Green Building Specialist

Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) is the premier certification body responsible for global delivery and quality oversight of green building and green business sustainability standards. Its integrated team of green building specialists administers credentials and certifications for the U.S. Green Building Council (LEED), the International WELL Building Institute (WELL Building Standard), International Finance Corporation (EDGE), PEER, SITES, TRUE Zero Waste, and IREE. 

Customer Support is the front line for customer inquiries across USGBC and GBCI departments, including LEED certification, credentialing, membership, education, payments, and GBCI programs. Customer Support addresses over 60,000 inquiries a year submitted by our stakeholders via email and inbound phone inquiries. The Technical Customer Support (TCS) team provides customized and technical support for complex inquiries and/or escalations related to USGBC/GBCI products and services. 

Technical Customer Support team members serve as subject matter experts on various topics and processes. They maintain a suite of resources that provide consistent and high-quality issue resolution, including content in the USGBC.org Help Center and a robust and highly vetted set of internal standard operating procedures (SOPs) and stock text that are used for customer responses.  

This is a dynamic, integrated team of customer service professionals with a variety of backgrounds from architecture, engineering, building science, landscape architecture, planning, and sustainable development. The team is continually looking for ways to improve the customer experience, reduce response time and facilitate and achieve an effective and timely customer response. 

The Technical Customer Service team is divided among three groups: 

• Credentialing, Membership, and Education (CME): supports end to end customer experience throughout a customer’s relationship with their GBCI credential and certification, which consists of all LEED credentials, SITES AP, TRUE Advisor, and the SEA/SEP credentials. 
• Certification: supports a customers' journey throughout the entire LEED certification process, and supports questions related to Arc, recertification, and other GBCI programs such as SITES. 
• Technical: the technical group supports questions about the LEED Rating Systems, particularly from project teams preparing to pursue certification. 

The Certification group is seeking a subject matter expert with in-depth experience with our LEED Certification process that will provide stakeholders with accurate and high-quality support and engagement. The expert will be expected to think critically about how to effectively address and resolve customer inquiries. They will be evaluated on the quantity and quality of their work and will complete special projects as assigned.  

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Collaborate with internal teams to address stakeholder needs, identify trending issues and develop resolutions that support the customer and respect organizational policies. 
• Contribute to customer support goals by meeting and exceeding case resolution targets and case quality metrics 
• Improve the customer experience by anticipating their needs and proactively directing them to the available resources. 
• Serve as the voice of the customer, providing input and feedback on USGBC and GBCI initiatives 
• Serve as a technical subject matter expert, specializing in one or more LEED credit categories, processes, or other subject matter expert roles, providing the organization with critical insights into the customer experience and perspective, and building relationships with other experts in the organization and investing in the continuous improvement process for USGBC/GBCI/LEED guidance.   
• Contribute to special projects as needed, such as user testing, writing articles, developing addenda and policy, training staff  
• Use your sustainability expertise, communication, and professional writing skills to craft expert guidance for stakeholders across boundaries with a spirit of mission-driven teamwork and professionalism 
• Design, implement, and refine processes that empower our customers to implement their goals and achieve USGBC’s mission 
• Communicate across boundaries with a spirit of mission-driven teamwork and professionalism. 
• Use and build on our team’s library of rating system expertise, database of standard operating procedures, Help Center content, public facing policy, library of stock responses and best practices. 
• Work with customers and project teams, credential holders and/or project teams who are new to our rating systems and educational offerings, as well as those who are experts themselves, fostering empowerment and education through LEED or other rating systems. 
• Design, implement, and refine holistic and systematic processes that empower our customers to implement their goals and USGBC’s mission, growing the reach of the decades of intelligence that the USGBC has collected from around the world.   
• Document, track and manage the complete lifecycle of customer inquiries and resolutions. 

What You Need To Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field of study, such as sustainability, architecture, engineering, landscape design, building management, environmental science, environmental education, etc.  
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience working in a client-facing role, directly interacting and communicating with customers in a field related to green design and construction, sustainable operations and maintenance, and/or sustainability education. 
• Current USGBC or GBCI credential or professional certificate, or a commitment to earn one within the first year of Employment. 
• Experience assisting with LEED project applications and familiarity with LEED Online and/or Arc, green building consulting on LEED projects or other rating systems and/or experience supporting education or credentialing customers to maintain their professional credentials and certifications.  
• A strong focus on customer experience and customer success. 
• Strong written communication skills with the ability to clearly convey technical information to a global audience. 
• Empathetic problem-solving and teamwork skills. The ability to listen, take in information, evaluate it, develop solutions, and work as a team to track resolutions. 
• Willingness to create and follow internal SOPs and maintain transparency through prescribed case documentation and tracking practices. 
• Acute attention to detail. 
• Familiarity with Salesforce and/or other CRM platforms. 
• Proficiency with Microsoft Suite and willingness to learn new technology applications. 
• Eagerness, flexibility, adaptiveness to change, receptiveness to feedback and ability to deal with ambiguity. 
• Strong sense of personal responsibility and accountability for delivering high quality work within set deadlines.
• Demonstrated professionalism and an ability to handle confidential information with discretion. 
• Drive to develop the skills, knowledge, and abilities to continually improve performance and meet the USGBC Culture and Values statement. 

Other Things We’d Like You to Bring: 

• Master’s Degree or commensurate experience in a related field of study, such as sustainability, architecture, engineering, landscape design, building management, environmental science, environmental education, etc. 
• Eagerness to learn, develop your own expertise, and share your growing expertise with colleagues and customers. 
• Persistence in engaging with challenges, flexibility to find multiple solutions, positivity, and the ability to keep the end goal in mind while working on each part of the solution. 
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced environment and quickly adapt to new circumstances or juggle multiple daily tasks. 
• A strong commitment and passion to advance USGBC’s mission. 

Details:

• Full Time, permanent, salaried, benefits-eligible 
• Location: Remote, or 2101 L Street NW, Washington, DC  
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm EST, 40 hours per week, including occasional evenings and weekends 
• Travel: 0-5%, upon request and approval 
• USGBC is an equal opportunity employer 

Benefits:

Employees work for an established mission-based and member-driven nonprofit organization with a compelling vision, non-profit-competitive compensation commensurate with experience and skill level, generous benefits package. 

The headquarters office is a LEED Platinum commercial interior space in a LEED certified building in the LEED Platinum certified central business district in the first LEED Platinum certified city, Washington, DC.  The office serves as an example for green design and construction products and practices.  It is close to public transportation and incorporates many healthy and environmentally friendly features.