Senior Campaign Advisor

Job Title: Senior Campaign Advisor, Electric Sector - Beyond Coal Campaign

Department: Strategy 

Reports to: Deputy Campaign Director - Beyond Coal Campaign

Supervises: N/A

Context:  At the Sierra Club, we believe in the power of interdependence. Together, we remain committed to the fight for a healthy climate built on a foundation of environmental, racial, economic, and gender justice – a future where all people benefit from a healthy, thriving planet and a direct connection to nature. As the climate crisis and deeply entrenched systemic racism all fuel injustice, we will continue to fight for a bold, transformational agenda that recognizes the interconnectedness between our planet, our humanity, and our future. By recognizing that our destinies are tied, we continue to name that all things are fundamentally connected, and the overlap between ecology, race, gender, and representative government will move to either advance our collective humanity or to oppress it. Sierra Club has close to 800 staff across the country and a network of 64 local chapters that are led and fueled by thousands of volunteers. We are also proud to be a unionized employer, with three labor unions representing more than half of our employees.

Scope: The Senior Campaign Advisor for the Beyond Coal Campaignwill be responsible for developing and implementing multiple of the campaign’s electricity policy strategies, including those related to advocacy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the regional transmission organizations (RTOs), to move off of fossil fuels to clean energy in the power sector, working in collaboration and partnership with Sierra Club’s multi-disciplinary teams.  The Senior Campaign Advisor will ensure the strategies and tactics leverage opportunities to advance justice (centered on racial justice), equity, and inclusion.  With a focus on advancing our clean energy priorities at FERC and the RTOs, as well as in other priority spaces, the Senior Campaign Advisor will develop and support state, regional and federal strategies that engage Sierra Club’s members, supporters, and partners to build power toward a shared vision of climate and environmental justice. 

• Support  Campaign strategy:  Work with the Campaign Director to develop strategy, goals, and evaluation mechanisms to achieve the Beyond Coal Campaign goals through advocacy within and relating to FERC and the RTOs (as well as other issue areas) in pursuit of Sierra Club’s 2030 goals that are rooted in equity, justice, and inclusion. Leverage the Sierra Club’s state and national infrastructure and key capacities.
• Provide strategic leadership to those implementing Beyond Coal Campaign goals. Engage in strategic planning at the state and national level, join team calls and strategy sessions with internal stakeholders.  Build strong relationships across groups of stakeholders to ensure goal alignment, support for staff engaged in the Beyond Coal Campaign, and compelling narratives to advance outcomes.  Engage in state,regional, and national hubs to provide strategic guidance, problem-solving, resource allocation, and campaign planning.
• Support Campaign Leadership Team in Campaign Management: Stand in for the Director, as assigned, and regularly participate in leadership meetings.  Manage information sharing and documentation in alignment with the confidentiality parameters of these projects, including but not limited to budget and personnel decisions. 
• Serve as an issue-area expert on FERC and RTO matters and other key topics internally and externally with partners, in coalitions, and with the media.  Act as a public spokesperson and advocate for the campaign and Sierra Club’s related priorities.  
• Support strong coalitions and external partnerships:  Work collaboratively to build a larger coalition inclusive of environmental justice groups. Engage with key stakeholders who may not currently participate in climate coalition environments.
• Fundraise for the Beyond Coal Campaign budget. Meet with high net-worth individuals and foundations, partnering with our Office of Advancement on proposal development, presentations and reports.  Support the Campaign Director to allocate resources, develop budgets, and ensure the campaign’s resources are directed toward the most important strategic opportunities.

• Track record of successful campaign leadership.  Demonstrated ability to build, implement, and win strategic campaigns or initiatives. Demonstrated ability to achieve goals in an operating environment that requires working with and building alignment among a range of constituents inside and outside an organization or business. Includes identifying a theory of change, leveraging resources both internal and external toward strategies designed to win tangible, meaningful outcomes, and building a team culture that supports success.
• Experience with administrative policy, including but not limited to elements of rulemaking, policy design, and implementation.  Experience in climate, energy, and/or environmental policy and related issues. Among other priorities, this person will work with the organization’s Environmental Law Program to manage the Campaign’s advocacy at FERC and the RTOs. Experience working on transmission and energy markets-related policy and engaging in specific FERC and RTO campaigns is a plus.
• Understanding of environmental, climate, and social and economic justice issues and how they relate to each other. Demonstrated ability to design and implement strategies that operate at the intersections of energy, the environment, race, gender, and class. Experience cultivating and maintaining just, accountable partnerships, especially with organizations led by those most impacted by the crises we seek to remedy.
• Committed to evolution. You are committed to continuously deepening and evolving your own understanding of systems of oppression through study, openness, and humility. And you easily recognize your own relationship to privilege and power, examining and shifting your behaviors as appropriate.
• Uplifting and additive. You see mistakes as opportunities for growth; problems as catalysts for solutions, and inspire others along the journey. You carry a constructive approach, can-do attitude, a sense of humor, and authentic kindness wherever you go.
• Highly developed communication skills, and the ability to represent the organization in media and in venues with key decision-makers (including elected officials at all levels, their senior staffers, movement leaders and tribal partners and C-suite executives). 
• Ability to raise money and manage a large budget.  Proven fundraising and donor stewardship skills.
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time.

• Experience working in a fast-paced environment, across geographies, and with different types of volunteer and staff structures, building buy-in across a complex organization, exercising effective judgment in challenging situations and remaining calm under pressure.
• Demonstrated understanding of how organized movements create change.

To Apply

The Sierra Club provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all staff members. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, lived experience and skills. The Sierra Club does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, immigration status, socioeconomic status, ancestry, age, size, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, familial status, veteran status, disability, AIDS/HIV status, medical condition, prior conviction, arrest history, traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The Sierra Club values applicants who are people that identify as Black, Indigenous, and other minoritized groups; women; queer, transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender fluid people.

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