Founded in 1936 by a visionary conservationist, the National Wildlife Federation is America's largest and most trusted wildlife conservation and education organization. What began as a conference to unite conservationists has grown into a federation that works closely with regional centers, state and territory affiliates, project offices, and partners across the country.
The National Wildlife Federation has a rich history of success in conservation and continues to be a strong voice for wildlife. The most valuable assets in achieving our mission are our employees, who exemplify our core values of collaboration, empowerment, inclusivity, mindfulness, and taking pride in our mission of “uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world.” At the National Wildlife Federation, our halls are filled with caring, committed individuals with a passion for the preservation and protection of wildlife and wild places.
Inventiveness is one of the hallmarks of the National Wildlife Federation. Our environment supports growth and innovation, and we ardently support individual talents. Our environment is also one of employee and workplace safety, dignity and respect, corporate social responsibility, and positive employee morale. We promote a healthy work/life balance that creates time for family, friends, and connecting with nature.
Join Our Team
Diversity at the National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation strives to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in all elements of our work and with our partners, to support the interdependent needs of wildlife and people in a rapidly changing world. We aspire to be an inclusive multicultural organization that brings together and celebrates the rich dimensions of diversity. With leadership from our Equity & Justice team, we are committed to integrating these core values more deeply into all elements of our daily work.
Required Competencies
All staff members at the National Wildlife Federation are expected to exemplify our core values of collaboration, mindfulness, empowerment, inclusivity, and mission focus, and demonstrate leadership competencies, including:
- Dedicated to deepening understanding of cultural and systemic racism and the intersectionality of multiple forms of social inequality
- Demonstrates awareness of positional power and privilege (both personally and professionally) and its attendant impacts
- Consistently brings a high level of empathy, emotional intelligence, and social skills to work and interpersonal interactions
- Maintains a sophisticated understanding of how group dynamics impact organizational culture, partnerships, campaigns and coalition work
- Demonstrates capacity to maintain relationships across difference
- Openly holds space, and invites others into conversations during sensitive engagements, exhibiting a responsible and respectful demeanor with colleagues and partners
- Exhibits strong interpersonal skills rooted in teamwork, diplomacy, and respect
- Strives to match intent and impact in all interactions
- Acknowledges when mistakes are made and harm is done; works to repair breaches in relationships
- Actively seeks feedback, direction, and guidance from all team members
- Keeps colleagues and partners informed of decisions that impact them
- Works to implement collaborative decision-making processes and structures that include voices from different programs and different levels of the organization so that decisions do not belong to a single person but can be collectively owned
- Actively seeks new solutions to persistent problems by engaging a diversity of perspectives and experiences
- Practices both/and thinking and the ability to accept ambiguity
- Motivated by values of equity and responsibility to those most marginalized
- Committed to deepening an environmental justice approach in policy priorities, program development and partner engagement
- Demonstrates awareness of the attributes associated with a white dominant culture and takes actions to dismantle hierarchies of oppression within that culture
- Dedicated to advancing NWF's internal equity transformation and compelling partners and allies to incorporate equity into their work
Employment Benefits
At the National Wildlife Federation, we strive to give our employees the kinds of benefits they need to support their work and home lives. The National Wildlife Federation offers eligible employees a flexible benefits package to allow choice among a variety of options to customize a benefits package based on individual employee/family needs. Our benefits go well beyond the traditional. We strive to make our workplace comfortable, fun, and one that builds a sense of community and inclusivity.
The National Wildlife Federation offers comprehensive health, vision, prescription, and dental coverage. The National Wildlife Federation pays the majority of the medical premium. Employees may elect to cover a spouse, domestic partner (any gender or gender identity), or dependents under the health, dental, vision and supplemental life insurance plans.
- Vacation Leave: 15 to 25 days per year depending on years of service
- Open Wellbeing, Religious, Cultural Leave (WRC), and to include religious and cultural days (maintaining the unlimited status).
- Half-day Fridays
- Summer Break, week of July 4th and offices are closed.
- Winter Break, week of December 25th and offices to be closed.
- 11 paid holidays each year. We also allow the ability for staff to swap holidays to advance a more inclusive practice and allow more flexibility. For example, employees may decide to swap an observed holiday for a cause they support.
- Bereavement Leave, up to four weeks
- Jury Duty, up to four weeks
- Community Service, 8 hours
The National Wildlife Federation is committed to a flexible and empowered work environment with an authentic community of care for all staff. We trust our staff to know how they do their best work and we value our supervisors who consistently and carefully consider team needs. We believe that the long-term plan of our environmental and social movement must center people and their unique needs. We are dedicated to providing flexibility and genuine work-life balance for all staff, alongside our commitment to our mission and the responsible running of our organization. NWF also is dedicated to administering its commitment to flexibility in compliance with all other applicable laws and NWF policies.
