Co-Director Strategic Partnerships

Role Overview

As our Co-Director strategic partnerships, you’ll help bring this vision to life by 1. raising funds, 2. co-creating financial instruments and strategies, as well as 3. catalyzing on-the-ground nature-based ventures that focus on regenerating both people and the planet. We are looking for a business acumen and a results oriented professional with a proven track record and network in fundraising in Europe, strategic or corporate partnership building and complex stakeholder management.

You will also be responsible for the Foundation’s Campus for Resilient Landscapes—a 10,000-hectare living lab for research, innovation, and conferences—building on existing local and international partnerships with leading universities and experts around the globe, and sharing knowledge for replicability of the models emerging in the Muga Valley. We welcome a servant leader who sees beyond short-term gains – we take into account a 7 generation time frame in our decisions – and dares to shape a future where land stewardship, fair ownership, and community prosperity become the bedrock of any thriving economy.

If you’re someone who’s getting energy from bringing about actual system change, this is a unique opportunity to pioneer completely new models for place-based system change. By blending your international network, financial expertise with a strong commitment to restoration and resilience, you will co-create groundbreaking instruments that could serve as an example for regions across the globe. Fluent in Spanish and business English is a must.

Key Responsibilities

1. Be the lead to our international community, fundraising and building partnerships growing the foundation from a EUR 1M to a EUR 5M annual budget in the coming years
   1. In close collaboration with the founders and the board you take the lead to manage relationships with and build international partnerships with private funders, private sector, knowledge and financial institutions, universities, government agencies and big donors.
   2. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with your co-director and 4-5 program leads—both within the Foundation and across partner organizations of our Watershed Collective—to ensure that financial, ecological, and community outcomes are integrated.
   3. Funding & Fundraising: Develop and manage a fundraising engine that ties together large donors, grants, EU subsidies, and multi-stakeholder investment models. Support program leads in launching and funding their initiatives.
2. Work with the current team and your co-Director to create teams or leads for the following three topics. You need to have a minimum expertise in one, and knowledge/affinity in the two other fields:
3. Leadership in Regenerative Finance
   • Natural Capital & Related Markets: Expand our climate credit program and implement tech-enabled solutions that can be deployed at scale. Its our ambition to get the Climate Credit accepted by the Spanish tax authorities.
   • Water Partnerships: Convene Catalan stakeholders to develop new models that monetize or incentivize water cycle restoration and innovative water solutions, one of the most pressing issues of Southern Europe. It's our ambition to catalyze the creation of a Green Infra Fund pilot of EUR 100-200M In the Muga watershed.
   • Regenerative Economic Manifesto: Lead the creation of a collective vision that clearly defines regenerative economic principles and practical frameworks for tracking 4-dimensional returns.
   • Landscape Finance Indicators: Collaborate with partners to create key performance indicators for Iberian landscapes, building compelling investable frameworks for large-scale environmental regeneration.
   • Steward Ownership: Develop steward-ownership models, shaping next-generation governance and financial vehicles that protect and enhance shared natural resources over seven generations.
4. Leadership in Nature-Based Solutions
   • Forestry Value Chain & Solutions: Facilitate and catalyze the process of the creation of a regenerative forestry value chain in the Valley in the context of an ongoing biochar initiative that aligns forestry management with agricultural applications, building a robust pipeline for investment and market access.
   • Food Hub & Regenerative Agriculture: Validate and catalyze a regional food hub model that supports local regenerative farmers, measuring its financial viability and ecological impact.
   • Living Lab: Attract and mentor innovative operators and startups to pilot nature-based solutions in the Muga Valley’s diverse ecosystems—forests, farmlands, and coastal areas.

Create the Campus, for resilient landscapes

• • Develop Focus Programs: Align campus programs and establish partnerships within the four core areas of watershed management, forest resilience, shared governance of a bioregion, and regenerative finance.
• Campus for Resilient Landscapes: Design the strategy for the Campus and catalyze the development of the 10,000-hectare living lab.
• Campus Network for Replicability: within the focus areas, build partnerships with leading universities, research institutions and capital partners to advance the breeding ground for regeneration and innovation, and establish a sharing platform for replicability of our models.

