Director of Sustainability & Climate Justice

Mayor Justin Bibb is continuing to build a team that reflects the diversity of our city and is committed to delivering a modern and responsive city government to bring City Hall into the 21^st century. The City of Cleveland has a proud history as the birthplace of the Environmental Protection Agency, the healthcare capital of the world and the home of manufacturing. It is that ingenuity, grit and resilience that we share as Clevelanders that will drive the new wave of leadership and innovation in our city. Mayor Bibb’s vision for Cleveland is to become a national model for city management, police reform and neighborhood revitalization. This is our moment to lead. It is time to take our city’s proud heritage to the next level by investing in homegrown talent and attracting new talent to the city. The City of Cleveland employs nearly 8,000 people dedicated to public service and we are looking for emerging and experienced leaders to help us move forward. Join us today as we shape our future.

Climate change is the single greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, threatening water and food security, health, livelihoods, and the safety of billions of people together with drastic negative impact on global ecosystem balance. The City of Cleveland’s Mayor’s Office of Sustainability & Climate Justice seeks to enhance their climate ambitions under the Paris Agreement, with focus on greater emissions reduction and resilience building. The next phase of the Climate Action Plan update will focus on climate advocacy and long-term planning to ensure inclusive climate action at the speed and scale required to keep global temperature below 1.5°C. Achieving the carbon neutrality in the second half of the century by all countries is a crucial requirement set by the Paris Agreement to avoid the irreversible global climate change. Realization of this goal involves work on local, regional, national, and global levels, as well as participation of all relevant stakeholders – governments, business, non-profit organizations, community members. The path to carbon neutrality should be just and leave no one behind, while empowering women, youth, black, indigenous and people of color, and vulnerable groups of population.

The Director of Sustainability & Climate Justice manages and directs the operations of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability & Climate Justice (“Sustainability”). The Director of Sustainability & Climate Justice (“Director”) is appointed, reports to the Mayor and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor. The Mayor’s vision is for Cleveland to continue to be a leader in demonstrating the broad community benefits of a strategic end-to-end operational transformation with sustainability at the center of how the City creates growth, opportunity and value for all community members, including residents, community-based organizations, businesses and non-profit organizations. The need is to lead collaborative integration of purposeful sustainability and climate justice into all of the City’s activities and operations with deliberate implementation of 1^st term strategic planning. The purpose of this position is to lead the management of the overall day-to-day operations and personnel of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability & Climate Justice to assure the successful achievement of the office's vision, mission, and program objectives through the implementation of the 2025 Municipal Action Plan for city operations and the 2025 community-based Cleveland Climate Action Plan.

Essential Duties & Job Functions

• Responsible for routinely updating and executing the City’s strategic sustainability strategic plans (Municipal Action Plan “MAP” and Cleveland Climate Action Plan “CAP”), while incorporating internal and industry best practices and ensuring compliance with City policies and procedures and all applicable local, state and federal regulations.
• Develops and builds upon an active culture of engagement and participation related to environmental sustainability and climate action topics at all levels of the City as well as with corporations, community development corporations, community organizations and activists.
• Engages with environmental justice and other external stakeholders to shape a climate agenda that is deeply participatory and centered in community.
• Provides thought leadership and use sustainable objectives and concepts to respond to real-time business issues at the request of Departments, Divisions and leadership of the City.
• Demonstrates strong leadership and significant influence management skills to challenge the status quo and implement strategies to ensure environmental sustainability and climate action initiatives are not “siloed”.
• Regularly and routinely examines the City’s environmental sustainability and climate action MAP and CAP goals and direct short- and long-range strategic planning and analysis of trends to recommend future goals to shape the City’s sustainable agenda and actionable solutions to its implementation.
• Develops positions on legislation as well as other public rulings and advocate the City’s position before state and federal agencies and community groups at the request of the Mayor and other Chiefs and Directors.
• Acts as a spokesperson, advocate and speaker about the City’s sustainability and climate action initiatives, representing the City and the Mayor on behalf of Sustainability, secures and maintains community support for Sustainability programs and projects in coordination with the Mayor’s Office of Communications.
• Represents the Mayor on environmental sustainability and climate action related regional, national and international boards, commissions and other networks as a proxy or delegate, as requested by Mayor and/or Chief of Staff.
• Directs and performs statistical and other analyses of contracts and programs to assess their effectiveness and adjusts or modifies operations to ensure maximum effectiveness and direct improvements or changes as needed to align with city-wide environmental sustainability and climate action objectives.
• Researches and applies for applicable grants to further develop and improve environmental sustainability and climate action initiatives and programs. Conducts research studies and surveys and produces reports recommending appropriate courses of action for solutions to environmental sustainability and climate change problems.
• Performs energy evaluations and verification analyses, energy accounting, and life cycle costing to ensure operational goals and objectives are being met. Tracks and documents energy and cost savings and greenhouse reductions associated with projects.
• Supervises employees of the Sustainability department. Mentors, coaches, trains and develops team members. Sets goals, objectives, staffing and work standards, and monitors performance against standards. Acts as resource and support to staff, removing barriers to effective performance.
• Directs the preparation of annual budgets; monitors and evaluates budget expenditures.
• Directs the development, planning, implementation and administration of departmental programs and policies.
• Performs other tasks as requested.

(These are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work performed. The omission of specific duties do not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment of the position.)

• Bachelor’s Degree in a scientific, engineering, environmental, or related technical field, Business Management or Public Administration; ideally with focus on sustainability.
• Minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience, including experience successfully leading project initiatives and teams in the field of sustainability and climate action.
• Extensive knowledge of current issues, laws, and regulations related to all areas of environmental sustainability and climate change, including resource conservation, transportation, pollution prevention and public health protection as well as community and economic development.
• General knowledge of energy markets, greenhouse gas emissions reduction methodologies, electric and heating grids, and the dynamics of renewable energy, land use and transportation programs.
• Ability to anticipate and evaluate problems that would create barriers to achieving goals and develop innovative solutions to resolve issues.
• Ability to maintain focus on and prioritize implementation of high-stakes projects and programs in a time-constrained and political environment.
• Ability to establish and maintain meaningful work relationships with professional groups, stakeholders and the public with the ability to implement services and solutions that create buy-in and support.
• Ability to relate to, and work effectively with, persons of diverse racial, ethnic, gender, sexual preference or orientation, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. Communicates effectively and appropriately with each while maintaining a high level of professionalism.
• Dedicated to maintaining high ethical standards, including a dedication to the tenets of environmental and climate justice at the strategic level of planning and implementation.
• Ability to perform duties with tact, discretion, and confidentiality while exercising good judgment and decision-making abilities.
• Commitment to public and customer service, particularly in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Physical abilities to perform essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation.

Preferred Expertise:

• Proven experience as a strong communicator through public speaking, media interviews, participation in community or other leadership groups, etc.; possesses excellent speaking, listening, and writing skills. Can communicate easily across all levels of government.
• Demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities and influence management skills, with training and expertise in leadership improvement, building effective teams, coaching, and ensuring professional growth for themselves and all team members.
• Has a proven track record in change-management and accomplishment leading and executing multi-stakeholder / large-scale sustainability or climate action related projects, preferably in the public or non-profit sector.
• Demonstrated skillsets in analysis of complex and interrelated issues, effective structuring of workflows, negotiating terms and conditions for contracts and agreements, and using a positive customer service approach.
• Strategic and business planning experience using Project Management tools and concepts.