Energy Justice Director

The Energy Justice Director oversees the development and operation of CEJA’s Energy Justice Program and supports CEJA Action-related activities, as needed. The Energy Justice Director reports to CEJA’s Co-Executive Director of Programs, supervises manager level positions and collaborates closely with CEJA’s member and partner organizations to realize CEJA’s Energy Justice Program vision and goals.

The Energy Justice Director must be a creative problem solver and enjoy working within a diverse organization that is mission-driven, results-driven, and community oriented. The ideal individual will have the ability to exercise good judgment in a variety of situations, with strong written and verbal communications, administrative, and organizational skills, and the ability to maintain a realistic balance among multiple priorities. The Energy Justice Director must be able to handle a wide variety of activities and confidential matters with discretion. The ideal individual will steward a healthy team culture rooted in trust and collaboration, maintain high team morale, and nurture the professional growth of the manager level positions.

Job duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Administrative:

• Leadership: Serve on CEJA’s Leadership Team, identifying and implementing organizational strategies and ensuring that CEJA is a well-managed organization aligned with its mission, goals, and core values; attend occasional meetings of CEJA’s Board of Directors. Provide leadership, thought partnership, and facilitation for major campaign retreats and planning meetings.
• Team Management: Oversee CEJA’s Energy Justice Program team, serving as thought partner, mentor, and supervisor to managers. Provide clear and useful feedback and strategic guidance to staff, including through performance evaluations and regular check-ins. Oversee management of external partners, consultants, interns, or fellows.
• Grants and Development: Support CEJA’s fundraising by contributing to energy-related grant proposals and reports and supporting the execution of grant agreements; build and maintain relationships with key donors.
• Fiscal Stewardship: Propose and manage the Energy Justice Program budget, in collaboration with CEJA’s Finance Director. Monitor spending and compliance, ensuring that energy program staff adhere to the highest possible fiscal standards.

Programmatic:

• Campaign and Program Direction: Develop CEJA campaigns in coordination with CEJA members and coalitions, with ambitious, attainable, and actionable goals, objectives, and work plans for the Energy Justice Program. Build connections across CEJA’s intersecting program areas and ensure a coordinated strategy to advance energy equity and justice in California. The ideal candidate will be able to hold state and local campaign work while being able to zoom out and ensure these campaigns will contribute to big picture goals.
• Committee Leadership: Oversee CEJA’s Energy Committee and any other committees that fall under the Energy Justice Program, including supporting Program Managers in facilitating committee meetings, co-developing committee work plans, delegating roles and responsibilities, act as thought-partnership with managers, supporting Manager’s career growth and goals, mentorship, and monitor progress. 
• Relationship Building: Build and foster strong working relationships within the Alliance, with CEJA members and partners, with a focus on state policy organizing. Serve as one of CEJA’s lead external representatives, cultivating and furthering relationships with a variety of decision makers and stakeholders, including elected officials, appointed officials such as Commissioners of state energy agencies, labor unions, and environmental and social justice organizations. 
• Advocacy: Serve as representative and spokesperson for CEJA and advance CEJA’s program goals, including advocating before the state legislature, executive branch, and regulatory agencies; provide media interviews as assigned. Ensure that CEJA’s advocacy is done in close partnership with members and partners.
• Policy Analysis: Oversee CEJA’s policy analysis of energy-related regulatory and legislative proposals, and support strategy development, as necessary. The ideal candidate will have experience in seeing bill development in various stages from origin to implementation.
• Media and Communications: Work with program staff and CEJA’s Communications Director to integrate strategic communications to advance program goals and help strengthen CEJA's capacity to produce timely and relevant communications materials.

The successful candidate must have the following skills and experience:

• Commitment: Deep commitment to the principles of environmental, racial, social, and economic justice and to CEJA’s mission. Commitment to providing excellent leadership and service to CEJA’s member and partner organizations.
• Supervisory Track Record: Successful track record of at least five (5) to seven (7) years as a staff supervisor, preferably in the EJ community; ability to engage, inspire, and maintain transformational partnerships around shared values, purpose, and goals. Emotional intelligence and resilience, ability to engage in courageous conversations and to thrive in a feedback environment, both giving and receiving feedback. 
• Critical Thinking: Strategic planning, program evaluation, and project management skills, including the self-confidence and capacity necessary to be a lead thinker in program development. Ability to generate ideas that advance the vision and goals of the Energy Equity Program and CEJA overall; ability to navigate an ever-changing landscape and effectively problem-solve while keeping the big picture in mind.
• Subject Matter Expertise: Significant policy/program expertise in environmental justice issues and familiarity with California’s EJ policy landscape, community, and advocacy groups; specific expertise in state and local energy policy, including electricity grid legislation, regulation, politics, technology, markets, affordability, and reliability. Not required to be an expert but highly desirable for candidate to have knowledge of any combination of the following topics:
• Energy market and State reliability policy efforts such as Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), Resource Adequacy (RA), SB100 (DeLeon), CAISO Transmission Planning Process (TPP)
• Clean energy investments and programs, including the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH), community solar + storage, distributed energy, and demand-side resources
• Advocacy and Mobilization: Outstanding communications skills (written and verbal), with the ability to facilitate understanding across multiple audiences and to navigate and advocate before various policy-making bodies. Ability to develop and facilitate alliance-wide meetings and retreats that engage all members in campaign planning and decision-making.
• Conflict Resolution: Ability to intervene when challenging group dynamics play out, in ways that build understanding, trust, and deeper self-awareness of team members; initiate and lead conflict resolution efforts between individuals and organizations as needed; proactively problem-solve with strong decision-making capability.
• Non-Profit Operations: Non-profit financial literacy and a clear understanding of the core functions at a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, including governance, operations, development, and communications.
• Education: A Bachelor’s degree (Master’s degree preferred, but not required) in a relevant field.

Benefits: CEJA offers a generous benefits package, including an excellent orientation program; generous vacation (10 to 25 days per year); 11 paid holidays; 2-week paid winter break (December 19 through January 1), select health, dental, and vision insurance, medical reimbursement plan, wellness leave (12 to 18 days per year), 401(k) retirement plan, professional development funding, and a two-month sabbatical after seven years of continuous employment. CEJA is currently piloting a 32-hour, four-day work week, during which staff work Monday through Thursday.

Application Instruction: To apply for the Energy Justice Director position, please submit your application along with your resume and cover letter to the CEJA career webpage at https://caleja.bamboohr.com/careers.

Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may come from a less traditional background. CEJA may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and lived experience to meet minimum qualifications.

The California Environmental Justice Alliance is an equal-opportunity employer. CEJA provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.