POSITION DESCRIPTION

Bird City Wisconsin Program Director

Lake Michigan Bird Observatory (LMBO) seeks an enthusiastic individual to manage and implement its Bird City Wisconsin’s daily operations. The position is budgeted for 20 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. This position offers flexible hours, but workload may vary across the year. The director will report to LMBO’s Director of Conservation and Partnerships and will work closely with the BCW Steering Committee to ensure the program’s success.

Location: This is a hybrid position requiring occasional travel to current and future Bird Cities in Wisconsin. Attendance at the biennial BCW conference is mandatory. Staff must report in person to LMBO’s Port Washington, Wis., office once a week for a staff meeting. Optional permanent office space is available at LMBO’s Port Washington headquarters.

Primary Duties

• Promote and publicize Bird City to recruit new communities.
• Lead Bird City communities through the annual process of renewing their Bird City status and help lapsed communities update their recognition.
• Make, or arrange for LMBO or the BCW Steering Committee to make, in-person presentations of the initial Bird City recognition a community achieves.
• Every year, run one to two issue-specific campaigns to raise that issue’s profile across the state and to help Bird City communities take new and meaningful actions on that featured issue(s).
• Advocate for conservation and education issues that are related to BCW’s mission and help communities advocate for themselves.
• Manage an active online presence through the program website as well as social media (Facebook & X/Twitter).
• Maintain BCW’s position as a leader in statewide bird conservation.
• Serve as principal spokesperson, working with traditional and social media.
• Work with LMBO staff and Board of Directors as well as the BCW Steering Committee to seek and administer grants and other funding.
• Work as a part of Bird City Network, a hemisphere-wide collaboration of Bird City programs led by American Bird Conservancy and Environment for the Americas.
• Innovate to grow BCW’s community resources and ability to help communities achieve meaningful bird conservation.
• Attend quarterly virtual meetings of the BCW Steering Committee and any meetings that LMBO deems necessary.
• Every two years, partner with the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership and Wisconsin Society for Ornithology to hold a two-day conference.
• Foster an organizational culture that emphasizes quality, continuous improvement, and high performance.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills & Experience

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience.
• More than 5 years of experience in bird conservation, ornithology, communications, community conservation, or similar.
• Track record of effective communication with demonstrated writing and public speaking skills.
• Excellent administrative skills and the ability to juggle multiple responsibilities.
• Ability to work with computers to manage a website, update social media, create word processing documents/spreadsheets, manage/create graphics/photos, and related projects.
• A valid driver’s license.

Pay and Benefits

• A wage of $21 an hour.
• 403b retirement plan with up to 3% match in first year starting in January 2025. Match % is reviewed annually.
• 32 hours paid time-off (8 halftime days of 4 hours/day).
• Mileage will be compensated at standard IRS rate.