Manager, California Political Affairs

Location

Sacramento, CA preferred (San Francisco or California Remote also considered). Must have ability to travel for in-state meetings (10-25%, depending on candidate location) with occasional out-of-state travel required.

Duration

This is a three-year fixed-term position with full benefits and the possibility of extension.

Application Instructions

Please submit a cover letter and writing sample. Your writing sample should demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively with a non-technical audience. This may include a public-facing piece such as an article, blog post, white paper, or other similar content.

Program Overview

The State Affairs program of the Political Affairs department leads EDF’s efforts to achieve our policy goals through legislative, regulatory, and political engagement at the state and local levels. Our lobbyists, communicators, organizers and experts work together to achieve progress on our priority issues.

Overall Function

The Manager, California Political Affairs will lead the development and implementation of key aspects of EDF’s California-based work. Reporting to Senior Director, California, the Manager’s responsibilities will include leading the collaborative design and implementation of effective education and policy advocacy campaigns to support EDF’s workstream priorities in California. This work may entail managing consultants, coordinating among multiple EDF workstreams and experts, coordinating with partner organizations, owning relationships with key stakeholders, influential decisionmakers and/or government agencies, and representing EDF and organizational positions to external stakeholders.

The Manager will take responsibility for tracking policy for specific subject areas and regulatory processes and coordinating with the relevant EDF experts, external stakeholders and policymakers. Climate and clean energy priorities will be an initial area of focus, with potential to expand into supporting EDF priorities in forestry, water, or clean transportation.

The Manager will coordinate internal and external cross-functional and geographically dispersed teams and independently guide and manage specific projects and serve as the main point of internal and external contact for discrete projects or campaigns. Independent judgement is required to plan, prioritize, and organize workload within this busy program. Ideal candidates are driven self-starters with the ability to learn and implement workflow processes quickly and work well within a team.

Key Responsibilities

• In consultation with the California State Director, State Affairs team and workstream leads, identify political and policy objectives and help design and implement strategies for effective federal and state policy engagement in California.
• Embed with EDF workstreams to help shape advocacy goals and strategies through synthesis of issue research, policy analysis, and local political perspective and prepare materials in furtherance of EDF’s advocacy agenda, strategic communications efforts, and other purposes.
• Manage collaborative efforts across EDF workstreams and initiatives and the national political team to deliver effective advocacy support of workstream efforts in California.
• Manage key elements of EDF’s advocacy strategy in California, including helping to manage the state political consulting and lobbying team.
• Represent EDF in meetings with policymakers and advocacy partners, with responsibility for conveying EDF’s position, and understanding others’ perspectives and priorities as well as identifying key takeaways and next steps.
• Identify and develop relationships with key stakeholders in legislative, regulatory, academic, environmental justice, private and non-profit sectors with the goal of supporting shared goals through partnerships and coalitions.
• Support the development and use of documents and tools to streamline project management, track legislative and stakeholder meetings and organizational positions.
• May manage interns and/or junior program or administrative staff.
• Participate in advancing EDF Organizational Effectiveness and Culture (OEC) goals in which people from all backgrounds and experiences feel connected, included, and empowered to address the environmental and organizational challenges in alignment with EDF values.
• Additional relevant responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 6 years of work experience in California politics, environmental policy and/or advocacy campaigns preferred; a Master’s degree may substitute for up to 2 years of experience.
• Experience in campaign management.
• Strong organization skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining a high level of attention to detail.
• Ability to think strategically, adapt to changing circumstances and synthesize complex information to determine and deploy action plans.
• A high degree of diplomacy to influence and manage internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience with California legislative and/or regulatory processes.
• Ability and willingness to both work independently and as a team player in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated strong judgement, initiative, and ability to anticipate problems and follow through with confidence.
• Demonstrated self-awareness, cultural competency and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across all cultures and backgrounds.
• Experience crafting and delivering advocacy messages for earned and paid media.
• Ability to travel for in-state meetings (10-25%, depending on candidate location) with occasional out-of-state travel required.