Program Manager, Atmospheric Oxidation Enhancement

About the Organization

Spark Climate Solutions is accelerating progress in emerging climate fields, towards repairing the climate. Spark focuses on high leverage, under-resourced solution areas and takes a systems approach, working collaboratively with experts and other stakeholders, to accelerate these fields by building strategic roadmaps, providing research funding, seeding new organizations, and communicating with the public. Spark’s first focus area is accelerating solutions for near-term warming management, starting with enteric fermentation mitigation and methane removal. Our team has deep expertise in science, engineering, and climate-focused philanthropy. Spark’s funders include the Grantham Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Astera Institute, Climate Pathfinders Foundation, and Additional Ventures.

Program Manager, Atmospheric Oxidation Enhancement

Spark seeks a Program Manager, Atmospheric Oxidation Enhancement to develop, and support execution on, a scientific roadmap to better understand the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere and whether it is feasible and safe to enhance that capacity to remove atmospheric methane. Engaging with the scientific community, you will develop a research agenda for potential approaches to atmospheric oxidation enhancement, and the supporting science needed to ensure safety and efficacy, such as climate and aerosol modeling and measurement and monitoring capability. You will manage a science-funding program; design the program, make funding decisions, and work with stakeholders and collaborators to unblock continued scientific progress. 

Approaches to methane removal could be critical to mitigating the impact of methane-emitting natural feedbacks and tipping points. To unlock methane removal as a potential set of solutions, Spark supports the best science and technology teams in the world to assess the feasibility and safety of various methane removal pathways. Alongside this, we invest in the community, policy, tools, and permitting frameworks to enable transparent and iterative scientific work to build the broader field of methane removal. 

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

The Program Manager, Atmospheric Oxidation Enhancement will perform the following and other duties as assigned:

• Collaboratively author a scientific roadmap for atmospheric oxidation enhancement research, evaluating existing proposed methods, and identifying where new methods may be possible.
• Design and manage a research grant program to accelerate progress towards the needed scientific understanding of atmospheric oxidation.
• Evaluate science and engineering funding proposals based on their scientific merit, impact-alignment, and contribution to the broader field of methane removal.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and area advocate to other organizations, funders, and policymakers in this space, as needed.
• Build relationships with science partners to collaborate on roadmaps and research agendas.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will have the following minimum qualifications:

• 7+ years of combined professional and research experience, inclusive of any graduate work.
• The ideal candidate has a Ph.D. in atmospheric chemistry or a closely-related field.
• Have a deep understanding of atmospheric chemistry and modeling.
• Experience independently running projects and complex work tracks in research-heavy areas, in academia, consulting, or business environments.
• Preferably, experience doing road mapping or agenda-setting in an academic, business, or non-profit context.
• Preferably, experience with research grant management.
• Proven ability to initiate independent projects and work across disciplines.
• Excellent written, speaking/presentation, and interpersonal communication skills to engage effectively within the organization and with external collaborators/stakeholders.
• Insatiable drive to learn about the climate problem and help drive solutions.
• Flexibility, creativity, and tenacity.
• Fluency in English.

Preferred Attributes:

• Be solution-agnostic with a deep curiosity and rigor for objectively understanding and evaluating different potential solutions.
• Be action-oriented and comfortable managing and collaborating with others to both reach decisions and make forward progress.
• Be comfortable talking in technical depth with scientists and decision-makers, such as federal funding agencies.

Eligibility:

• Ability to work as a W2 employee for a US non-profit.
• Availability during the US Pacific time work day.

Compensation and Location

Spark offers a competitive salary that is commensurate with experience and location. The salary range for this position is $100,000-$150,000 a year, depending on experience and location. In addition, Spark provides exceptional benefits including flexible PTO, sick time, holidays, generous health insurance coverage, 401(k) with employer match, and full-covered dental/vision/life insurance, and parental leave.

As with all positions at Spark Climate Solutions, this role will be remote. Employees can work anywhere within the United States or internationally with approval. Spark’s center of gravity is in the SF Bay Area, with a possible option of some in-person work later in 2023.

Note: Travel expectations will be minimal and average 2-5 days, 3 times/year.

To Apply

CEA Recruiting is assisting Spark with this search. To be considered for this position, interested candidates must follow the link below to submit a resume, cover letter, and salary requirements through CEA’s job portal.

Apply here.

Spark Climate Solutions is an equal opportunity employer.

CEA Recruiting works with leading environmental nonprofits, foundations, and businesses to recruit top talent and design effective organizational staffing strategies. For more information, visit www.cearecruiting.com.