Regional Security Manager

**Line Manager**: Global Safety & Security Director, with dotted line to AAO, Mesoamerica, and Southern Cone Regional Directors

**Division**: Global Conservation Program (GCP)

**Location**: Panamá

**Position Type**: Full Time

**Direct Reports**: None

**Key internal relationships**: Regional Directors, Country and Program Directors, Protected area and field management staff, and senior programmatic staff

Background

WCS seeks to conserve the world's largest and most ecologically intact wild places. These places are home to more than 50 percent of the world's biodiversity and sustain over 300 million of the world's poorest people. The WCS AAO region is formed by five country programs - Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, and the Mesoamerica region by programs in Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The Southern Cone region is comprised of country programs in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In addition, WCS is establishing a bi-regional hub office in Panama City, Panama, which would be the preferred location for this position.

Given the vast expanse and transboundary nature of many of the threats faced in this region, such as illegal logging, deforestation, wildlife trafficking and illegal gold mining, WCS also has regional programs and cross-cutting teams that provide technical and operational assistance to our country programs.

Summary of Position

This position will be assigned to focus on the programmatic security needs for WCS operations in the above-mentioned regions.

The Regional Security Manager is accountable for developing and implementing procedures, communications, and training to safeguard WCS personnel and is responsible for improving security readiness, awareness, preparing evacuation plans for priority sites, monitoring the security and safety situation in countries where we work, intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination, and providing the necessary advice and training to enhance security of our staff, assets, and operations throughout all program countries.

The Regional Security Manager will also be responsible for creating, and reviewing existing risk assessment and mitigation plans, security management plans, and crisis management plans; and providing guidance as needed to make sure all plans are current and effective.

Key Responsibilities

**Internal support to countries and regional programs**:

- Work closely with the Regional Directors to develop, manage and ensure compliance with regional and site-based safety and security strategies and plans.
- Enhance WCS’s ability to receive, evaluate and react to threat intelligence and to analyze local, national and regional trends, performing (amongst others) regular onsite checks and check of all programmatic security infrastructure and procedures
- Design, implement and monitor threat mitigation strategies, including personnel risk management, asset management and communications protocols, in cooperation with all country directors
- Monitor incidents in the field including risk assessments for field trips and other project activities and coordinate and assist in the investigative responses to security incidents, and identify areas for improving safety and security and providing feedback to relevant staff.
- Provide regular progress reports to the Regional Directors and Global Safety & Security Director on the state of security for each region to include all accomplishments, short and long-term security goals budget guidance, and incidents trends (amongst others)

**Training and capacity building**:

- Prepare and deliver communication tools to disseminate regular security briefings and create broader awareness and responsiveness of staff to safety and security
- Provide risk management guidance to field teams, including mitigation measures; monitoring risk management by teams in the field and proactively communicating with them; and, providing debriefings, as needed.
- Prepare and deliver training modules on incident management and response to staff.
- Assist country directors with the designation of staff best suited to oversee security processes within in each country program

External relationships
- Build a network of key partners and actively participate in current security networks in the regions for the purpose of creating a broader security awareness exchange with other (I)NGO security resources

First 3-6 months of this assignment
- Priority will be to identify, document, analyze and prioritize programmatic threats and risks affecting the safety and security of WCS staff, visitors, and assets within the regions, and review safety management plans already developed. Where needed, this will include the development of site-based security and evacuation plans (including incident reporting and responses) in those areas facing the most imminent threats (such as the Putumayo-Ica).

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Qualification Requirements

Minimum requirements
- Bachelor’s degree, preferably in a security or