BACKGROUND

Pakistan faces an increasingly urgent need to professionalize and expand its sustainable forestry sector. The country continues to experience deforestation pressures, ecosystem degradation, limited timber supply, and heavy dependence on timber imports. With the domestic timber demand rising and over 95% of supply coming from unregulated private plantations, Pakistan urgently needs structured, legally compliant, and commercially viable plantation models that reduce environmental risks and generate measurable climate impact.

In this context, Karandaaz Pakistan is developing a Sustainable Timber Harvesting Project called Shajarkar, initiated as a 200,000-tree pilot across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The pilot is designed as a co-investment platform and will serve as the foundation for a scalable, investable commercial forestry model.

The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be majority-owned by Karandaaz Pakistan (51%) with a minority co-investor (49%) and to be established as a project-specific operating company for sustainable forestry, afforestation, restoration & revegetation (ARR), and related commercial activities.

REPORTING & GOVERNANCE

The CEO shall report to the Board of Directors of Shajarkar and shall support the Board through timely reporting, risk escalation, and compliance assurance.

ROLE OBJECTIVE

The CEO shall be responsible for end-to-end leadership, management, and execution of the organization’s mandate, covering but not limited to:

• Establishing and operationalizing a commercially viable sustainable timber harvesting platform in Pakistan
• Commercial viability and protection of shareholder value
• Sustainable forestry and responsible harvesting
• Robust governance, internal controls, and statutory compliance.
• ESG, safeguards, and Health Safety Environment (HSE) compliance.
• Readiness for carbon and environmental attribute monetization (where applicable)
• Working closely with the executing partners and ensuring smooth operations and timely reporting to the Board.
• Stakeholder management and representation of the project at different platforms

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy & Execution

• Translate Board-approved strategy into annual and multi-year operational plans
• Lead the transition from the pilot phase to full-scale operations. This includes preparing bankable investment documentation to attract development finance institutions (DFIs) and private capital to significantly enhance the project’s scope and investment size
• Ensure that operations, documentation, and asset structuring support future monetization, financing, or exit options, including potential asset sale, portfolio aggregation, or strategic partnerships, subject to Board approval.
• Direct the operational and financial readiness of the SPV to execute structured exit options at defined project intervals to meet targeted internal rates of return
• Lead the selection, contracting, and performance oversight of multiple executing and implementing partners, ensuring transparent procurement, clear accountability, and alignment with the SPV’s commercial, ESG, and risk objectives, in accordance with Board-approved policies.

Forestry Operations

• Work closely with the execution partners to oversee plantation development, silviculture, harvesting cycles, and replantation.
• Implement SOPs for field operations, yield measurement, and loss prevention.
• Oversee the implementation of a digital project monitoring system, utilizing satellite imagery and drone surveillance for precise asset counts, health assessments, and yield forecasting.

Managing Executing Partner(s)

• Manage and coordinate with executing partner(s) responsible for on-ground implementation of the forest company’s operations
• Work closely with partners to ensure alignment with the company’s strategic objectives, governance framework, and sustainability standards.
• Support the establishment of the operational and compliance systems in coordination with executing partners
• Oversee performance, deliverables, and milestones of executing partner(s), ensuring timely and quality execution and harvesting of the trees.

Land Identification & Selection

• Actively support land identification and selection alongside ongoing due diligence process.
• Provide operational, commercial, and scalability inputs into land screening.
• Ensure selected land parcels are operationally viable, scalable, and bankable.
• Post due diligence, assume full responsibility for land tenure management, renewals, and compliance.

Financial Management & Controls

• Manage budgets, forecasts, and financial reporting.
• Establish internal controls, approval matrices, and audit readiness.

Procurement & Contract Management

• Implement transparent, competitive procurement processes.
• Ensure documentation, Conflict of Interest management, and value-for-money principles.
• Ensure that all material contracts are executed strictly in accordance with approved delegated authority and Board decisions
• Monitor contract performance, variations, extensions, and claims, and ensure that any material deviations are approved in accordance with governance requirements.

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), Safeguards & Health, Safety & Environment (HSE)

• Implement environmental and social safeguards
• Establish grievance redress and HSE systems

Carbon & Climate Readiness (if approved)

• Support carbon baseline, Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), and certification processes with credible advisors.
• Ensure that all climate-related claims are conservative, evidence-based, and supported by verifiable data and third-party standards, where applicable.

Stakeholder & Government Liaison

• Manage relations with regulators, communities, contractors, and off-takers.
• Ensure all project activities remain recognized under FCDO’s climate finance framework and meet the sustainability standards advocated by the Gates Foundation to maintain high Climate Credentials.
• Beyond initial due diligence, assume ongoing responsibility for verifying land records, mutations, and demarcations with the Tehsil Revenue Department and Board of Revenue Punjab to secure long-term leases.

Risk, Security & Insurance

• Maintain risk registers, fire management plans, and insurance coverage.

Organization Design & HR

• Build and manage a lean, compliant organization.

Legal, Regulatory & Statutory Compliance

• Statutory Governance: Assume ultimate responsibility for the SPV’s compliance with the Companies Act, 2017, SECP regulations, and all applicable federal and provincial tax obligations.
• Sector-Specific Compliance: Ensure that all field operations strictly comply with the Provincial Forest Act, all applicable environmental laws, regulations, and standards prescribed by the relevant Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs), and all applicable labour and occupational safety laws.
• Tenure Security: Guarantee the legal validity and enforceability of all land leases and permits through rigorous documentation and proactive monitoring of renewal cycles
• Risk Escalation: Maintain a direct reporting line to the Board for immediate escalation of material risks, including legal disputes, regulatory penalties, or significant contractual breaches.

Ethical Oversight

• Enforce the SPV’s Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest policies, ensuring transparent disclosure and mitigation of perceived or actual conflicts.

ELIGIBILITY

Preferred Education

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree (Forestry, Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Business, or related). Postgraduate degree preferred.

Prerequisite Work Experience

• 12–15 years post-qualification experience. Minimum 5 years’ experience in senior executive or leadership roles, with a proven track record of managing complex operations and cross-functional teams.
• Significant experience in leading projects driven by Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards or international climate finance frameworks.
• Proficiency in commercial contracting, high-value procurement, and managing complex regulatory and statutory compliance environments in,
  • Long-tenor asset management
  • ESG or safeguards-driven projects
  • Natural resource-based operations
  • Commercial contracting and procurement
• Prior experience operating within the Pakistani market or similar emerging economies, with an understanding of local land tenure and regulatory dynamics.

Interested and qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.