Position Description

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) has a long-term commitment in Hawaiʻi to support healthy coral reefs through integrated, mauka-to-makai approaches that reduce land-based pollution, strengthen community stewardship, and improve the resilience of reef-dependent social and ecological systems. CORAL’s Hawaiʻi strategy currently centers on two connected priorities: advancing watershed and wastewater solutions, and strengthening protected areas and community-based marine management in Maui Nui.

As CORAL’s Hawaiʻi portfolio evolves, the organization is shifting from primarily project-level implementation toward a more catalytic role that connects science, partnerships, policy pathways, and investment to enable broader systems change. This includes sustained engagement in statewide wastewater coordination, attention to watershed-scale sediment reduction through land use and management, and exploring how CORAL can more deeply engage in policy processes to shape and influence reef-positive conservation outcomes beyond individual sites.

CORAL seeks a Hawaiʻi-based Program Director to provide leadership across the Hawaiʻi portfolio, guide strategic development, maintain high-level relationships, and represent CORAL in key forums, including policy and coordination spaces. The role is also expected to help identify and shape a focused pipeline of high-impact opportunities. The Hawai’i Director will report to CORAL’s Associate Director of Program Operations and manage a local team and contractors currently based across Maui Nui and Hawaiʻi Island.

The Director will:

• Provide senior strategic leadership for CORAL’s Hawaiʻi hub, including staff, consultants, projects, and budget, ensuring alignment with CORAL’s Hawaiʻi strategy and broader organizational direction.
• Strengthen enabling conditions for community- and Indigenous-led conservation by connecting stewardship, science, policy, and partnerships to deliver flexible, durable reef conservation outcomes.
• Advance systems-level strategies on sedimentation, community stewardship, wastewater, and reef‑relevant policy and finance, identifying and prioritizing high‑impact opportunities where CORAL can most effectively lead, support, convene, or partner.
• Maintain and deepen trusted relationships with Native Hawaiian communities, cultural practitioners, government agencies, funders, coalitions, landowners, and other key stakeholders, ensuring work is grounded in Indigenous knowledge, cultural values, and community priorities.
• Represent CORAL in strategic forums related to watershed stewardship, wastewater transition, marine management, climate resilience, and broader Hawaiʻi conservation and policy issues.
• Provide clear leadership for Hawaiʻi‑based staff and consultants (workplans, expectations, coordination), including leading regular Hawaiʻi Hub meetings that foster collaboration, transparency, continuous alignment, and proactive risk management.
• Oversee a portfolio of active projects and an annual, board‑approved Hawaiʻi budget, ensuring effective implementation, donor and grant compliance, accurate reporting, and timely close‑out.
• Collaborate with CORAL leadership and the Development team to maintain a strong pipeline of funding‑aligned projects and support proposal development, information requests, and donor engagement.
• Help scope and assess strategic opportunities for CORAL’s engagement in the broader Pacific, drawing on lessons from Hawaiʻi to inform future geographic and programmatic expansion.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Portfolio Direction (40%)

• Provide overall strategic leadership for CORAL’s Hawaiʻi program, setting priorities and ensuring alignment across goals, geographies, and partnerships.
• Translate the Hawaiʻi Hub Strategy into a clear implementation plan with resourced workplans, budgets, timelines, and Hawaiʻi‑specific metrics that guide implementation, learning, and reporting.
• Lead the Hawaiʻi Hub in close collaboration with local staff and global support teams (development, marketing, communications, science, strategic impact) to ensure Hawaiʻi is integrated into CORAL’s global work and grounded in strong science and clear priorities.
• Identify and evaluate successful place-based approaches and define pathways to replicate, scale, or institutionalize effective models through policy, partnerships, financing, and knowledge‑sharing.
• Advise CORAL’s senior leadership on strategic positioning in Hawaiʻi, including key risks, opportunities, partnerships, and resource allocation. Ensure the program remains responsive to emerging needs and aligned with organizational priorities.

