Job Description

ABOUT THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY:

The Office of Sustainability (OoS) works across departments in the City of Cambridge to institutionalize climate change in our government operations, regulations, and investments. OoS coordinates the City’s efforts to move off fossil fuels by 2050; prepare our people and places for extreme weather; and, through experimentation and communications, lower the bar for other communities to do the same. Central to our strategies is increasing climate equity across race, wealth, and primary language. In doing so, we seek to make our community more welcoming, beautiful, and neighborly.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Director of Climate Risk works across City departments and beyond to institutionalize climate risk management and resiliency policies and programs. This position will work to manage the operational and investment changes needed to prepare Cambridge’s people, places, and public services for extreme weather. The successful candidate will be innovative and motivated to tackle new challenges and support organizational excellence. They will work across multiple City departments and with external stakeholders and manage OoS professional staff. Their work will be guided by Cambridge’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment, Resilient Cambridge Plan, and Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, as well as current climate science and best practices from beyond the city.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS & DUTIES:

This senior leadership position requires extensive administrative, policy and program implementation and staff management experience. They will be a highly motivated, well-organized self-starter with excellent interpersonal, communications, and program management skills who enjoy interacting with diverse constituents. Because this is a new role in a new department, they will be comfortable with ambiguity and with developing programs from the ground up. Working with the Chief Climate Officer and other responsible City staff, job responsibilities include:

• Leading strategic planning and program design for Cambridge’s climate risk management and resilience programs.
• Providing leadership to assigned climate risk staff and consultants including managing consultant teams, fostering professional development and an inclusive team culture, setting work plans and priorities, conducting regular check-ins and performance evaluations, resolving staff concerns.
• Advising on project strategy in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, and coordinating team meetings and program-level planning.
• Convening cross-departmental working groups to develop and institutionalize climate risk management strategies.
• Developing multi-year strategies and annual work plans and budgets; track and coordinate budget, procurement processes, and required reporting; and support development of budget documents and presentations for City leadership across operating and grant funds.
• Setting goals and measuring outcomes including supporting an annual strategic planning process to evaluate progress toward climate mitigation goals.
• Supporting community and stakeholder engagement processes

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education/Experience

• Eight years’ successful experience managing complex policy development and program management in a government or similar setting, including five years in a supervisory role;
• Master’s degree in climate science or policy, engineering, emergency management, urban planning, or related field;
• Experience in policy and program development related to equitable climate resilience;
• An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience may be considered

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong strategic planning, community engagement, communication, and public presentation skills.
• Ability to handle a dynamic workload with constantly changing priorities.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with senior leaders, subject matter experts, public, staff, and elected and appointed officials.
• Excellent analytical skills with high attention to detail.
• Deep sense of humility, curiosity, and learning-orientation.
• Good judgement, high ethical standards, and personal integrity.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Existing relationships with municipal, regional, and state climate practitioners.
• Experience with municipal governments or similar institutions.
• Familiarity with Commonwealth of Massachusetts climate policies and programs.
• Proficiency in one or more of Cambridge’s main languages, including Spanish, Amharic, Bangla, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, and Arabic; and
• Knowledge of the Cambridge community.

SUPERVISION RECEIVED:

Works under the general direction of the Chief Climate Officer, exercising considerable independent judgment in planning and executing assignments; work is reviewed for alignment with City policies, progress toward climate goals, and effective coordination across departments and with external partners.

SUPERVISION EXERCISED:

Provides supervision to a multidisciplinary team of professionals, technical staff, consultants, and interns; assigns work, sets priorities, provides coaching and performance feedback, and coordinates cross- departmental project teams.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Work is conducted primarily in a standard office environment which includes fluorescent lighting, air conditioning, computers, and other standard office equipment, but may also involve meetings in other offices or facilities as well as community events around the city. Position may be eligible for hybrid work under the City’s Telework Policy, depending on operational needs.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Standard office environment with fluorescent lighting, computers, standard office equipment, and air conditioning. Moderate noise level with a shared workstation. Work involved is both indoors in a professional office setting and outdoors at community events. This is a hybrid work position that requires being in the office at least two days per week, including Wednesdays.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

Please upload the following documents to complete your application:

• Resume
• Cover Letter

The City of Cambridge's workforce, like the community it serves, is diverse. Applicants must have the ability to work and interact effectively with individuals and groups with a variety of identities, cultures, backgrounds, and ideologies.