Head of Monitoring, Research, Primate Habituation, One Health and Forest Department.

What we do We are an independent conservation organization, striving to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife. From individuals and communities to business and government, we are part of a growing coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Together, we seek to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable. For the needs of its operations, WWF CAR is looking for a Head of Monitoring, Research, Primate Habituation, One Health and Forest Department. Location: Bayanga, Dzanga Sangha Protected Area, CAR Contract type: fixed term (2 years renewable) Mission: The role of this position are to provide technical oversight and leadership to ensure the effective management of the Primate Habituation Programme (PHP), Monitoring, research, animal health/’One Health’ and forest management activities in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA), and transfer technical and management knowledge and experience to the DSPA staff. Main function and responsibilities: Head of Monitoring, Research, Primate Habituation, One Health and Forest Department will: Ensures that primate habituation programme (PHP) and related research activities are managed to the highest international standards (approx. 20%): • Supervise all aspects of the PHP focussing essentially on Lowland Gorilla and Agile Mangabey; • Support the PHP Technical Assistant in ensuring the day-to-day operations and management of the PHP, including spending time at field sites in the forest (Bai Hokou and Mongambe); • Ensure that the habituation process is conducted using a non-invasive methodology that minimises risk (stress, disease, injury, behaviour change) to the primates. Similarly, ensure the risks of injuries and of transmission of disease to visitors, staff and volunteers are minimised; • Ensure the PHP adheres to IUCN best practise guidelines; • Maintain and improve digital PHP data collection (Earthranger) and ensure that the various data are properly organised, stored, backed-up, archived and disseminated as needed; • Support the maintenance of PHP camps (Bai Hokou and Mogambe) Promotes and coordinates research and monitoring activities at DSPA (20%): • Coordinate all the research programs in DSPA • Ensure appropriate research procedures are in place (including proposal assessment, permits, methodology, report submission and appropriate acknowledgement etc.); • Maintain an up-to-date record of all publications and reports emanating from research work carried out at DSPA; • Maintain the current biomonitoring program that include Bai monitoring, insect monitoring, meteo station, Elephant DNA SCR, water EDNA monitoring and the deployment of a water quality station; • Coordinate relevant biological data collection by DSPA staff and support the procedure from conception to evaluation; • In close collaboration with the Elephant listening project maintain monitoring of Dzanga Bai, bioacoustics grid and the development of elephant individual identification tools. • Conduct and standardize additional impact-monitoring studies related to forest cover change and human wellbeing. • Contribute to the development and implementation of joint research and monitoring procedures with partners in the Sangha Tri-national Landscape and WWF Regional Bimonitoring Team ; • Collaborate closely with local partner in the long-term management of the community hunting zone and market study activities. • Solicit conservation-focused research with external partners (academic, conservation, etc.); Oversees the implementation and development of sustainable forest exploitation and restoration approaches (20%) • Supervise the forestry work on legal and certified logging and land use plan ; • Support the forestry responsable in ensuring day to day operations ; • Maintain and develop the implementation of a forest concession monitoring procedure; • Support the agroforestry project responsible in ensuring day-to-day operations. • Support Human Wildife Conflicts mitigation strategy in collaboration with the Local committee of land use management. • Support the deployment of sustainable cacao and coffee production around DSPA. Oversees the implementation and development of One Health monitoring activities (20%) • Supervise the One Health work focusing essentially on surveillance of great ape, wildlife and DSPA staff health to reduce risk of zoonotic infectious disease emergence. • Support the Wildlife Veterinary Officer in ensuring day-to-day operations and management of the One Health work; • Support the functioning and expansion of the veterinary lab in Bayanga; • Support the animal sampling protocols (carcasses, great apes, domestic animals, ...) • Support the deployment of community-based solution in the mitigation of zoonotic risk transmission. Transversal tasks (20%): • Submit to the Director a monthly and quarterly report outlining programme activities; • Supervise, train and conduct continuous and annual evaluations of staff under supervision (approximately 80 people); • Maintain meaningful data collection and visualization tools (dashboards) to help monitor and improve DSPA conservation impact. • Participate in the elaboration of sustainable development projects including black soldier flies, biogas and sustainable agricultural practices. • Support others DSPA departments in their data collection tools and procedures to improve activities impacts and strategic planning; • Contribute to the formulation of DSPA policies; • Assist the Director in communications, permits and logistics associated with external researchers, volunteers and students. • Assists the Director to ensure accountability of WWF project funds according to project planning and contractual obligations in collaboration with the F&A Manager; • Contributes to fund-raising, grant writing and reporting to donors as requested by the Director. Others • Attend international/ regional/ national relevant tourism forums to promote DSPA; • Work in collaboration with the Communication Department to feed the website with stories around the available tourism opportunities in DSPA; • Carry out any other duties assigned by the line manager. What you need: Required Qualifications: • A minimum of an MSc in biology, ecology or a related field. • A minimum of 7 years of experience in working in the field of applied ecological research, including on Primate Habituation and bio-monitoring within a tropical forest environment; • Professional experience with and/or exposure to forestry, agroforestry and ‘One Health’ projects. • Extensive knowledge of data collection with Earthrangers (e.g. SMART, Kobocollect) and processing (e.g. MS Office, R-studio, GIS, ArcGIS, …) tools; • Fluency in both French and English; • Knowledge of Sango is a plus; • Coding language is a plus ; • Depth and breadth knowledge of conservation and development issues; • Ability to live and work in a remote place. Required skills and competences: • Good leadership and team work abilities; • Ability to work under pressure; • Excellent inter-personal skills, including the ability to develop and maintain strong relationships at all levels, within WWF CAR and, as required, with external stakeholders; • Excellent oral and written communications skills in English and French; • High ethics and a personal commitment to transparency and accountability; • Sensibility on safeguarding standards and social policies (gender, human rights etc.) are expected; • Ability to work in a remote environment with regular missions offering logistical challenge; • Adhere to WWF’s values: Courage, Respect, Integrity and Collaboration; • Demonstrates WWF behaviours in ways of working: Strive for impact, Listen Deeply, Collaborate Openly, Innovate Fearlessly. How to apply? Interested candidates should prepare and submit: a cover letter and a curriculum vitae, all together not exceeding 5 pages to the following e-mail address: [email protected] The subject should read “Head of Monitoring, Research, Primate Habituation, One Health and Forest Department ” Deadline for applications: 15th november 2026 Please note that only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted for follow up. If you have not been contacted six weeks after closing, consider your application unsuccessful. *WWF is an equal opportunity employer and committed to having a diverse workforce*