Chief Operating Officer

This is a unique opportunity for an experienced leader to help diversify the environmental sector by scaling a Black-led nature organisation to be able to demonstrate leadership on a national scale and promote and serve the interests and needs of ethnically marginalized communities in accessing nature.

Our Ambition
We re on an exciting journey of growth. Our vision is to become a nationally recognised, well-resourced Black institution for learning about and caring for nature.

We aim to:

• Be the go-to resource for people of colour learning about the natural world and accessing outdoor spaces with confidence.
• Be the go-to resource for mainstream environmental organisations seeking to understand Black and Brown perspectives on nature.
• Strengthen networks and community among POC-led nature organisations across the UK.

Our operating income for is £230,000. Our ambition is to generate an income of over £1 million by , growing to a 15+ staff team.

How the COO will support our vision

The role of Chief Operating Officer is central to helping us achieve our ambitions, ensuring that Wild in the City has the resources, infrastructure and working environment to achieve its annual plans, long term aims and deliver high-quality programmes.

We are not expecting the COO to implement the key areas of operations alone, we will work together to prioritise and generate the resources to build a team to cover the functionality required for steady growth. We are also motivated to ensure that the role s salary is reviewed to meet market expectations as the role grows, dependent on funding.

This role needs an exceptional candidate who enjoys making a role their own, who is motivated by turning strategy into impactful action and who finds fulfilment in supporting others to achieve.

The COO will ensure that;

• We secure ongoing, long term financial resources, creating stability and underpinning growth, and scaling into operations in multiple regions, nationally
• We grow our staffing to provide a steady infrastructure and achieve our strategic objectives, including creating operations, fundraising, communications and research teams, and increasing our field team.
• We retain our relational, open, authentic, personable, dynamic, collaborative, innovative culture as we grow.

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for a dynamic and dependable Chief Operating Officer (COO) to help realise our vision.

We re seeking an emotionally intelligent, commercially competent, and values-driven leader who can bring clarity, stability, and energy in a fast-paced and mission-led environment. You will thrive in turning strategy into action and impact, and in driving Wild in the City forward in scaling our delivery and leadership on a national scale.

You will bring:

• Proven experience in operational and strategic leadership
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including income generation, budgeting, and long-term planning
• A successful track record of managing people, partnerships, and multi-disciplinary teams
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills across staff, volunteers, partners, and board members
• Emotional resilience, sound judgement, and a calm, authentic presence
• A genuine connection to our mission and values

We welcome people from all backgrounds to fulfill the role of COO. We are mindful of the lack of diversity within senior leadership in the environmental field and encourage those from Global Majority backgrounds to apply.

Why Join Us?
This is an exciting time to join Wild in the City, we hope that you will make an application. As COO, you ll play a central role in shaping the next chapter of our development - growing our influence, supporting Black leadership in nature, and helping transform access to the natural world for communities of colour.