Director, Buildings (Technical)

Company Description

The International Living Future Institute is a non-profit organization whose mission is to catalyze the transformation toward communities that are culturally rich, socially just and ecologically restorative. ILFI’s flagship program is the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most ambitious and holistic performance standard for resilient, healthy, and green buildings. ILFI offers other certifications, transparency labels, education, and events that enable organizations and individuals to communicate their commitment to a healthier world. 

We believe that the building industry can shift dramatically far faster and more radically than many assume. We also believe that the industry can and should address ecological impact, social impact, health impact and cultural impact as intersecting issues. Living Buildings are beacons for change, data points for skeptics, inspirational stories for young people, and test beds for innovation. We seek to affect change in the building industry by envisioning a Living Future and showing it’s possible to embody that future in practice and policy.

Job Description

STATUS: Full-time, exempt
REPORTS TO: Vice President, Buildings
LOCATION: Remote within the United States

Job Description
The Director, Buildings, serves a key role on the Buildings Group of the International Living Future Institute. The Buildings Group manages all aspects of ILFI’s building scale programs including the creation and maintenance of visionary standards, tools, and resources to push the building industry toward a Living Future. Informed by research, industry feedback, collaborative partnerships, and forward-thinking dialogue, the Buildings Group defines the philosophy, performance goals and metrics, and advocacy frameworks for reaching the highest bar of holistic performance in climate, health, and equity for buildings, products, and organizations within the building industry.  

The Director is specifically responsible for directing the evolution, development, and maintenance of ILFI’s building programs which currently include the Living Building Challenge (LBC), Zero Energy Certification (ZE), and Zero Carbon Certification (ZC). This role requires someone who can think big picture, holistically, and into the future; and someone who can dive into specific details and topics as needed. It requires a broad knowledge base in regenerative design and experience/expertise in program development, project management, partnership buildings, and staff management.

Job Responsibilities
 

Program Development

• Envision and direct periodic updates to and development of ILFI’s building programs including the Standards, Handbooks, and related resources. This includes managing the process of:
  • gathering and incorporating internal and external input and feedback; 
  • developing and managing the scope, timeline, budget, and work plan; 
  • managing staff and consultants assigned to the work; 
  • managing internal cross-team coordination; 
  • drafting, reviewing, and finalizing all written and graphic content
• Understand, integrate, and lead the alignment of concepts and strategies between different regenerative building tools, standards, certifications, and rating systems.
• Lead and support the development of processes, protocols, and guiding principles for Standard and Handbook updates for ILFI building scale programs. 
• Lead and support the development of processes, protocols, and guiding principles for gathering data, input, and feedback on ILFI’s building programs from diverse internal and external stakeholders. 
• Support the development of grant proposals and deliverables as needed to further the evolution of ILFI’s building standards and research. 
• Assist the VP of Buildings, with developing and advancing the long-term vision of ILFI’s Standards.

Innovation, Industry Leadership, and Collaboration

• Manage and support ILFI’s building-related Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) and Technical Advisor leaders. Direct the process to synthesize and incorporate TAGs’ and advisory members’ contributions toward strategic development and continuous improvement of ILFI’s building Standards and related resources.
• Lead a team that stays up-to-date on the latest relevant research, literature, and industry best practices and provides thought leadership on regenerative design, construction, and operations practices in the built environment.
• Manage the research process (including interviews, surveys, literature reviews, and other activities) on topics related to regenerative design, construction, and operations.
• Support the publication and presentation of research results at industry conferences, events,