Chief Operating Officer / Operations Lead

Compact Version

10 aug

**DETAILS**

**(m/v/x)**
**Organisation:** Elzéard Foundation
**Location:** Cross-border region.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany
**Employment:** Full-time position
**Salary:** Competitive salary, depending on experience
**Start:** To be discussed

Help build the operational foundations for ecological landscape restoration

Elzéard Foundation is looking for a Chief Operating Officer who wants to help shape a landscape in which thriving ecosystems and restorative land use can once again take root.

Elzéard is driven by one ambition: to reconnect fragmented landscapes and restore what is needed for them to function once again as living wholes — enabling wildlife to move freely and plants to establish and spread.
We are building a network of tangible restoration sites within a mosaic landscape. Each site restores the relationships between soil, water and nature, while exploring how restorative farming, local enterprise and other human activities can contribute to that recovery.
Together, these sites form a living network where biodiversity can recover, natural processes can regain the space they need, and human activity can strengthen rather than deplete the landscape.
As COO, you connect people, projects and processes. You create clarity, turn priorities into action, and ensure that strategic choices find their way into fieldwork and everyday practice. You build structures that support without becoming rigid — always in service of the living systems we are working to restore.
We are not looking for a conventional corporate manager. We are looking for an operational leader who understands that the organisation exists to serve a living system: someone who brings clarity, rhythm and accountability, while preserving Elzéard’s ecological integrity, relationships and capacity to evolve.
What you bring
Significant experience in operational leadership, team leadership and organisational development
A pragmatic, hands-on approach combined with strategic insight
A talent for creating clarity around roles, processes and collaboration
Fluency in Dutch and English; French and German are a plus
An affinity with our mission of ecological restoration, rewilding, regeneration and long-term stewardship
What we offer
A pivotal role in a small, committed and multidisciplinary core team, with direct influence on how Elzéard continues to organise and develop. You will work closely with the founders and strategic leadership, with the scope to gradually take on an independent operational mandate.