Executive Director

Position Type: Permanent

Reports to: The VWS Board 

Location: Cape Town, Western Cape

Role Description 

The Executive Director is the most senior executive leader of Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS) and is responsible for the overall management, development, strategic planning, implementation, financial sustainability, and institutional strength of the organisation.

Working under the authority and direction of the Board, the Executive Director will lead VWS through its next phase of growth – strengthening the organisation on and off the fireline, building the systems and partnerships required for long-term sustainability, and ensuring that VWS is professionally managed while remaining true to its volunteer ethos and public-service mission.

The Executive Director will manage programme heads and lead the Executive Committee (ExCo), ensuring that senior leadership works as a coherent team and that Board-approved strategy is translated into clear, accountable delivery.

This is a leadership role requiring excellent judgement, integrity, credibility, initiative, and the ability to hold together the different parts of a complex volunteer emergency-service organisation. The Executive Director will be expected to work across governance, operations, finance, partnerships, compliance, volunteer structures, and organisational culture, ensuring that VWS is able to serve its mission safely, effectively, and sustainably.

Key Responsibilities

Executive Leadership & Governance

• Lead the day-to-day management of VWS as its senior executive, with responsibility for organisational delivery, internal coordination, and implementation of Board-approved strategy.
• Translate the Board’s strategic direction into clear organisational plans, workstreams, timelines, budgets, and deliverables.
• Serve as the primary link between the Board and ExCo, ensuring that the Board receives clear reporting, analysis, risk alerts, and recommendations from the organisation’s executive leadership.
• Ensure strong standards of governance, accountability, transparency, professionalism, and legal and financial compliance.

Executive Management & Organisational Delivery

• Lead VWS’ executive management structure, including Station Managers and the Heads of Fire Operations, Compliance & Safety, Finance, and Partnerships & Development, ensuring that senior managers have clear mandates, agreed priorities, KPIs, and accountability for delivery.
• Chair and lead ExCo as the organisation’s central executive coordination forum, ensuring that senior management decisions, priorities, and resources are aligned across the organisation.
• Strengthen VWS’ internal systems, including administration, financial management, volunteer records, reporting, compliance, risk management, organisational planning, policies, SOPs, training systems, and organisational standards.
• Identify organisational risks, capacity gaps, funding needs, and strategic opportunities, and make clear recommendations to the Board.

Fire Operations Support & Organisational Readiness

• Manage and work closely with the Head of Fire Operations to ensure that VWS’ organisational systems support safe, effective, disciplined, and well-coordinated wildfire response, while respecting the specialised operational command structures required during incidents.

• Ensure that operational planning, training systems, safety standards, equipment needs, volunteer readiness, and administrative support are properly integrated into VWS’ wider organisational planning.

Partnerships, Fundraising & Sustainability

• Manage and work closely with the Head of Partnerships & Development to drive fundraising, donor relations, sponsorships, communications, institutional partnerships, and long-term resource mobilisation.

• Lead VWS’ external organisational relationships including with public and private sector entities, conservation bodies, donors, sponsors, government departments, emergency-service partners, land owners, and civil society organisations.

• Represent VWS with credibility and authority in public, partner, donor, and stakeholder engagements.

Culture & Volunteer Ethos

• Build and protect a healthy organisational culture rooted in service, safety, professionalism, volunteer commitment, trust, accountability, and respect.

Required Skills & Experience

• Significant experience in organisational leadership and executive management in one or more of the following: the nonprofit sector, emergency services, conservation, environmental management, operations, or a related field.
• Proven ability to lead a senior management team, including setting priorities, managing performance, coordinating across portfolios, and holding others accountable for delivery.
• Strong strategic and operational judgement, including the ability to translate Board-approved strategy into practical plans, budgets, workstreams, and deliverables across multiple organisational functions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare reports, proposals, policies, correspondence, Board papers, and external stakeholder communications.
• Strong financial literacy, including the ability to work with budgets, funding proposals, expenditure controls, financial reports, and organisational sustainability planning.
• Experience managing external relationships with partners, funders, public institutions, donors, sponsors, or community stakeholders.
• Ability to build trust and credibility across a volunteer organisation with different stations, roles, cultures, histories, and areas of expertise.
• High levels of integrity, discretion,resilience, emotional maturity, and public-service commitment.

Desirable Attributes

• Familiarity with wildfire response, disaster management, incident command systems, conservation, or emergency operations.
• Experience in fundraising, donor relations, sponsorship development, grant management, or institutional development.
• Experience building, restructuring, or professionalising organisational systems during a period of growth or transition.
• Ability to balance command-and-control operational realities with the openness, legitimacy, and accountability required in a nonprofit, volunteer-led institution.
• A practical, hands-on leadership style, with the willingness to build systems as well as lead strategy.
• A strong understanding of volunteer public service and the responsibilities it carries.
• Ability to communicate in two or more of South Africa’s official languages, preferably including English, Afrikaans and/or isiXhosa.

How to Apply

Please send a CV and cover letter of no more than one page explaining your interest in the role and suitability for the position to careers@vws.org.za