About DroneSeed/Silvaseed:

Our mission is simple: Make reforestation scalable to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Trees are highly effective at carbon removal, but scaling reforestation has significant obstacles--and that gets our team fired up about how we can build solutions using technology. We’ve built DroneSeed and acquired and combined it with 130-year-old Silvaseed to be a one-stop-shop for reforestation and remove obstacles at each of four steps:

• Seed. Natural regeneration after wildfire is in decline due to climate change resulting in larger fires of higher severity. These factors eliminate seed stored in the soil for regeneration. This creates challenges for seed supply. To respond we’ve expanded Silvaseed to become the largest private seed bank in the west and the first call for land managers affected by fire.
• Grow space. There’s not enough nursery greenhouse capacity to grow seedlings (link). We’re currently growing millions of seedlings per year at Silvaseed and, while we’re doubling that output, we’re creating a replicable method to scale further.
• Better tools for labor. We need better tools to accomplish more reforestation faster. DroneSeed is utilizing heavy lift drone swarms to deliver seed vessels after wildfire and boost seed establishment in combination with seedlings that are interplanted later.
• Finance. For the last 20 years, carbon offsets haven’t provided capital for the high-up front costs of reforestation. Repayment periods were 25 years or more and reforestation projects were exceedingly rare. That changed two years ago when third party certifier Climate Action Reserve (CAR) announced the Climate Forward protocol to conservatively forecast the carbon tonne removals as reforested trees grow. DroneSeed is developing one of the first projects using this protocol. This and future projects following the protocol will be protected by legal easements on replanted and re-seeded land, monitored by state-accredited land trusts, and have insurance buffer pools in place in case fire occurs again. Under the CAR protocol, DroneSeed is generating the most transparent, highest-quality forestry-based carbon offsets on the market from reforestation projects.

We need to overcome these four reforestation challenges to build back--even a fraction of--the forests we lose from wildfires every year. That's why we set out to build a model to make reforestation scaleable, which requires expanding the supply chain systems and financial flywheels behind them. That is the mission: make reforestation scalable to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

We’re in search of a Business Development minded summer intern to assist our landowner outreach strategy ahead of the catastrophic wildfire season.

Responsibilities will include:

- Urgently developing an understanding of landowner pain points and DroneSeed’s unique end-to-end solutions.
- Conducting in-depth reforestation and carbon market research.
- Composing both internal and external reports in support of an accelerated GTM strategy.
- Working with the heads of BD, Sales, and Comms on corporate-level marketing assets.
- Supporting the CEO and other senior executives to other strategic initiatives.

Candidates must possess:

- Alignment with our Mission of developing scalable reforestation solutions to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.
- Analytical and financial modeling skills.
- The ability to communicate complex issues verbally and in writing.

A plus if you have:

- Familiarity with seed and plant propagation strategies.
- Experience with scientific writing, technical reports, or giving scientific presentations.
- Completed degree program.

Benefits of working at DroneSeed: We’re focused on our mission and making a positive impact on the environment. Leadership & Board: 7 of 8 leadership identify as either non-male, LGBTQ+, person of color, minority, immigrant, or veteran. Three of seven board members identify as female or a person of color.  These aspects (and our hiring process) are what have led us to have an awesome office culture and highly collaborative team.

Other Information: Candidates must be eligible to work at our DroneSeed offices in Ballard, Seattle, as well as at Silvaseed Nursery HQ in Roy, WA.