Director, International Government Relations

The Ocean Conservancy; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Ocean Conservancy in Washington, DC is seeking a Director, International Government Relations to coordinate international policy advocacy across conservation programs. You will lead the IGR team and ensure OC presents a single, credible voice at Our Ocean, the UN Ocean Conference and UNEA.

This role requires 5+ years in international policy or diplomacy, strong coalition-building, and superb relationship management.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of international policy, diplomacy or government relations experience.
• Ability to build and run cross-team coordination systems without direct authority.
• Proven track record in building international coalitions and engaging governments.
• Familiarity with international policy venues (IMO, UNFCCC/COPs, UNEA, Our Ocean).
• Excellent relationship-management skills and diplomatic judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication; synthesize cross-program info.
• Highly organized, able to maintain shared calendars and trackers.
• Collaborative, able to influence across program boundaries.
• Willingness to travel internationally for negotiations and partner meetings.

Responsibilities

• Directly engage governments and international institutions on Ocean Conservancy priorities.
• Manage IGR team: supervision, budget, annual workplan and reporting.
• Coordinate cross-program advocacy, diplomacy and coalition-building.
• Run internal coordination calls and global visibility updates.
• Maintain a shared international events calendar and planning tracker.
• Define country targets and ensure engagement decisions reflect priorities.

Skills

Policy advocacy

Diplomacy

Coalitions

Relationship management

Written & verbal communication

Cross-team coordination

Organizational systems

Collaboration across programs

International travel

Education

Bachelor degree in environmental policy or related field

Job description

POSITION TITLE: Director, International Government Relations

DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM: Conservation Programs

REPORTS TO: Vice President, External Affairs

STATUS: Regular, Full-Time, Exempt

LOCATION: Washington, DC preferred (hybrid); other states considered: AK, CA, FL, MD, OR, TX, VA, WA, WV

ABOUT OCEAN CONSERVANCY

For more than 50 years, Ocean Conservancy has delivered effective, evidence-based solutions for the ocean and all who depend on it. Today, we continue to unite science, people and policy to protect our ocean from the greatest challenges it faces: climate change, plastic pollution and biodiversity loss. We are a 501(C)3 headquartered in Washington, D.C. that inspires a worldwide network of partners, advocates and supporters through our comprehensive and clear-eyed approach to ocean conservation. Together, we are securing a healthy ocean and a thriving planet, forever and for everyone.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director, International Government Relations is responsible for coordinating Ocean Conservancy's (OC) international policy advocacy across conservation programs and the International Government Relations (IGR) team, ensuring OC shows up before governments and institutions with a single, credible voice. The Director runs the cross-program coordination systems that keeps OC's international engagement coherent and coordinates a unified "One-OC" presence at major convenings like Our Ocean, the UN Ocean Conference and UNEA. The Director also builds cross-program capability in international advocacy and diplomacy through shared playbooks, coaching and strategic input.

OC's international advocacy is distributed across conservation programs and the IGR team rather than centralized in IGR alone. The Director's role is to both directly drive and engage in international advocacy, and to also be the connective tissue that helps international efforts across programs add up to more than the sum of their parts. Reporting to the Vice President of External Affairs, the Director will work closely with program leads across OC's conservation portfolio — including Biodiversity, Climate, and Plastics — as well as Communications and Development, to advance OC's international policy goals.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Directly engaging in international advocacy and managing the IGR team

• Directly engage with governments and international institutions on behalf of Ocean Conservancy’s ocean conservation advocacy priorities.
• Manage IGR team direct reports.
• Ownership of the IGR team budget, annual workplan and internal reporting.

Driving international advocacy strategies and coordination across teams

• Strengthen program staff’s effectiveness at international advocacy and diplomacy through strategic guidance on coalition-building, diplomacy and negotiation strategy.
• Run OC’s internal coordination systems, including cross-program coordination calls and organization-wide global visibility updates.
• Proactively identify and address coordination gaps.

Coordinating key international multi-issue events and a unified international calendar

• Coordinate a unified “One-OC” approach at major multi-issue convenings (e.g., Our Ocean, UN Ocean Conference, UNEA) — defining institutional success, sequencing engagements and establishing a fair, transparent process for allocating scarce opportunities such as speaking roles, side events and high-level bilateral meetings.
• Maintain a shared international events calendar and planning tracker that programs actively use to plan engagements and that surfaces benchmark or venue conflicts early enough to proactively resolve.

Coordinating country and institutional prioritization

• Maintain a single, current, shared view of OC’s priority country and institutional targets, including tiering and clarity on where deeper relationship investment is needed.
• Ensure country prioritization visibly shapes real engagement decisions — who at OC is engaging which governments and why.

REQUIRED SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE

• Significant professional experience (5+ years) in international policy, diplomacy or government relations, ideally within the ocean, environmental or natural resources sector.
• Demonstrated ability to build and run coordination systems across multiple teams or stakeholders with competing priorities, without direct authority over those teams.
• Track record of building or contributing to international coalitions, including engaging both champion governments and more skeptical or opposed parties.
• Familiarity with international policy venues and processes relevant to ocean conservation (e.g., IMO, RFMOs, UNFCCC/COPs, UNEA, BBNJ, Our Ocean) strongly preferred.
• Excellent relationship-management skills, with the judgment to navigate sensitive and sometimes competing institutional interests with diplomacy and discretion.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex, cross-program information into clear, actionable guidance.
• Highly organized self-starter, comfortable building and maintaining shared systems (calendars, trackers, briefing materials) that other teams rely on.
• Highly collaborative, with an appreciation for working across program boundaries and influencing without direct authority.
• Willingness to travel internationally for negotiations, convenings and partner meetings, as this position will require international and domestic travel to support key multi-issue convenings, negotiations and partner engagements.
• Strong passion for Ocean Conservancy’s mission and values.

EDUCATION/TRAINING

• Bachelor degree required, preferably in environmental policy, public policy, international affairs, international relations, marine policy or a relevant related field.

COMPENSATION

Ocean Conservancy is committed to fair pay practices and posts expected salary ranges for each of its positions. Compensation will be commensurate with the candidate’s specialty skills, years of experience, location, and unique background. The starting salary range for this role is $130,000 - $140,000 annually. We would welcome the opportunity to connect with potential candidates whose salary requirements may be outside of the expected range.

HYBRID WORK ENVIRONMENT

Ocean Conservancy embraces a hybrid work environment, which allows our staff the flexibility to work virtually and in-person while building strong connections across the institution.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Ocean Conservancy provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

We encourage applicants who have a diverse level and range of relevant skills and experiences to apply. A 100% match is not required. We want to support employees’ career growth and in return, our employees help Ocean Conservancy grow into a stronger, more inclusive institution.