All jobs Location type: Hybrid
Reporting to: Senior Manager - Development
Annual salary: £50K GBP
Contract type: Permanent
Working hours: Full-time
Candidate level: Experienced Non-manager
Closing date: Monday 26th January 2026, 9:00 am CET
Background
TRAFFIC is the leading non-governmental organisation working globally to stop illegal trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. TRAFFIC International is a charity and limited company registered in the UK. TRAFFIC’s head office is in the David Attenborough building (home to the Cambridge Conservation Initiative), based in Cambridge UK, provides worldwide leadership, coordination, cross-regional, and corporate functions. TRAFFIC’s local engagement is managed through programme offices with staff based in a hub office and at other strategic locations where necessary. Programme offices operate within a geographic area of responsibility focused on one or multiple countries where TRAFFIC aims to help deliver priority programme outcomes.
Purpose of role
We are looking for an exceptional fundraiser with significant experience in successfully securing income from trusts and foundations to join TRAFFIC's highly collaborative, supportive, and ambitious Development Team.
The Senior Officer – Trusts and Foundations will play a pivotal role in sustaining and growing TRAFFIC's foundation income, building on the organisation's strong fundraising track record. TRAFFIC's overall annual income is over £12 M GBP; this well-established portfolio includes more than 60 current donors and over 1,000 prospects to be cultivated, and the new Senior Officer will have demonstrated success in securing major multi-year grants. This role will be instrumental in maintaining this momentum and expanding our foundation portfolio to deliver TRAFFIC's ambitious 2030 Strategy. Here is a link to the annual report to learn more.
The ideal candidate will work in close collaboration with senior staff across the organisation to identify and strategise responses to grant opportunities, transforming complex conservation challenges into clear and persuasive proposals. Within a team of four, responsibilities for fundraising across all channels, including institutional funding, will be shared. You will be responsible for initiating, developing, and deepening relationships with a global roster of trusts and foundations in support of TRAFFIC's strategic priorities, with a primary focus on six, seven, and eight figure opportunities.
This is a diverse role with key responsibility for delivering TRAFFIC's global fundraising strategy and income streams. Whilst proposal development and writing are central to the position, the role regularly extends to leading, organising and coordinating efforts both within TRAFFIC's global offices and with external partner organisations. Success in this role will directly enable TRAFFIC's critical work in scaling up evidence, solutions, and influence to ensure that trade in wild species is legal and sustainable for the benefit of the planet and people at a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss.
Primary responsibilities
The job holder will have the following key responsibilities:
- Guides TRAFFIC thematic leads and Programme Offices, including Programme Office Directors, to transform project ideas into compelling funding concepts.
- Manages the development of funding proposals, from project design, informed by a strong logical framework rationale, to providing high-quality written content, editorial and process guidance, and other areas of technical support, e.g., monitoring and evaluation.
- Initiates liaison with colleagues from finance, operations, risk management, research and data, and M&E as needed to ensure their input to proposal content and review.
- Drives efficiencies and improvements to TRAFFIC’s overall fundraising processes and systems at the institutional level (e.g., designs and maintains systems to manage current and past proposals and maintains Raiser’s Edge database of donors), in collaboration with Development Team colleagues.
- Reviews funding calls and donor requirements and criteria to provide advice on direction of approach and content.
- Advises staff in the Global Office and regional programme offices to strategise responses to grant opportunities, to optimise return on effort, and to ensure that funding is directed to priority intervention areas (as described in TRAFFIC’s annual workplans) and to priority funders as identified in the fundraising strategy.
- Represents TRAFFIC in discussions with potential partners for joint bids and provides support and advice to these external partners to strengthen bids.
- Represents TRAFFIC in donor meetings and briefing sessions.
- Designs and implements capacity building programmes for TRAFFIC on project design and proposal development, including problem identification and articulation, donor stewardship and fundraising communication.
- Ensures training is aligned to best practices in project planning across the conservation sector, and coordinated with Communications and Strategy, Programmes, and Impact teams.
- Proactively researches, identifies, and develops relationships with new prospects who align with TRAFFIC priorities.
- Provides guidance on donor cultivation and engagement strategies.
- Contributes to development of generic fundraising material which can be multi-purpose for donors or the wider public.
Qualifications
- Project design and proposal writing experience, ideally across a range of international environmental NGOs, and a track record of success with securing at least six-figure grants from different donor sources, including the European Commission, governments, and trusts and foundations.
- Strategic, proactive, and results-focused with excellent organisation and planning skills.
- Articulate with persuasive and engaging verbal communication skills and excellent written communication skills in English.
- Similar communication skills in French, Portuguese, or Spanish are desirable, but not required.
- Robust understanding of best practice for project design, including theory of change and log frames, and best practice approaches (e.g., Conservation Standards).
- Able to take a lead role with the packaging of a complex programme portfolio into language and visuals suitable for conveying TRAFFIC’s work to existing and potential supporters.
- Strong background in biodiversity conservation and/or sustainable development issues is desirable.
- Strong networking, relationship building, and diplomacy skills.
- Ability to work independently and in close collaboration with others working as part of a distributed, multi-cultural team globally, able to troubleshoot and maintain good relationships under pressure and across time zones.
- Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office.
- Degree-level education or an equivalent combination of relevant education, training, and lived or professional experience.
- Eligible to live and work in the United Kingdom.
- Able to travel internationally on a regular basis to cultivate prospects.
· The deadline for applications is Monday 26th January 2026, 9:00 am CET ·
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