Company:
SUMMARY
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) advances sustainability practices in the built environment by cultivating a cross-disciplinary community where practitioners are encouraged to share, collaborate and learn. We envision a vibrant and resilient built environment that supports climate justice and equity.
We’re looking for a Special Projects Manager that will work on new initiatives and existing programs. The person in this position will also actively seek opportunities for NESEA to grow its impact, through avenues including outreach and grant research. The ideal candidate does not need to have a background in high performance building or building science, but should have a background that includes most of the following:
- program and/or event planning
- customer service (may include roles such as food service and/or retail)
- experience with writing and/or editing
- experience with grants (research, application, or reporting)
- project management
- empathy and discretion when working with people from diverse backgrounds
- Experience and comfort working in a variety of digital environments
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion work
This is a 3 year, primarily grant-funded position, with the possibility of being either 32 or 40 hours per week, depending on the specific needs and skills of the candidate. The intention is for the new hire to be retained on staff after the grant period ends.
The Special Projects Manager will primarily support NESEA’s overall mission in the following ways:
Business Development Program
The Special Projects Manager will take on a lead coordination role for a new, grant-funded program that offers women and BIPOC-led companies business development support and services, including access to a peer mentoring group. The person in this position will not be responsible for developing or leading trainings, but will work to coordinate timelines, communications, scheduling, catering, record/receipt keeping, data management, and other logistical support to make this program successful. This will include some onsite event staffing.
Emerging Professionals Program
The Special Projects Manager will work with existing staff to engage current and recruit new academic and student members. This includes outreach around benefits and opportunities, researching prospective members, and some daytrip travel to academic members to present about the organization. The Special Projects Manager will also work on outreach, recruitment, and data maintenance around our scholarship program and actively search for ways to grow our emerging professionals program through new funding and collaborations.
Magazine
The Special Projects Manager will work closely with NESEA’s Executive Director to track and organize assets for our annual magazine. This will include communication with the volunteer Editorial Committee and authors, tracking submitted components, and other tasks related to the magazine.
Event Support
In a typical year, NESEA runs more than 20 in-person events, ranging from private meetings of 10 people to a 2-day regional conference of more than 1,200 attendees. In addition to working on their specific projects and programs, the Special Projects Manager will sometimes help plan or staff additional events to support their colleagues’ work.
Grant Writing/Researching
The Special Project Manager will work with the Executive Director to identify new opportunities for NESEA to fulfill its mission and support our strategic goals, particularly through grant-supported work. This will include identifying and researching grants, support in grant application and tracking, and looking for partners/collaborators for new opportunities.
SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES
This position requires an ability to work independently, follow protocols, comfort traveling to and staffing regional events, sociability, writing ability, and excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.
REQUIRED SKILLS/EXPERIENCE
- Availability and willingness to travel regionally in the Northeast. Most travel will be within Massachusetts, but limited travel to other New England states or New York will be required. Travel is approximately 1-2 days per month.
- Valid driver’s license required; comfortable driving and navigating in rural and urban environments. Willing to take a driving course.
- Ability to follow established procedures and to be comfortable if something needs to change at the moment.
- Feeling at ease when interacting with event attendees and providing customer service to program participants.
- Willingness to roll up sleeves and complete tasks as needed.
- Ability to communicate with and developing working relationships with our collaborators and program participants
- Proactively ask questions; interest in NESEA’s mission and vision.
- Thrives in a fast-paced environment and ability to prioritize multiple tasks.
- Comfortable working in a variety of digital environments and the ability to adopt to new software (e.g. Google Drive, relational databases, Dropbox, etc.)
- Ability to coordinate timelines, organize registrations, schedule meetings, following up on all logistical details (including registration, public transportation, parking, signage, catering, Wi-Fi, A/V, clean up).
PREFERRED EXPERIENCE
- At least 2 to 4 years of event planning or other relevant experience is preferred, especially with events with tight deadlines and budgets.
- Program recruitment experience
- Grant research, writing, or management experience
- Experience with writing and/or copyediting
- Experience building collaborations between organizations
- Experience working with people from social identities underrepresented in industries related to NESEA, including women, LGBTIA+, and BIPOC-identifying people.
We aim to interview from a range of professional backgrounds and plan to train the right person.
COMPENSATION
- Full time, 40 hours/week, salaried with a range of $53-$58k/year*, depending on candidate experience
- Primarily a work-from-home position (when not staffing specific events); access to office space in Greenfield, MA
- Eligible for health insurance reimbursement after 90 days of employment (employees working 40 hours per week)
- 4 weeks (160 hours) paid time off (3 weeks vacation time, 1 week sick time, starts accruing after first pay period) (PTO prorated for employees working fewer than 40 hours per week)
- 13 paid holidays
- Eligible for 401(k) after 90 days (organization will match up to 1%)
- Dog friendly office
- Family leave policy
- Flexible schedule (80% within standard business hours)
- Must reside within 2 hours of Greenfield, MA (where our office is located)
*there is a possibility of a 32 hour position, depending on the skills and needs of the candidate
HOW TO APPLY
Send an email to jobs@nesea.org, subject line "Special Projects Manager"; be sure to include your resume and a cover letter.
The deadline to apply is September 4, at which time we will begin reviewing applications
We anticipate a start date of late September with flexibility possible in regards to personal circumstances
NESEA is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, or age.