Daily Sustainability Job Post

* The link and job description provided was active on August 17, 2021 – the date this was posted. Please refer to the employer’s website for up to date information. This is not our search, we are providing these links as a service to the community of sustainability and ESG jobseekers.

Position Overview:

The Climate Breakthrough Project (Climate Breakthrough) identifies extraordinary leaders and empowers them to launch bold new strategies that confront the growing climate crisis. Each year, we select several exceptional strategists from around the world to receive the Climate Breakthrough Award: a US$3 million-dollar grant and tailored support over three years to bring visionary strategies from idea to fruition. We believe that many of the most capable leaders have not yet been given sufficient time, space, support, and funding to develop the kind of climate strategies our world desperately needs; our program is designed to give these brilliant strategists exactly that opportunity.

Our awardees’ innovative work focuses on high-risk, high-reward efforts in social, behavior, economic, and policy change. At the time of selection, some awardees have a clear idea of the strategy they will engage in, while others take time to explore and select among several ideas. Climate Breakthrough cares most about the potential scale of the idea and the pace at which it might achieve mitigation. The strategies our awardees pursue will, if successful, lead to tangible changes that reduce or capture global annual greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of megatons of CO2e within ten years. This means awardees pursue strategies that affect entire industries or countries and materially change the lives of millions of people. Our mission of supporting game-changing breakthrough ideas to achieve major greenhouse gas emissions is reliant on reaching beyond established networks and approaches to empower a diverse range of voices, perspectives, and strategies.

Climate Breakthrough is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Oak Foundation, IKEA Foundation, Good Energies Foundation, JPB Foundation, and Quadrature Climate Foundation. Launched in 2016, Climate Breakthrough has issued eleven awards to date. For more information about Climate Breakthrough and our awardees, please visit https://www.climatebreakthroughproject.org/

About the Role

The Climate Breakthrough Project is looking for a Communications Officer to help grow the visibility of our organization and of our incredible awardees and their work. Reporting to the Operations and Strategy Manager, the Communications Officer will be responsible for implementing our organization’s communication strategy, producing content across all communications channels, and seeking out opportunities to support our awardees and their work through traditional media, online channels, and events.

At Climate Breakthrough, our awardees are at the core of everything we do. The Communications Officer will be in regular contact with our global cohort of awardees and must be both sensitive to the nuance of communications in different geographies and flexible in tailoring communications approaches to awardees’ individual strategies. In addition to directly supporting our awardees, the Communications Officer will help expand the presence of the organization itself — coordinating communications around awardee announcements, amplifying our message in philanthropy-focused media, and managing communications for virtual and in-person events. The Communications Officer will also manage the day-to-day communications output of the organization.

This position is ideal for a communications generalist who is as comfortable pitching a story as they are writing video scripts or managing a webinar. Previous experience working internationally or on a global team is essential for this role, as is a deep respect for lived experience. And while subject matter expertise in climate change is not required, being conversant in environmental advocacy, climate justice, and climate policy issues is valuable for this position.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Storytelling and Strategy

• Develop a repeatable communications framework that will help us share the stories and the strategies of Climate Breakthrough Awardees.
• Cultivate media relationships and seek out media opportunities to highlight Climate Breakthrough Awardees, alumni, and Climate Breakthrough as an organization.
• Serve as primary content producer for the Climate Breakthrough website, newsletter, press releases, and social media channels.
• Coordinate communications and media outreach for announcements of new Climate Breakthrough Awardees, in partnership with the awardees and their teams.
• Coordinate with partner organizations and awardees to produce webinars, live events, op-eds, and other joint opportunities.
• Provide communications support to Climate Breakthrough Awardees and their teams, as requested by awardees.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director and team in the development of reports, fundraising materials, or internal communications, as needed.

Analysis and Operations

• Recruit and manage multimedia producers and communications professionals to support our global community of awardees, as needed.
• Organize and maintain our growing library of communications assets.
• Gather and monitor communications analytics, using the data to assess the impact of our communications strategy and identify new opportunities.
• Manage WordPress website and work with developers to address any projects.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 4 years of experience in a strategic communications field such as journalism, digital media, multimedia production, or PR
• Excellent writing and editing skills
• Previous experience working either on an international team, with international stakeholders, or for an international audience is required
• Experience in media relations, preferably both inside and outside of the US
• Comfort developing and implementing multimedia campaigns
• Ability to take a concept from idea to execution with minimal oversight
• Familiarity with managing websites and social media channels
• Interest in climate change and philanthropy
• Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Fluency in English required; fluency in another language highly desirable
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally (between 1-4 times per year)