Forest Fire Operator Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Location: The Nature Conservancy - This position works remotely to serve the entire western United States and can be located in any of the eleven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming.

Pay: $73,000-$103,785/year

Overview

The Western Dry Forests Program is working to transform the pace, scale, and effectiveness of forest stewardship across the western United States. The program focuses on dry, frequent‑fire forest systems where proactive restoration, strong partnerships, and sustained investment can deliver meaningful ecological and community benefits.

A core element of this work is advancing a defined set of high‑priority landscapes—places where ecological urgency, community vulnerability, and strategic opportunity align, and where targeted support can catalyze durable, landscape‑scale outcomes. These landscapes serve as platforms for collaboration, learning, and investment, helping TNC and its partners demonstrate what is possible and accelerate progress across the broader region.

The Applied Forest & Fire Strategy Manager plays a critical role in helping these landscapes succeed by supporting TNC’s state chapters (also known as Business Units (BUs)) across the West with coordination, resourcing, learning, and integration. This role does not manage on‑the‑ground restoration projects or direct implementation staff. Instead, it focuses on strengthening the systems, connections, and enabling conditions that allow BU‑led work to move faster, farther, and more consistently. Success in this role requires comfort operating in dynamic, evolving conditions—where priorities shift, roles are intentionally flexible, and progress depends on creative problem‑solving, initiative, and trust rather than formal authority. This position helps shape how the work happens as much as what work moves forward.

Working closely with BU practitioners, North America and Global programs (including North America Fire and the Fire Learning Network (FLN)), and Western Dry Forests core staff within TNC this position helps translate strategy into effective execution across the region’s priority landscapes – helping connect national expertise, network‑based partnerships, and tools with BU‑led conservation priorities.

This position works remotely to serve the entire western United States and can be located in any of the eleven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of strategy and practice—who is comfortable navigating uncertainty, connecting varied actors, and helping shape how complex work moves forward at scale.

This position is well suited to someone who:

• Enjoys working across geographies and organizational boundaries
• Brings a systems mindset to conservation challenges
• Brings a relationship‑based, network‑oriented approach to complex conservation challenges
• Values listening, facilitation, and co‑creation with place‑based staff and partners
• Can balance strategic thinking with practical, hands‑on support
• Is comfortable operating in ambiguity and shaping the edges of their role as priorities, partnerships, and opportunities evolve
• Values collaboration, learning, and equity as core elements of conservation success

Responsibilities and Scope

• Support Business Units engaged in priority dry forest landscapes by helping coordinate landscape‑level conservation planning, sequencing, and cross‑partner efforts, including co‑developing a shared understanding of landscape dynamics, priority needs, and feasible intervention opportunities—while leaving delivery authority with BUs.
• Help identify and reduce barriers that slow implementation, including gaps in capacity, coordination, conservation planning readiness (e.g., data analysis, alignment), or resourcing.
• Operate with a high degree of autonomy and adaptability, helping define approaches, clarify roles, and surface next steps in situations where pathways are not fully formed and solutions must be co‑created with partners and place‑based staff.
• Contribute to the development of practical business, financial, and conservation planning-informed resourcing strategies that test new ways of working and increase the durability and scalability of conservation delivery systems over time.
• Support regionally aligned funding and resourcing mechanisms—including subawards or targeted investments—that advance innovative, high‑impact approaches led by BUs and partners.
• Help identify where methods or approaches developed in one landscape can inform or be adapted in other high‑priority landscapes with an eye toward replication, transferability, and scale beyond individual places.
• Convene or support structured cross‑Business Unit learning activities to surface shared challenges, exchange lessons learned and transfer effective practices related to conservation planning, implementation readiness, and scaling.
• Serve as a liaison between BU‑level implementation staff and North America and Global programs (e.g., North America Fire), helping align national and global tools, expertise, and capacity with BU‑identified priorities and landscape‑specific conservation planning and delivery opportunities.
• Collaborate with applied project support teams (e.g., stewardship, operations, monitoring, applied management) to ensure BU‑led work is supported by appropriate technical guidance and institutional pathways.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., natural resource management, environmental studies, public administration) and at least 6 years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience working in or alongside prescribed fire programs and fire‑adapted landscapes, demonstrating applied understanding of forest and fire management, even if not serving in an operational leadership role. NWCG qualification at FFT1, Single Resource, or comparable level is a plus but not required.
• Experience in conservation planning, including the ability to develop or co‑develop landscape‑scale assessments, identify priority intervention opportunities, and translate planning insights into actionable strategies.
• Experience with business planning, financial planning, or funding alignment for conservation or natural resource programs.
• Strong project coordination skills and the ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously.
• Proven relationship‑building, communication, and facilitation skills.
• Experience working with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, or community‑based partners.
• This position requires a valid driver’s license and compliance with TNC’s Auto Safety Program. Employees may not drive Conservancy‑owned/leased vehicles, rental cars, or personal vehicles on behalf of the Conservancy if considered "high risk drivers." To learn more about the Auto Safety Program, visit the Auto Safety information page. Employment in this position will be contingent upon completion of a Vehicle Use Agreement, which may include a review of the prospective employee's motor vehicle record.

Desired Qualifications

• More than 7 years of experience in landscape‑scale conservation or program implementation.
• Experience working across multiple geographies or Business Units in a matrixed organization.
• Experience, competency, and/or knowledge of dry forest ecosystems and the ways ecological processes, land use, policy, and community dynamics interact to shape conservation and management outcomes.
• Familiarity with state and federal conservation funding programs and multi‑jurisdictional project delivery models.
• Familiarity with cooperative agreements, master stewardship agreements, grants, or other contracting and subaward mechanisms.
• NWCG qualified as a Firefighter Type II (FFT2) or Prescribed Fire Crew Member (RXCM), or ability to attain qualification within the first 18 months of employment, consistent with TNC fire management requirements.
• Experience supporting or coordinating complex, multi‑partner conservation initiatives.
• Experience supporting regional resourcing tools or pooled funding approaches.
• Experience integrating equity, inclusion, and respect for Tribal sovereignty into conservation planning and implementation support.
• This position requires a valid driver's license.

This position requires a valid driver's license and compliance with TNC’s Auto Safety Program. Employees may not drive Conservancy‑owned/leased vehicles, rental cars, or personal vehicles on behalf of the Conservancy if considered "high risk drivers." To learn more about the Auto Safety Program, visit the Auto Safety information page. Employment in this position will be contingent upon completion of a Vehicle Use Agreement, which may include a review of the prospective employee's motor vehicle record.