveraging opportunities between national, regional and global levels.
• Identifies and pursues crucial opportunities for joint action with other conservation groups in the SEA to lead unified conservation agendas in the Asia Pacific region.
• Works closely with Regional Director, East Central Asia and the Pacific (ECAP) to secure key partnerships and high-level political commitment within and outside the Asia Pacific to deliver conservation impacts, such as the Asian Development Bank, ASEAN, etc and governments in the region, and business leaders to ensure optimal communication and mutually beneficial relationships;
• Initiates and leads strategic regional partnerships with governments, corporates, civil society, etc. relevant to WWF’s institutional vision and global initiatives in the Asia Pacific, thereby strengthening WWF’s profile, reputation and credibility in the SEA region and influencing policies.

Asia Pacific Regional Team Management (in conjunction with the Regional Director, East, Central Asia and the Pacific (ECAP))

• Leads the development of a highly effective, entrepreneurial, and impact/performance-driven Asia Pacific regional leadership team.
• Ensures that Country Office strategic plans for SEA Offices are developed and fully realised and performance is monitored and actioned.
• Work with the Regional Leadership Team to ensure timely Country Office performance and KPI reporting, high-quality periodic discussions with Country Office Directors and Senior Management Teams to review performance, and clear next steps and actions are followed through.

Country Office Management

• Ensures that WWF conservation projects and programmes are implemented and aligned with its social policies, clearly upholding the human rights of people and communities.
• Line manages SEA Country Offices and builds strong, high-performing Country Offices in the region equipped with the core capabilities to deliver impact and create a culture of commitment and high standard of work ethic and conservation impact amongst all levels of staff.
• Ensures SEA Country Offices are adequately resourced and effectively and efficiently managed in all key areas – conservation, operations, finance, HR, communication, policy and partnerships.
• Accountable for overseeing and monitoring SEA Country Offices' performance vis-à-vis the country/regional strategic and annual plans, and the achievement of WWF’s conservation goals.
• Accountable and oversees SEA Country Offices compliance to Network Standards and Policies (Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework, social policies commitments, People and Culture policies, country agreements, etc.) and embedding of Network Values at country and sub-regional level.
• Ensure cohesion and consistency across SEA Country Offices and support senior staff across locations to utilise their full potential to deliver conservation impact.

WWF Secretariat and Network Engagement

• Leads and coordinates engagement with network partners and Shareholder Groups on enhancing the visibility of WWF in the AP region, resource acquisition and policy engagements with external strategic partners.
• Actively facilitates and participates in the AP25 group which consists of CEOs and Country Directors of all the WWF Asia Pacific National Organisations and Country Offices.
• Together with Regional Director ECAP co-chairs and coordinates the Asia Pacific shareholder group meetings and follows up on agreed actions;
• Provide thought leadership and perspectives from the Country Office Management Division, Asia Pacific region, and SEA Country Offices as a member of the WWF International Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

Other Responsibilities

• Performs other duties as requested by the Chief, Country Office Management Division at WWF International.