2026 Opportunity: Head of Forest Crime at GI-TOC — Senior Leadership in Global Environmental Crime
The fight against illegal deforestation is increasingly being treated not just as an environmental issue, but as a form of organized crime. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime is recruiting a Head of Forest Crime, a senior leadership role focused on dismantling criminal networks driving deforestation across the Amazon and other tropical forest regions.
This is a highly specialized position combining environmental intelligence, law enforcement coordination, and large-scale programme management across multiple countries.
About the Organization: Tackling Organized Environmental Crime
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime is a Geneva-based civil society organization working across more than 40 countries to understand and respond to organized crime. Its work spans environmental crime, illicit economies, governance, and conflict systems.
Key areas of focus include:
- Mapping organized crime networks and illicit financial flows
- Supporting civil society responses to corruption and instability
- Strengthening evidence-based policy and enforcement strategies
- Producing global research on transnational criminal systems
The organization operates at the intersection of research, policy, and operational programming.
Role Overview: Head of Forest Crime
The Head of Forest Crime will serve as the senior thematic expert and operational lead for a multi-country initiative targeting deforestation driven by criminal networks. The role is funded under a major climate-focused programme addressing illegal land use and environmental exploitation.
The work spans key regions including:
- Amazon Basin (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador)
- Central Africa (DRC, Gabon)
- Southeast Asia (Indonesia)
The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on programme execution across a complex international consortium.
Core Responsibilities
1. Consortium and Partner Management
- Coordinate 15 consortium partners across 7 countries
- Ensure alignment with workplans, budgets, and deliverables
- Oversee sub-grant performance and compliance
- Manage coordination structures across regions
- Support onboarding and capacity building of partners
2. Programme Delivery and Oversight
- Lead operational delivery across multiple workstreams
- Maintain project timelines, dashboards, and milestone tracking
- Identify risks early and implement corrective actions
- Ensure coherence across national and regional activities
3. Financial and Operational Management
- Monitor budgets and expenditures across countries
- Ensure compliance with donor and internal requirements
- Oversee procurement and contracting processes
- Support audit readiness and financial reporting
4. Reporting and Knowledge Management
- Lead preparation of donor reports (quarterly, annual, final)
- Oversee data collection and monitoring systems
- Ensure production of high-quality analytical outputs
- Synthesize programme insights for strategic use
5. Team Leadership
- Manage project staff including assistant and MEAL/communications roles
- Set performance objectives and support professional development
- Build a culture of accountability and operational discipline
- Ensure security and risk protocols are followed
Ideal Candidate Profile
This is a senior-level position requiring deep expertise in environmental crime and strong programme leadership experience.
Essential qualifications include:
- 6–9 years of experience in international programme or project management
- Strong expertise in illegal deforestation and forest crime systems
- Understanding of criminal networks (logging, land grabbing, mining, supply chains)
- Experience working in complex or high-risk political environments
- Strong project and consortium management skills
- Experience in Latin America (at least one country strongly preferred)
- Fluency in Spanish and English (mandatory)
Highly Desirable Skills
- Experience with illegal mining and Amazon-related environmental crime
- Familiarity with OSINT, satellite analysis, or financial tracing
- Knowledge of donor-funded environmental or security programmes
- French language skills
- Existing networks in law enforcement or judicial systems
Work Style and Personal Attributes
The role demands a rare combination of analytical depth and operational discipline. Successful candidates typically demonstrate:
- Strong execution mindset with attention to detail
- Political and cultural intelligence in sensitive environments
- Ability to communicate across technical and non-technical audiences
- Resilience in complex, multi-country operations
- Direct but collaborative leadership style
Work Structure
This is a remote, Latin America–focused role, with flexibility across the region. The contract is:
- 2-year fixed term (with possible extension)
- Multi-country programme leadership position
- Senior-level reporting to the Director of Environmental Crime
Why This Role Matters
The Head of Forest Crime position at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime addresses one of the most complex environmental challenges globally: deforestation driven by organized criminal networks.
This role directly contributes to:
- Disrupting illegal land-use economies
- Strengthening environmental law enforcement systems
- Improving supply chain accountability
- Protecting critical ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest
It sits at the intersection of environmental protection, security policy, and transnational crime disruption.
Final Perspective
This is one of the most senior and technically demanding roles in the environmental crime space. The Head of Forest Crime at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime is not just managing projects—it is coordinating a multi-country effort to dismantle criminal economies driving global deforestation.
For experienced professionals in environmental crime, law enforcement coordination, or complex programme leadership, this role represents a high-impact opportunity at global scale.
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