Protected Areas and Community Stewardship (10%)

• Provide strategic direction for CORAL’s engagement in protected areas and community-based management, strengthening effectiveness, governance, and long‑term sustainability.
• Advance and strengthen frameworks that align protected area and governance approaches with Hawaiʻi‑based community stewardship priorities, grounded in place-based and historic understanding.
• Identify priority community partners and locations, co‑define needs and opportunities, and support community‑led stewardship models through partnership activities, policy and governance alignment, and appropriate financing mechanisms.
• Respect and follow community cultural protocols to build reciprocal, resilient relationships with Native Hawaiian communities and other local partners.

Statewide Wastewater and Policy Leadership (20%)

• Lead CORAL’s engagement in statewide wastewater coordination, aligning policy, finance, community communication, and implementation pathways that affect reef health.
• Represent CORAL in key coalitions and policy forums, shaping wastewater and reef‑related priorities and helping align public funding streams with reef resilience outcomes.
• Lead the Hawaiʻi team in monitoring, interpreting, and responding  to policy and regulatory developments (e.g., cesspool conversion, failing systems, community-scale solutions) to position CORAL to influence decisions and investment.

Representation, Partnerships, and Strategic Influence (20%)

• Serve as CORAL’s senior representative in Hawaiʻi, maintaining strong relationships with government, research institutions, Native Hawaiian organizations, NGOs, community partners, landowners, and funders.
• Act as a thought leader internally and externally, translating lessons from Hawaiʻi into organizational strategy, regional learning, and broader reef conservation practice.
• Develop and advance strategic partnerships and fundraising opportunities that expand CORAL’s influence, implementation capacity, and access to financing.
• Support initial scoping of a broader Pacific hub, identifying potential roles, partnerships, and opportunities that build logically from CORAL’s work in Hawaiʻi, and provide guidance on political, institutional, and funding dynamics to inform CORAL’s positioning.

Expected First-Year Outcomes

• A clear three‑year plan for CORAL’s Hawaiʻi program finalized within the first six months, with articulated priorities, key relationships, and milestones across watersheds/sedimentation, protected areas and community stewardship, wastewater, and state policy/finance engagement.
• Initial Hawaiʻi‑specific metrics and milestones developed, tested, and in active use to guide implementation, learning, and reporting on CORAL’s watershed, wastewater, and protected area/community stewardship work.
• CORAL’s role is clearly defined and visibly exercised in statewide wastewater coordination and priority policy/finance processes, with concrete examples of influence on decisions, funding flows, or implementation pathways that strengthen reef resilience.
• A focused set of strategic partnerships and priority geographies/initiatives identified and endorsed with CORAL leadership, including clear recommendations on where CORAL should lead, support, convene, or remain selectively engaged to advance reef‑positive outcomes in Hawaiʻi.

Qualifications & Experience

• 10+ years of senior experience in marine conservation, watershed management, environmental governance, community-based resource management, or related fields in Hawaiʻi.
• Deep understanding of Hawaiʻi’s conservation, policy, and partnership landscape, especially related to reefs, watershed stewardship, wastewater, and community-based marine management.
• Proven ability to build and maintain trusted relationships with government agencies, communities, NGOs, Native Hawaiian organizations, landowners, funders, and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience partnering with Native Hawaiian communities in a culturally respectful, community-centered way, grounded in Hawaiian cultural values and practices.
• Experience providing strategic leadership, navigating political and institutional dynamics, and representing an organization in complex multi-stakeholder settings.
• Demonstrated ability to engage effectively in policy, regulatory, and public finance processes that influence conservation outcomes.
• Ability to connect systems-level thinking with practical, place-based conservation priorities.
• Highly organized, with strong communication skills and a track record of synthesizing complex issues into clear, actionable guidance.
• Experience with strategy development and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) is an asset.
• Familiarity with Indigenous stewardship approaches, nature-based solutions, and Hawaiʻi’s environmental and cultural context.
• Based in Hawaiʻi.

Compensation and Work Schedule

This is a full-time exempt position compensated within a salary range of $118,000 to $128,000 annually. CORAL offers a compensation package including medical benefits, 401k matching, generous paid time off package, 12 holidays, Employee Assistance Program, and more. 

We offer a flexible working schedule where the successful candidate can set their own working hours as long as they are able to attend necessary meetings. Employees work from a home office or approved remote location. Reliable high-speed internet connection required. Position requires prolonged computer and video conferencing use.