As Director of the Kenya Wildlife Trust’s Mara Cheetah Project, I established and developed a long-term research-driven conservation project focused on cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in the Greater Mara Ecosystem, Kenya. The three main objectives of the project were to: (1) develop and implement robust population monitoring, (2) quantify threats to cheetahs and other predators and (3) provide this information in the form of evidence-based management recommendations. To achieve these objectives, I designed various repeatable survey methodologies based on both sighting and interview data that have been analysed in spatially explicit capture-recapture and occupancy frameworks. Some of the outputs have been published in peer-reviewed journals including Oryx, Ecology and Evolution, Journal of Zoology and PlosONE. In addition, the data and outputs from the project were provided to stakeholders and are being incorporated into management policies.