POSITION SUMMARY
The Australia Initiative Director will lead strategic grantmaking to achieve policy wins that help Australia meet its climate goals and accelerate the decarbonizing of the materials it exports that are critical for the clean energy transition. This role will work with Climate Imperative’s leadership team to align the strategy with the organization’s values and theory of change. The individual will also work with a diverse group of partners, from grassroots advocates to high-level policymakers and aligned philanthropies, both within Australia and with its trading partners.
OUR COMMITMENT
We are committed to diversity, equity, & inclusion and to a transparent recruitment process that fosters belonging. Our goal is to hire and advance people regardless of race, gender, ability, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, military service, medical condition, and any other protected characteristic under local, state, or federal law. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.
We are committed to an accessible application process and employee experience. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please email [email protected].
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategy
- Identify the near-term opportunities to support policymakers and advocates in key geographies to accelerate a clean energy transition
- Prioritize the phase-out of coal-fired power as a central and essential part of addressing the climate crisis globally
- Ensure the efforts we are promoting mean all residents are able to afford and enjoy the benefits of this transition
- From a global vantage point, see opportunities to knit regional efforts into a cohesive strategy, amplifying and replicating wins in other jurisdictions
Campaign Coordination & Coalition-Building
- In collaboration with global partners, determine how to rapidly accelerate the clean energy transition in key economies and build global consensus around the need to phase out coal, including by intensifying existing efforts
- Ensure that justice and equity and an economic transition strategy for affected workers are central to the design, implementation, and impact of the initiative
- Build a concise and metric-driven campaign strategy to win, in consultation with partners
- Ensure we and our partners have a clear understanding of how to win in each decision-making venue
Grantmaking & Convening
- Identify the grantees who can execute the initiative strategy, and develop a portfolio of grants so they can lead this initiative to success
- Regularly convene grantee and funding partners to ensure strong coordination, track progress, repair problems, expand, contract or phase down elements of the initiative, as necessary
- Report, without bias, on progress and stalls to the Board of Directors
- Serve as a thought leader to the broader philanthropic and NGO community on strategy and grantmaking
- Lead on the grantee relationship through regular check-ins
- Serve as a leader and resource for other Climate Imperative staff
Required Skills & Experience
- 7+ years of experience leading initiatives to achieve policy change at a broad scale and in multiple geographies
- Global philanthropic or grantmaking experience
- Expertise in the clean energy landscape and the global fossil fuel industry
- Strong knowledge of the policy landscape of one or more countries in East, Southeast Asia, and/or Latin America
- Effective written and verbal communication skills
- Managerial skills to lead a highly skilled and diverse team, meet grantmaking goals, timelines, and other benchmarks
- Develop strategies that consider and synthesize multiple perspectives into a coherent big-picture strategy and workable plan
- Ability to track multi-dimensional global efforts and see opportunities for leverage and scaled impact
- A deep commitment to equity and inclusion reflected in prior campaigns
- Ability to engage and inspire others while effectively communicating complex ideas and information verbally and in writing
- Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally
- Deep interest, passion, and commitment to reducing climate change
- Ability to prioritize and be flexible in a fast-paced, constantly evolving, and collaborative environment
SALARY
We provide a salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. The target salary range is $195,000 to $205,000 with adjustments made for people in higher-expense markets, i.e. the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington D.C. We provide a salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Currently, all staff local to the San Francisco and DC offices go into the office one to three days a week. Equity is incredibly important to the organization, and a pay audit for equity is completed annually.
BENEFITS
Energy Innovation provides a comprehensive benefits package. The benefits include:
- Up to 100% of premium paid for medical, dental, and vision
- Short term and long term disability insurance
- Company sponsored life insurance and voluntary life
- Carrot fertility and family planning benefits
- Student loan repayment assistance
- 401k retirement plan with a company match contribution
- Annual professional development budget
- Internet, cell phone, and health & wellness reimbursement
- 14 paid holidays and four weeks of paid time off (PTO)
- Paid parental leave, jury duty, and bereavement
- Public transportation benefit options for office staff
- Regular staff lunches and team building activities
- SF and DC office stocked with healthy snacks and beverages
- An innovative, collaborative, welcoming work culture
ABOUT US
Climate change is governed by physical facts—about carbon sources, accumulation, impacts, and timing, and more importantly, about solutions that work. These facts must inform strategy: they show that avoiding dangerous climate change is only possible through strong policy to cut carbon, promptly, in the biggest countries.
To address these issues, Energy Innovation was established in 2012 as a clean energy and environmental policy firm to provide timely research and analysis on low-carbon energy policy options to policy makers, thought leaders, and members of the media. The Energy Innovation team has expertise in energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable urban development, technological innovation, and energy policy design. In addition to conducting policy research, Energy Innovation also works with clients to facilitate philanthropic investments into technology and advocacy that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy Innovation also staffs Climate Imperative Foundation.
Climate Imperative is focused on the most important climate policy decisions in the world and to do so equitably. Each Climate Imperative initiative targets one policy area and, by informing policy change, aims to save billions of tons of CO2e cumulatively by 2050. For each initiative, we are convening and supporting a talented, proven team of grantees, and supporting them to do whatever is needed: providing world-class technical advice, undertaking targeted communications, and/or building public support. The decisions targeted represent the largest near-term carbon abatement opportunities around the world.
Energy Innovation supports a hybrid work environment and requires all employees to come together in person two to three times per year.
What We Do
Climate Imperative Foundation's mission is to cut global greenhouse gas emissions at speed and scale — securing a better future for all. Climate Imperative is a 501(c)(3) public charity foundation that partners with experienced on-the-ground organizations to provide capital, technical support, and expertise to inform the most important climate policy decisions in major-emitting countries around the world, in this pivotal decade for the climate. We invest in science-based solutions, focusing on the policy decisions that will have the largest impacts on global greenhouse gas emissions alongside important health, environmental, and equitable economic benefits. Our grants support analysis, education, and action that is fact-based, guided by scientific analysis, and grounded in real-world conditions.