Qualifications & Experience

We know the perfect match for this profile will not exist. We are looking for candidates with a good mix of the qualifications elaborated below and who has the capability, ambition and attitude to organise the remaining expertise around him/her.

• Philanthropy & Investment Expertise
  • Have an international network and proven track record in closing fundraising with large donors, HNWI of EUR 1M+
  • Proven track record in building partnerships in e.g. impact private capital markets, strategic and or corporate venture capital, private equity, or structured finance.
  • Experience structuring blended finance vehicles, steward-ownership models, or innovative funding mechanisms is highly desirable.
• Regenerative & Ecological Thinking
  • Familiarity with nature-based solutions, ecosystem services, regenerative agriculture, or forestry.
  • Understanding of carbon markets, climate finance, or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks is a strong plus.
  • Affinity with applying technology as a means to measure and report regeneration of ecosystems (orbital satellite, measurement, etc.)
• Leadership & Collaboration
  • Demonstrated ability to lead as a catalyst and facilitator, in a humble way, result-driven, listening, with the quality to identify what motivates people.
  • Lead diverse, international and cross-functional teams (up to 20-40 people), operations and create and manage complex partnerships across public, private, and community sectors.
  • Track record of managing budgets, fundraising campaigns, and multi-year programs.
• Strategic Vision & Systems Thinking
  • Passion for holistic, long-term regeneration and the capacity to translate systemic challenges into actionable plans tackling leverage points.
  • Comfortable with emergent strategies, co-creative processes, and guiding diverse stakeholders toward shared objectives.
• Communication & Influence
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills; ability to craft compelling narratives for diverse audiences, from institutional investors to local communities.
  • Verbal and written fluency in English and Spanish is required; working knowledge of Catalan is advantageous.
• Willingness to relocate to the Girona area, preferably in the beautiful Muga Valley.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to Pioneer a New Operating System: Play a defining role in shaping an internationally recognized model for regenerative finance and ecosystem restoration in a project with a global network of funders and regenerative leaders. Build the team of passionate and leading professionals in the space
• Local Impact on Spain’s Most Pressing Challenges: When we talk with policymakers or funders, everyone listens carefully. We bring a completely fresh not-yet-investible approach for the water, fire and flood crises, one that is actually sustainable. You can use this momentum to further work on-the-ground to enhance biodiversity, secure water resources, and revitalize rural economies in Spain.
• Vibrant Community & Ecosystem: Live and work in nature and the beauty of the Muga Valley Watershed. Collaborate with purpose-driven entrepreneurs, local farmers, government bodies, and leading-edge businesses to create a holistic “living laboratory” for regenerative impact.
• Compensation: Competitive salary package in Spain.
• Personal Growth & Learning: The Foundation’s Campus for Resilient Landscapes will regularly host events with leading regeneration practitioners, exclusive lecture series, and immersion in groundbreaking nature-based projects.
• Being able to work with experts in the field who are currently in the team

About the Foundation

At the Pioneers of Our Time Foundation, we share a simple yet powerful belief: our future depends on tending to the places we call home and ensuring they can flourish for generations to come. Rooted in the Muga Valley Watershed of Spain’s Costa Brava—spanning over 100,000 hectares from source to sea—we’re part of a growing collective dedicated to regenerating ecosystems, supporting local communities, and rethinking how we value nature in our economic systems. We understand ourselves as a facilitation platform for local action, as well as the interface to the global regeneration community via the Campus.

You will be working closely with our current Co-Director Oriol Armet Unzeta. He is the local director of the Foundation responsible for landscape management, shared governance, local stakeholder management and Spanish/Catalan funding. Oriol has been working with us for the past 4 years. His background is in conservation in the public space.

www.linkedin.com/in/oriolarmet

The directors of the foundation report to the board, that is led by the it’s president Esteve Guerra.

www.linkedin.com/in/esteveguerraserra