Conservation X Labs Inc Monitoring and Evaluation Expert (South America Fire) Remote · Contractor Company website

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Our mission is to prevent an impending sixth mass extinction – the first in Earth’s history driven by the actions of a single species: ours. Unlike traditional conservation efforts, Conservation X Labs focuses on leveraging the best technology, the newest innovation, interdisciplinary genius, and the power of the marketplace to boldly confront the biggest problems facing the planet. Though humans have driven this sixth extinction, we know humans have the power to reverse it.

Who We Are

Conservation X Labs (CXL) seeks to solve the world's greatest conservation problems by supporting innovative solutions that address the underlying drivers of extinction. We develop new technology, lead innovation competitions, and empower talented innovators across disciplines to create transformative products that serve people and our planet.

CXL is the operational lead for a new philanthropic Fund tackling fire across three of South America's most globally significant ecoregions: the Amazon, the Pantanal, and the Chiquitania. The Fund brings together a diverse coalition of local, regional, and international partners to build and test integrated fire prevention and response systems, with the goal of learning quickly and scaling what works. Interventions span community-led stewardship, technology and innovation, behavior change, accelerated ecological restoration, and financial mechanisms that incentivize fire-safe land management.

The Role

CXL is seeking a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Expert Lead consultant to join the South America Fire Fund team. This is a Fund-level position responsible for designing, deploying, and managing the M&E framework across multiple intervention geographies and implementing partners in Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru.

The M&E Expert Lead will be the primary point of accountability for ensuring that monitoring activities across the Fund's workstreams (behavior change, technology and innovation, ecological restoration, and financial innovation) feed into a unified, credible evidence base aligned with the fund’s experimental design. This consultant will oversee indicator finalization (in accordance with the approved fund strategy documents), data collection systems, partner coordination, and funder reporting throughout the life of the Fund.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience in conservation or natural resource management evaluation, a track record of managing data systems across complex multi-partner programs, and the interpersonal skills to coordinate across diverse stakeholders in multiple languages. This is an opportunity to shape the evidence architecture of a first-of-its-kind integrated fire management fund at landscape scale.

Scope of Work

The M&E Expert Lead will design and manage a two-track measurement system: one track based on independent remote sensing data (satellite-derived burned area, fire detection, and restoration metrics), and a second based on standardized operational reporting by implementing partners. The consultant will ensure both tracks produce credible, integrated evidence to support adaptive management and funder accountability.

Key Activities

• Finalize the M&E indicator framework in accordance with the strategy documents and experimental design, harmonizing definitions across all geographies and verifying targets following Year 1 baseline data collection
• Assess and refine fund overarching theory of change; lead development of sub theories of change for pilot areas and strategies, in collaboration with fund strategy and technical leads and partners
• Develop and deploy standardized data collection templates for use by all implementing partners across the three ecoregions, in collaboration with fund strategy and technical leads and ensuring they are adequately adapted to the local contexts (language, culture, etc)
• Coordinate with remote sensing specialists on satellite data collection and analysis across all study sites, covering burned area, fire detection, and restoration metrics
• Oversee Year 1 baseline data collection, including historical satellite analysis, site boundary delineation, landowner surveys, and variability assessments
• Procure and manage a secure, real-time data management platform capable of aggregating data across multiple geographies
• Coordinate with technical team leads across all Fund workstreams to integrate workstream-level monitoring into the overarching indicator framework, reducing duplicative data collection
• Manage M&E Support Staff, providing direction and quality control for their engagement with implementing partners and technical teams
• Prepare annual funder reports and contribute to adaptive learning reviews, including at the Fund midpoint 
• Coordinate with the Fund's independent external evaluator on design validation, Track 2 data spot-checking, and mid-term and final evaluations
• Translate and adapt M&E frameworks for local partner use in Spanish and Portuguese
• Participate in fund collaboration architecture for sharing lessons and approaches with the wider South America Fire Fund community of practice. 

Deliverables

• Finalized indicator framework with locked definitions and verified yearly baselines and targets, stratified by geography and ecoregion
• Standardized data collection templates deployed across all implementing partners
• Year 1 baseline report, including site variability analysis and boundary documentation
• Operational data management system, procured and functional by the end of Year 1
• Funder reports (at least every six months) 
• Adaptive learning review reports synthesizing evidence across all geographies, including at the Fund midpoint 
• Cross-geography learning briefs and knowledge management outputs

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in conservation, ecology, development studies, evaluation, statistics, or a related field
• Minimum 7 years of experience designing and managing M&E systems for large-scale conservation, natural resource management, or international development programs
• Demonstrated experience with remote-sensing-based monitoring, including working with satellite data platforms used in tropical forest or fire management contexts
• Experience managing data collection and reporting across multiple geographies and implementing partners
• Strong quantitative skills, including experience with baseline assessment and variability analysis
• Strong written communication skills; ability to produce clear funder reports and adaptive learning documents
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex M&E frameworks for community-based and local partner use
• Fluency in English, Portuguese and Spanish

Preferred

• Familiarity with quasi-experimental evaluation concepts (e.g., before-after control impact designs, statistical matching)
• Experience with tropical forest, fire, or land use conservation programs