Policy Director, Renewables

Action for the Climate Emergency is seeking a Policy Director, Renewables to accelerate utility-scale renewable energy deployment in the US. The role involves analyzing local and state policies, advocating for favorable regulations, and collaborating across teams. The ideal candidate should have experience in clean energy advocacy and be able to influence policy decisions. This is a full-time remote position available anywhere in the United States.

Location : Remote position (Anywhere in the US)

OVERVIEW

The climate emergency is the defining challenge of our time, demanding an urgent and transformative response. The window for small, incremental action has closed; the moment for bold, emergency-level action is now.

Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE) operates at the intersection of clean energy advocacy, strategic media, and civic participation to accelerate global decarbonization. Through cutting-edge media strategies, ACE combats climate disinformation, flattens the curve of clean energy opposition, increases diverse participation in our democracy, and inspires meaningful action. Our programs engage tens of millions of people annually, mobilizing audiences that traditional climate efforts often overlook.

ACE’s dynamic and diverse team thrives in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment, united by a shared commitment to addressing the climate crisis. As we expand to meet this critical moment, we seek talented individuals eager to make an impact.

JOB SUMMARY

To meet our climate goals, we must accelerate deployment of utility-scale renewables at a breakneck speed over the next decade. We see the biggest opportunities to advance decarbonization at the state and local level–accelerating utility-scale solar and wind energy projects in communities across the country, fighting local ordinances that are detrimental to the clean energy transition and proactively advancing local ordinances that are conducive to renewables, bring economic and community benefits, and balance environmental impacts.

The Policy Director, Renewables will play a pivotal role focused on local- and state-level policy and regulatory conditions that are at the crux of accelerating the deployment of utility-scale renewables, particularly in rural communities across the US. This role will spearhead the tracking of local ordinances and regulations that impact clean energy projects through a strategic analysis of threats and opportunities for renewables, where we can have influence through advocacy campaigns, and targeted entry points and decision makers. The Policy Director, Renewables will share research and analysis of targeted ordinances and regulations, entry points and messaging to inform advocacy campaign implementation, both digitally and on-the-ground. The Policy Director, Renewables will also provide advice and input to the project origination team about any policies or regulatory conditions that may impact a particular renewable energy project of focus.

We have achieved key wins in collaboration with partners on the ground—from overturning a renewable moratoria to unlocking 4.5 MW of clean energy projects. As we scale up this work, we are seeking a seasoned clean energy expert to identify strategic, targeted ordinances, policies and regulations at scale, toward which we can deploy smart campaigns to win. The Policy Director, Renewables will be a highly collaborative professional who will work across teams and externally, conduct deep research in databases, and effectively manage up with leadership to secure timely decisions on policy opportunities.

This is a full-time, remote role based anywhere in the United States. The Policy Director, Renewables will report to the Head of Communications and Policy and be part of the Campaigns Team, working collaboratively across the full team and externally. The Policy Director, Renewables will operate from a home office, participate in regular in-person events, field work, and both internal and external meetings. Frequent interactions through video chat with ACE team members, partners, vendors, and funders are expected. Flexibility to work irregular hours as needed and a willingness to travel for field-based activities and partner meetings.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Local and State Policy Analysis
• Build out a system to track prospective and active policy interventions that includes key inputs for analysis.
• Continuously monitor local and state decision-making bodies, policies, events, coalitions, campaigns, trends, and technologies within the clean energy sector.
• Build recommendations of top strategic interventions where we can make in-roads.
• Track and manage a list of local elected or appointed officials with decision-making authority over clean energy projects, including past decisions on clean energy, terms, etc.
• Create a feedback loop, analyzing factors that contributed to wins and losses to feed learnings back into project origination analysis.
• Provide timely analysis to the project origination team regarding any local and state level policies and regulations potentially impacting a project intervention.
• Identify the leading tools and resources needed to set us up for success.
• Research & Messaging
• Develop clear, concise data-driven memos outlining high-impact opportunities for engagement and a roadmap for the campaigns team to run with.
• From the research, develop topline messaging that the campaigns team can use to create digital ads, phone and text scripts, emails, talking points, etc.
• Collaborate with ACE’s Research Lab to run message testing and other research opportunities.
• Collaborate with the campaigns, communications, and development teams to communicate the wins and learning from the intervention to staff, board, partners and funders.
• Attend partner and funder calls to share learnings, strategies and directions.
• Partnerships
• Collaborate with teammates to gather inputs for policy tracking, sourcing potential policy information from grassroots and national partners, trade groups and industry associations.
• Build relationships directly with developers, industry and trade groups, and county officials to collect information on local ordinance and state level policy and regulations, status, and strategies to inform whether, where and how we can have an impact.
• Attend conferences and events to cultivate relationships and gain insights into local policy landscapes and identify potential local elected and community leaders to feature in ACE’s storytelling work.
• Other Duties as Assigned
• Adapt to the evolving needs of a fast-paced organization with flexibility and creativity.

QUALIFICATIONS

This description reflects ACE’s assignment of essential functions, it does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned. ACE retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position at any time. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship. ACE has a zero-tolerance standard for abuse and inappropriate behavior by staff members.

POSITION DETAILS

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Salary : $130,000 - $140,000