Energy Policy Manager

Summary

Climate and Community Institute is looking for a big-picture thinker to fill the role of Energy Policy Manager. We need an Energy Policy Manager who understands the political economy of energy, and is willing to work dynamically with colleagues and partners to develop cutting-edge research and policy ideas in service of a working class climate agenda. CCI emphasizes planning, coordination, and public intervention in its energy and industrial strategy to drive toward a just green transformation. The ideal Energy Policy Manager is hungry for new policy ideas, ready to bring together allies to make change.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Research Area Development: Work with CCI staff and fellows to set a research and policy agenda for energy and industrial policy portfolio.

• Evaluate the state of play in the energy sector, identifying key places where CCI can contribute ideas that deliver on a working class climate agenda.
• Manage projects across a range of different energy issue areas including utility policy, grid planning, AI and data center development, fossil fuel transition, energy supply chains, and industrial policy.
• Drive an experimental and dynamic approach, willing to try new things and push the policy debate.
• Identify opportunities to leverage data to tell a story about the energy transition, equitable decarbonization, and green economic populism.
• Think systemically about the larger political economy of the energy transition and connect across sectoral lines with colleagues and partners.
• Collaborate with CCI staff on overarching organizational strategy.

Project Management: Manage a range of projects from ideation to rollout, coordinating with staff, fellows, junior fellows, and contractors.

• Assemble dynamic, interdisciplinary teams of fellows and other aligned researchers to deliver cutting-edge research.
• Manage a range of experts and academics in a way that ensures projects are focused, on time, and strategic.
• Liaise between research teams, central CCI staff, and key partners to ensure that goals and expectations are met across a diverse range of actors.
• Coordinate community and peer review processes for all research production to ensure high validity of research content and alignment with policy goals.
• Lead plans for research deployment, including narrative development, partnerships for policy execution, and further research.
• Manage multiple projects with different research teams at once.
• Collaborate with fundraising staff on funder pitches, networking, and funder management.

Partner Relationship Building: Cultivate partnerships to build political power on energy issues—from movement partners to energy experts.

• Develop partnerships that drive strategy forward and build power, including but not limited to leading energy thinkers and policymakers as well as climate organizers, ratepayer advocacy projects, and labor leaders.
• Seek out the right people to bring into CCI to answer tough questions about energy policy.
• Steward relationships between partners from diverse backgrounds with a range of different incentives and timelines—for instance, experts tied to academic timelines, movements running campaigns, and Hill offices on Congressional calendars.
• Track ecosystem actors, such as industry groups, cognate policy shops, experts to inform strategy and maintain research relevance.

Writing & Presentation: Write and speak on behalf of CCI’s energy research and policy.

• Write products such as research reports, briefing memos, and substack posts for publication on CCI’s channels.
• Produce op-eds and speak with journalists about CCI’s perspective on energy policy, as well as redirect journalists to relevant experts and partners.
• Speak eloquently about CCI’s energy portfolio as well as larger organizational strategy with policymakers, movement partners, and funders.
• Represent CCI at external events, conferences, and convenings.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

CCI is a highly collaborative workplace environment, offering opportunities for staff members to take on additional responsibilities such as strategic planning.

Education and/or Experience

• You have a minimum of 4 years of relevant experience in the energy policy sector.
• You are deeply versed in the debates around the political economy of the energy transition.
• You understand how research can be leveraged strategically to advance policy goals and bring a campaigning mindset to the work.
• You can translate complex policy changes into public-facing work.
• You have existing relationships with working class movement actors, energy advocates, and/or policymakers and are eager to cultivate more.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• A firm commitment to race, gender, class, and climate justice. You recognize how your identities show up in the work, and welcome, reflect on, and act on feedback with an eye toward continuous learning about race, ability, and other lines of difference.
• A strategic thinker who can spot opportunity and quickly execute strategies.
• A resilient and flexible team player who is a fast learner, can handle a fast-paced, highly collaborative team culture.
• Strong project management skills and can stay on top of multiple projects, plan backwards, anticipate obstacles, identify and involve stakeholders appropriately, and exercise good judgement.
• Strong communication skills in a remote-first workplace and able to work with fellows, staff, and partners spread across multiple geographies.
• Able to take direction and drive toward goals with light supervision.
• Ready to win progressive climate policies!

Organizational Relationship

• The Energy Policy Manager reports to the Research Director and collaborates with other staff, consultants, fellows, and partners.

Physical Demands

Ability to work at a computer for 8 hours per day. Also, requires frequent communication with others including hearing and speaking clearly with adults. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work Environment

This is a fully remote position with the selected candidate needing to be located within the United States. The Energy Policy Manager should expect to travel for work 1-2 times a quarter.

About Us

The Climate and Community Institute is a progressive climate and economy think tank. We work with movements and policy makers to pass new policy, improve implementation, shift narratives, and deepen coalitions. Our staff and network of over 60 academics and experts produce cutting-edge research on the intersections of climate, economy, and everyday life. We focus on the US context, but also lead projects in global policy spaces. We help progressive movements design and win a transformative agenda to rapidly decarbonize the economy, protect communities from climate disasters, and materially benefit working people. To win on climate long-term, we fight for climate policy you can touch.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Climate and Community Institute is a fiscally sponsored project of Tides, an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. We encourage and will consider employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Applicants with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. If you seek an accommodation, please advise in writing at the time you apply.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, a 4% employer match 403b retirement account, and 14 paid holidays. Paid time off also includes 3 weeks of office closure, 15 vacation days, and 15 sick days annually.