Sustainability Project Manager

Alameda County’s Office of Sustainability is a program of the Alameda County government. We find that working in local government presents an incredibly rewarding way to make a contribution.

We oversee climate plan implementation, employee engagement, green purchasing, green building, performance measurement, and waste reduction. We manage recycling and reuse for County facilities. We closely partner with GSA’s energy and sustainable transportation programs and with staff throughout all 20 County agencies. We support County agencies to prepare for the impacts of climate change, such as heat waves and poor air quality from wildfires to services and operations.

OVERVIEW OF POSITION

Alameda County’s General Services Agency is seeking a Sustainability Project Manager to join the award-winning Office of Sustainability team. The Sustainability Project Manager will facilitate change, build partnerships, and manage multi-stakeholder projects to advance green purchasing, community resilience, and other climate leadership actions for government services and operations. The Project Manager will play a key role in our team approach to facilitating implementation of the County’s new Climate Action Plan for Government Services and Operations Through 2026. Our actions make a difference to our local community.

The ideal candidate will bring new capacity to core areas of climate plan implementation, for example:

• Sustainable Materials Management: advancement of green purchasing through technical and change management assistance to roll out sustainable operational and supply chain practices, and support for recycling and waste management at over 60 County facilities,
• Climate Resilience: support for client-facing staff in helping their clients to prepare for the impacts of climate change, and
• Climate Leadership and Governance: initiatives including employee training, telework tracking, and reporting on plan progress.

EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT DO

Program Coordination Within Specialty Areas

• Monitor laws and regulations and develop programs and policiesto comply with sustainability mandates.
• Research and develop grant proposals necessary to support program development.
• Advance regional sustainability by building partnerships with other governments, businesses, and the community.

Program Outreach and People Management

• Develop working relationships with professional peers for information sharing and benchmarking.
• Develop the scope of work, train, and supervise an intern or assigned program staff.

Project Management

• Develop and administer budget for assigned projects.
• Develop procedures, guidelines, and policies to achieve sustainability targets.
• Assist staff and agencies in the implementation of sustainability practices.
• Prepare requests for proposals for contractor selection. Monitor the performance of contractors.
• Set up performance systems to monitor and report on accomplishments.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Possession of a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in environmental science or engineering, urban planning, public policy, social sciences, public or business administration, or a related field.
• A master’s degree is highly desirable.

AND Experience:

• The equivalent of four (4) years of full-time increasingly responsible experience in the field of environmentally preferable procurement, sustainability, resources conservation, waste reduction, recycling, climate change, green building, or other related area including experience with responsibility for planning, administering, organizing, and coordinating programs.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

In addition to the Minimum Qualifications listed above and in the Sustainability Project Manager job description, the ideal candidate will:

• Have a proven track record of successfully managing sustainability projects, such as climate plan implementation, climate resilience (or related areas such as emergency preparedness), or green purchasing.
• Welcome learning about new areas of climate action beyond existing areas of expertise.
• Have experience designing effective implementation strategies to meet sustainability policy goals.
• Find it meaningful to facilitate innovation in government services and operations through working within the County government with County staff, such as by rolling out new processes, proposing new standards, or pursuing grant funding.
• Engage stakeholders and build partnerships to make change in a large organization, such as changes to protocols or modes of work.
• Incorporate multiple perspectives into key decisions and analyze trade-offs to reach a conclusion.
• Have strong organizational and project management skills.
• Write clearly and distill complex or technical information into key insights for the audience.
• Design and deliver persuasive presentations.
• Be aware of organizational cultures and communication styles and notice political sensitivities.
• Stay persistent when change takes time.
• Use digital tools (including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint), facilitate virtual meetings, and learn new work software tools.
• Use collaboration skills including active listening and giving and receiving feedback.
• Be flexible and willing to try something new to support stakeholders or team members.

For full details, please visit https://www.acgov.org/sustain/who/careers/index.htm.

HOW TO APPLY

• Please click "Apply" below to email your cover letter and resume to gsa.job@acgov.org by 11:59 pm on Monday, August 12.
• Please include in your cover letter why you’re interested in this role and key strengths you’d bring to it.