To demonstrate our commitment to flexibility, trust, and empowerment, each staff member will identify their unique needs, work with their supervisor to review team/department needs, and commit to a “work mode” (fully office-based, hybrid, or fully remote) based on the criteria described below.
Fully Office-Based (FOB) Criteria:
- Consistent in-person use of a specific NWF office.
- Personal desire or daily job responsibilities such as supporting in-person engagement, working with physical equipment or documents, managing physical office space, or any other frequent presence necessary in NWF offices to support the organization.
- Dedicated space in the primary NWF office is provided.
- Occasional remote work is supported, in alignment with supervisor.
Hybrid Criteria:
- Regular in-person NWF office use or presence in the field (minimum of 1-2 days per week). The policy supports staff to work in any NWF office in coordination with supervisors and local office leadership and Operation staff.
- Job responsibilities must support this degree of flexibility.
- Designated space in NWF offices is provided and considered “open” for others when absent. When possible, this space will be considered dedicated to specific employee (it may be shared) if the employee will utilize NWF office 3+ days a week.
- Employee lives within what they consider to be a reasonable “commutable” distance from an NWF office.
- Remote work is conducted on an NWF-provided computer.
- Remote work is conducted in a space that fulfills internet speed requirements (25 Mb download, 10 Mb upload) with active VPN.
Fully Remote Criteria:
- Generally, three times or less a month in-person in NWF offices or no in-person NWF office use.
- Job responsibilities must support this degree of flexibility.
- No guarantee for a dedicated space in NWF offices provided, but may use open “floater” or “hotel desk” spaces.
- Remote work is conducted on an NWF-provided computer.
- Remote work is conducted in a space that fulfills internet speed requirements (25 Mb download, 10 Mb upload) with active VPN.
- Retirement Savings Plan 403(b): Employees can join immediately with immediate vesting. The National Wildlife Federation matches up to 3% immediately, 4% after three years and 5% after five years. Active employees are eligible for an Employer Contribution equal to 2% of annual salary at year-end, regardless of employee’s contribution. The contribution is subject to a graded vesting schedule.
- Tuition Reimbursement: Employees are eligible for up to $5,000 in tax-free educational assistance for undergrad or grad-level courses, annually.
- Candidly: National Wildlife Federation partners with Candidly, a student loan platform that allows employees to leverage their debt management solutions.
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA): Includes the option of a medical and/or dependent care account.
- Health Savings Account (HSA): Includes an annual employer contribution of $750 for single and $1,500 family.
- AD&D (Accidental Death & Dismemberment) Insurance: One and half times annual salary up to $400,000, all paid by the National Wildlife Federation
- Life Insurance: One and half times annual salary up to $400,000, all paid by the National Wildlife Federation.
- Short Term Disability: Employees receive 100% of their pay paid by the National Wildlife Federation depending on length of disability and service.
- Long-Term Disability: Employees receive 60% of their salary
- Employee Assistance Program: Provides confidential short-term counseling services for employees and their families in a variety of areas including stress management, legal or financial issues, alcohol and drug abuse; and information on elder care, family and education resources. Offers Personal Health Partners that lends a hand with many aspects of family healthcare.
- Paid Parental Leave: 16 weeks of paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child, after one year of service.
- Family Medical Leave: Up to 16 weeks of paid time off for qualifying reasons, after one year of service, or a prorated amount for length of service under one year.
- Milk Stork: Milk Stork helps traveling mothers maintain their commitment to breastfeed by providing them with everything they need to ship their breast milk home quickly and safely at no cost.
- Wellness Wallet: Benefit eligible employees are provided an annual deposit for a variety of eligible activities designed to support you and your individual wellness and self-care like massages, gym memberships, alternative therapies (such as naturopathy), skin care, lactation support, and much, much more.
- Credit Monitoring: If you want someone else to monitor your credit report and restore your identity if it is ever stolen (hopefully, it won’t!), it can be done, at a group rate.
- Transportation Benefits: Employees can select a pre-tax payroll deduction for the purchase of a SmartBenefits fare card for commuting to and from work on D.C. metro area public transportation
- Supplemental Life Insurance: Employees may purchase additional life insurance in an amount ranging from half to five times the employee’s salary, up to a maximum of $200k. You can even purchase life insurance for your dependents
- Pet Insurance: Because sometimes the most important person in your life isn’t a person, you can get a 10% discount off normal rates.
- Membership in The National Wildlife Federation: For the convenience of the National Wildlife Federation staff who wish to make membership donations to the National Wildlife Federation, employees can request that their chosen donation amount be divided into incremental payroll deductions over the course of the year.
