Technical Officer

The Role

The primary focus of this role is to support the development and implementation of Plan Vivo’s Biodiversity Standard (PV Nature), as well as selected elements of the Plan Vivo Carbon Standard (PV Climate), with particular emphasis on ensuring alignment and integration across both programmes. The Technical Officer will be part of the Plan Vivo Secretariat and will work closely with the wider Plan Vivo Projects team, the PV Nature team, and the Nature Programmes Lead, who will serve as the line manager.

The position is based in Edinburgh, UK, and applicants must have the legal right to live and work in the UK.

Specific Responsibilities of the Role

The following tasks form the core responsibilities of the role.

Technical support:

• Liaising between the Plan Vivo Biodiversity Standard (PV Nature) and the Plan Vivo Carbon Standard (PV Climate) to ensure alignment and consistency in Standard development including stacking between PV Climate and PV Nature.
• Maintain and update core Standard documentation, ensuring all revisions are accurately tracked, completed in a timely manner, and submitted to the Technical Advisory Committee for review and decision‑making.
• Manage and coordinate Technical Working Groups including convening meetings, setting agendas, guiding technical discussions, and ensuring delivery of outputs.
• Work with the Nature Programme Lead to coordinate the PV Nature Registry development and implementation with projects.
• Work with registry providers and data analytics providers to review and authorise Certificate Issuance, i.e. issuance of Plan Vivo Biodiversity Certificates (PVBCs).
• Work with the Validation & Verification (V&V) Lead to coordinate the development of V&V documentation, in country audits, assessment of Validation and Verification Bodies (VVBs) and identification of prospective VVBs.
• Continued technical guidance for projects aiming to conserve existing high value biodiversity and/or restoration of areas previously degraded.
• Manage and track programme level key progress indicators and milestones.
• Advise projects and the secretariat on technical matters for project development, creating and updating project templates and other guidance documents.

Wider support:

• Support the Communications Coordinator with any needed website updates or promotional materials.
• Support the development, curation and population of resources in the Plan Vivo Knowledge Hub.
• Supporting the organisation of, and participate in, events and forums. In some cases, this may include representing Plan Vivo externally.
• Respond to enquiries and requests for information.
• Support Programme Leads and Coordinators by researching developments in technical guidance and tools, methodologies (including socio-economic and capacity building materials) and regional / country policy as necessary.

Plan Vivo is an equal opportunity employer, and ensures positions are accessible to all, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, age, disability, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or identity, religion, marital or parental status.