The not-for-profit EPIC seeks a Senior Manager, Restoration Economy Center.
THIS POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED.
The Senior Manager will help us achieve our restoration goals through supporting a Restoration Economy Coalition and carrying out research and analysis of restoration policy opportunities. The position has significant flexibility in roles and responsibilities, depending on the skills, experience, and interest of the successful candidate. Ideally, the Senior Manager, Restoration Economy Center, will help us create, advocate, collaborate, and advance projects that contribute to a growing and sustained restoration economy.
We are looking for someone with experience with coalition-building and project management experience, knowledge of state and federal ecological restoration policy, research and analysis capacity, experience engaging government environmental agencies, conservation finance, coalition-building and conservation thought leadership. We seek candidates who can quickly develop strong positions on issues, work independently, build programs within a small organizational structure and build momentum working with public, nonprofit and private sector partners. The Center will produce research, white papers, webinars, blog posts and host convenings to generate support for restoration economy policy that streamlines restoration permitting and procurement and raises the profile of restoration in public policy conversations.
Before applying, please read the Director position description which has many similar tasks and responsibilities that can potentially be interchangeable between positions based upon candidates’ respective skills and experience.
About EPIC
The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) builds policies that deliver spectacular improvement in the speed and scale of environmental progress. A nonprofit start-up, EPIC is committed to finding and highlighting the best approaches to scaling up results quickly. EPIC focuses on clean water, endangered species, environmental markets and the use of data and technology in producing environmental and public health outcomes. Our largest program is focused on delivering better, safer and more affordable water infrastructure to disadvantaged and historically underinvested communities. EPIC operates through a fiscal sponsorship with the Sand County Foundation.
Summary
We are at the start of a Restoration Century during which we will see expanded efforts to restore the landscapes, air and water that have been damaged throughout centuries of development, resource extraction and carelessness. As we transition away from fossil fuels, the patterns of decline in America’s natural systems will not recover on their own. We need to grow our capacity to mitigate centuries of damage and restore broad swaths of our natural areas, which serve as critical habitats for wildlife, create an important buffer for our natural systems from human development, provide resilience to the impacts of climate change, and ensure an important source for our nation’s drinking water supplies.
One of our goals is to speed up the pace and scale of restoration in the U.S. so that it can match the need for carbon-storing offsets created by climate policies, increase our resilience to the effects of climate change, and offset new or previous impacts, both public and private, to natural resources. Among the best and fastest ways to achieve these outcomes is to increase the ability of private finance and private restoration capacity to deliver a higher volume and scale of restoration than America has ever seen. Our work on restoration aims to shift how restoration work is permitted and procured such that it can happen faster, more efficiently and cheaply, with broad political support through state and federal funding programs that define restoration as distinctly different from development and prioritize it over development.
EPIC is launching a 2-year campaign to support a) a focus on new or amended federal policies, including those related to procurement of restoration services and projects b) launch of a business/conservation ‘restoration economy coalition,’ and c) state-level work to support development of in-state working groups that include state agencies and are focused on ideas to make conservation priorities of those states more investable by the private sector.
We have an opening for a director who can help us achieve these goals. The position has significant flexibility in roles and responsibilities, depending on the skills, experience, and interest of the successful candidate.
Before applying, please read the Senior Manager position description which has many similar tasks and responsibilities that can potentially be interchangeable between positions based upon candidates’ respective skills and experience.
Responsibilities
Support our strategy for expanding the Restoration and Mitigation economy and markets, reducing permitting times, raising the profile of restoration in public policy conversations:
● Coordinate an effort to build and sustain a Restoration Coalition made up of restoration sector firms, nonprofit restoration organizations, and like-minded companies and groups to support restoration policy initiatives and elevate the profile of private sector restoration.
● Help build out and execute on a strategy to make progress on speeding up federal restoration permitting and procurement.
● Conduct research and analysis into best practices in streamlining restoration permitting and procurement, including interviews, writing white papers, blog posts and briefs and updating the Restoration Coalition through meetings, email and convenings.
● Help engage states in expanding their restoration and mitigation programs, including conservation finance policy.
● Track and analyze federal policy opportunities to drive more funding to and generally support more ecological restoration programs for coastal resiliency, flood resilience, and stream and wetland restoration.
● Set up and support meetings, webinars and other outreach to spread the word about policy proposals to improve upon existing compensatory mitigation and offset programs, and spearhead new mitigation programs, especially with tribes and related to offsetting impacts from new renewable energy projects.
● Identify and participate in industry working groups, associations, and nonprofit collaborations.
● Participate in webinars, convenings and public events to highlight prominent issues and solutions.
Candidates must have:
● Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree (MBA, MS, MEM, MF, MPA, or JD) preferred.
● 3+ years’ experience in one or more of the following areas: restoration and mitigation sector or permitting, including wetland mitigation banking and/or conservation banking, mitigation policy work, coalition-building, conservation finance. We will also consider time pursuing a graduate degree toward the 3+ years of experience.
● Empathy for people and ability to craft policy and program solutions that reflect the realities of everyday life.
● Excellent communications skills.
● Past experience managing diverse coalitions or partnerships.
We will prioritize candidates who can bring:
● Strong people and program management skills; this position might have one or more direct reports.
● Creative thinking.
● Expertise with federal and state-level environmental laws, regulations, requirements, and programs such as Clean Water Act, state and federal water permits, compensatory mitigation programs and restoration procurement/permitting.
● A network of contacts within restoration organizations and government agencies.
● Experience with innovative conservation finance and private sector investment strategies in sustainability.
Location
Depending on pandemic-related conditions, this position normally requires occasional travel to meetings, conferences, and other events. Work other than travel is done either in an office environment at EPIC’s Washington, DC office or at the candidate’s home office.
Compensation and time commitment
EPIC offers competitive compensation commensurate with experience as well as a generous benefits package.
Applying
Qualified candidates should send an email to Phoebe Higgins (Director of Markets) at phiggins@policyinnovation.org with “Senior Manager, Restoration Economy Center” in the subject line. Please include a resume and a cover letter. Please also provide any supporting documents we should consider in evaluating your candidacy (e.g., writing samples).
As we describe above, we know there is not one ideal candidate who has all these traits so if you have a mix of interests, skills, and experience related to the above – and a passion for this work – please don’t let a gap in your strengths for this role stop you from applying or reaching out. We currently have two open positions, for the Director and the Senior Manager of the Restoration Economy Center. You may see that you have strengths and skills that are a fit for both positions. We are open to redefining the roles and priorities across the two positions based upon who applies and qualifies for these two roles. Thanks for your interest in working with EPIC.