- Employee Credit Union: National Wildlife partners with a credit union to offer employees a full range of banking services such as checking, savings, low interest loans and no-fee credit cards.
- Pet Adoption Deposit: A deposit of $75 is available for staff that adopt a pet from a shelter or foster during the year.
- Nature Catalog Merchandise Discounts: NWF merchandise is at a 30% discount for all employees.
Fellowship Benefits
In addition to the perks and privileges of being a National Wildlife Federation Fellow, there are also medical, dental, and paid time-off benefits.
These benefits apply to “Benefit-Eligible Fellowships.” See below for an explanation of Benefit-Eligible Fellowships. Enrollment in the National Wildlife Federation benefit program is effective the first of the month following employment.
The National Wildlife Federation offers comprehensive health, vision, prescription, and dental coverage. The National Wildlife Federation pays the majority of the medical premium. Employees may elect to cover a spouse, domestic partner (any gender or gender identity), or dependents under the health, dental, vision and supplemental life insurance plans.
- Retirement Savings Plan 403(b): Employees can join immediately with immediate vesting. The National Wildlife Federation matches up to 3% immediately, 4% after three years and 5% after five years. Active employees are eligible for an Employer Contribution equal to 2% of annual salary at year-end, regardless of employee’s contribution. The contribution is subject to a graded vesting schedule.
- Health Savings Account (HSA): Includes an annual employer contribution of $750 for single and $1,500 family.
- Holiday: 11 days per year
- Fellow Leave: 40 hours
- Open Wellbeing, Religious, Cultural Leave (WRC), and to include religious and cultural days (maintaining the unlimited status).
- Bereavement Leave, up to four weeks
- Jury Duty, up to four weeks
- Community Service, 8 hours
The National Wildlife Federation is committed to a flexible and empowered work environment with an authentic community of care for all staff. We trust our staff to know how they do their best work and we value our supervisors who consistently and carefully consider team needs. We believe that the long-term plan of our environmental and social movement must center people and their unique needs. We are dedicated to providing flexibility and genuine work-life balance for all staff, alongside our commitment to our mission and the responsible running of our organization. NWF also is dedicated to administering its commitment to flexibility in compliance with all other applicable laws and NWF policies.
To demonstrate our commitment to flexibility, trust, and empowerment, each staff member will identify their unique needs, work with their supervisor to review team/department needs, and commit to a “work mode” (fully office-based, hybrid, or fully remote) based on the criteria described below.
Fully Office-Based (FOB) Criteria:
- Consistent in-person use of a specific NWF office.
- Personal desire or daily job responsibilities such as supporting in-person engagement, working with physical equipment or documents, managing physical office space, or any other frequent presence necessary in NWF offices to support the organization.
- Dedicated space in the primary NWF office is provided.
- Occasional remote work is supported, in alignment with supervisor.
Hybrid Criteria:
- Regular in-person NWF office use or presence in the field (minimum of 1-2 days per week). The policy supports staff to work in any NWF office in coordination with supervisors and local office leadership and Operation staff.
- Job responsibilities must support this degree of flexibility.
- Designated space in NWF offices is provided and considered “open” for others when absent. When possible, this space will be considered dedicated to specific employee (it may be shared) if the employee will utilize NWF office 3+ days a week.
- Employee lives within what they consider to be a reasonable “commutable” distance from an NWF office.
- Remote work is conducted on an NWF-provided computer.
- Remote work is conducted in a space that fulfills internet speed requirements (25 Mb download, 10 Mb upload) with active VPN.
Fully Remote Criteria:
- Generally, three times or less a month in-person in NWF offices or no in-person NWF office use.
- Job responsibilities must support this degree of flexibility.
- No guarantee for a dedicated space in NWF offices provided, but may use open “floater” or “hotel desk” spaces.
- Remote work is conducted on an NWF-provided computer.
- Remote work is conducted in a space that fulfills internet speed requirements (25 Mb download, 10 Mb upload) with active VPN.
- Wellness Wallet: Benefit eligible employees are provided an annual deposit for a variety of eligible activities designed to support you and your individual wellness and self-care like massages, gym memberships, alternative therapies (such as naturopathy), skin care, lactation support, and much, much more.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Transportation Benefits: SmartBenefits and Bicycle Commuter Reimbursement
- Employee Credit Union: National Wildlife partners with a credit union to offer employees a full range of banking services such as checking, savings, low interest loans and no-fee credit cards.
- Pet Adoption Deposit: A deposit of $75 is available for staff that adopt a pet from a shelter or foster during the year.
- Nature Catalog Merchandise Discounts: NWF merchandise is at a 30% discount for all employees.
Our Interview Process
Learn more about National Wildlife Federation’s recruiting process.
