Senior Policy Specialist, Clean Energy Transmission

Founded in 1936, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF or Federation) is America's largest and most trusted grassroots conservation organization with 52 state/territorial affiliates and more than seven million members and supporters, including hunters, anglers, gardeners, birders, hikers, campers, paddlers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes. The Federation’s mission is to unite all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in our rapidly changing world through programming focused on conserving wildlife, restoring habitats and waterways, expanding outdoor opportunities, connecting children with nature, and addressing the causes and consequences of climate change. The Federation is committed to inspiring all people around our shared love of nature and wildlife by creating a welcoming and inclusive community representative of all Americans.

To advance our mission, we are seeking a full-time Senior Policy Specialist, Clean Energy Transmission to join our Climate and Energy team, working out of our National Advocacy Center in Washington, DC, with telework options. Our Climate and Energy team advances domestic policies primarily at the federal level that curb greenhouse gas emissions, speed an equitable transition to clean energy and industry, and expand natural and technological carbon removal. NWF seeks to grow bipartisan support for short- and long-term congressional and executive action on climate, working with a range of partners to build diverse coalitions. The Senior Policy Specialist will help develop NWF’s policy and advocacy priorities with regards to the needed deployment of additional clean energy transmission capacity in the United States, integrating our commitments to climate stabilization, habitat and natural resource conservation, environmental justice, and community engagement. You will report to the Associate Vice President of Climate and Energy and work alongside the rest of the team in Washington, D.C.

As the Senior Policy Specialist, Clean Energy Transmission, you will lead our Federation initiative to advance the environmentally and socially responsible buildout of more resilient grid infrastructure that can better incorporate and support renewable and zero/low-carbon energy technologies at the pace and scale needed to stabilize our rapidly changing climate, and provide communities more reliable power in the face of increasingly frequent and more intense climate-change related weather events. You will advise and collaborate with the AVP and colleagues from the climate, public and private lands, environmental justice, Tribal outreach, and other teams and regional offices in shaping and representing clean energy transmission policy for NWF. You will serve as an in-house expert on transmission policy, and will perform research, writing, policy analysis, lobbying, public and media education, coalition building and maintenance, and intra-organizational communication and coordination.

Primary Responsibilities Will Include:

• Policy Analysis and Advocacy – Building on our existing policy platform and other products and in collaboration with NWF’s public lands team, science team, and other internal experts, you will advocate for approaches at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Bureau of Land Management, and various regional grid operators that steer the grid toward responsible buildout, as well as keep watch on transmission deployment trends and recommend NWF engagement in key regulatory actions through public comments and communications strategies. You will also advocate for increased government funding to bolster transmission technology innovation, plus economic development, wildlife habitat protection, and environmental and economic justice for communities in the path of the new transmission and renewable energy development; and you will educate members of Congress about policy solutions.
• Coalition Participation and Partnership Development – You will lead NWF engagement in the Sustainable FERC coalition, the CARE Coalition, and other working groups on clean energy transmission; pursue new relationships and collaborate with NGO, labor, environmental justice, Tribal, academic, and business partners to advance federal policy priorities; and work with regional staff and field organizers to identify partners at the state and local levels, especially within our network of 52 independent state and territorial affiliates.
• Stakeholder Education – You will lead engagement in key regions (the Rockies, the Southeast, the Northwest, and Northeast) to facilitate stakeholder education and participation in federal rulemaking, such as by organizing virtual workshops to educate and engage community leaders, experts and academics, conservationists, sportsmen and -women, and local officials while working to understand region-specific geographic, environmental/wildlife, recreational, and cultural ne