This is the first step! When reviewing our current open positions, we encourage you to apply to any position(s) that interests you and fits your skill set.
Pro Tip: Your cover letter is one of the most important tools you have to tell us who you are and why you would be a good fit for this role and the National Wildlife Federation team.
If our Recruiting Team thinks you could be a strong addition to the team, we’ll advance you on to the Screening Discussion stage. This can look like a one-on-one phone call, or a Zoom meeting with the team. Either way, this initial meeting is for us to learn more about each other. This is where we will ask about your specific skills and previous experiences listed on your resume and dive into the most interesting parts of your application.
Congrats on making it to the next phase of our recruiting process! During the interview, you will meet some additional National Wildlife Federation team members. We like to assemble a cross-functional interview team that can help us more holistically assess our candidates, prevent group-think, and offer different perspectives.
You made it through the interview, but we’re not quite done yet! Depending on the position, we may ask you to come in for a second-round interview. During the second-round interview you may get to meet some additional National Wildlife Federation team members as we go into more in-depth questions.
Waiting is the hardest part, right? We won’t keep you waiting too long, but we do need to gather the whole team together to debrief on all of our candidates for the role, and determine who we would like to make an offer to. We’ll go through your application materials again, review and share notes from previous phone screens and interviews, and discuss who our future teammates might be. We’re eager to move forward, so you’ll hear from us soon!
Pro Tip: Do not hesitate to reach out to us with questions, or to check in.
Once we have selected our top candidate(s), the final step is to conduct a reference check. We outsource this to a 3rd party vendor, SkillSurvey. You will receive an email from them directly with a link to provide us with the names and email address of your references. We will ask you to provide us the contact information for at least three references, two of which should be direct supervisors.
Woohoo, you have been selected to join the National Wildlife Federation team! We will call you with a verbal offer to discuss salary, start date, and other important information. Have you swiped right on us too? Once you accept the verbal offer, a member of the HR team will follow up with an official offer letter. After you sign and return the offer letter, we will start you on the onboarding journey as an official National Wildlife Federation team member!
Application FAQs
Have questions? We have answers! Check out our hiring process FAQs.
An automatic reply will be sent to your email upon receipt in our system. Check your junk folder or your e-mail preference settings, auto-reply email may be deemed as spam.
We value the time investment each candidate demonstrates by carefully submitting their profile for consideration. We are fortunate to receive multiple resumes for each opening. We review credentials to determine who meets or exceeds our specifications for candidacy. Due to the large response we regret that we won’t be able to give everyone a personal response, but will be reaching out to those that we want to have initial phone screens with.
Yes, we are committed to communicating the status of your application with you throughout the process. If you are not selected to move on in the process, you will be notified.
We post positions on our website as soon as they are available. It is hard to predict what our needs might be as our hiring can be dynamic. You can sign up for job alerts by visiting our career site (you’ll need to ‘search’ for an opportunity and will then see the job alert box pop up). https://recruiting.ultipro.com/NAT1047NWF/JobBoard/1ca8346a-33cc-401d-90d9-d7f752fdfd7d/?q=&o=postedDateDesc
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic, religious/spiritual; community; student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
We encourage you to determine which positions fit your career aspirations and skill set, and apply appropriately.
If you require an accommodation or assistance with our online application process, please tell us how we can help. Send us a message at hrhelp@nwf.org or call 703-438-6244.
Please contact us at hrhelp@nwf.org and we will be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
Internships
In addition to our 48-week Fellowship program, the National Wildlife Federation offers an internship program for students who are currently in high school or are pursuing an undergraduate college degree. These paid internships offer structured work experiences to students, with a number of perks, including relevant and professional work experience, skill development, professional connections, resume enhancements, and an opportunity to assess their own interests and skills. Internships with the National Wildlife Federation can be any length and may include summer assignments or opportunities throughout the school year. Although an internship with the National Wildlife Federation does not offer benefits, aside from statutory benefits only, we guarantee our interns will have a great learning experience.
Due to the high volume of applications, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. Search internship opportunities here.
- High school or college students may apply for internships. Graduates and graduate students may apply for fellowships. Students from all fields of study are encouraged to apply.
- Former Campus Ecology Fellows become eligible for an internship a year after the fellowship ends.
- Applicants are selected based on a variety of measures, including professional goals, course work, job experience, resume and cover letter, GPA, along with professional/academic references.
- Candidates should demonstrate commitment to and experience working with multi-cultural communities, environmental justice and diversity.
EcoLeaders Fellowships
The National Wildlife Federation's EcoLeaders Fellows confront climate change on their campuses and help to educate and engage the campus community on climate change impacts and solutions. Learn more about EcoLeaders fellowship opportunities.
