Senior Associate, Community Engagement Strategist - South

RWE Clean Energy, LLC
To start as soon as possible, full time, permanent

Functional area: Regulation / Risk Management
Remuneration: Exempt

 

The Senior Associate, Community Engagement Strategist - South works with internal Development, Operations, Communications, and Government Relations teams to achieve a social license to operate for RWE’s onshore renewable energy projects in the Central Region. This position will be responsible for creating and implementing community engagement plans,  educating local stakeholders, organizing public events and recruiting attendees, building relationships with renewable energy supporters, and representing RWE in communities that host our projects. This position reports to the Senior Director of Community Engagement.

 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support community engagement and outreach activities across RWE Clean Energy’s portfolio of operating and development projects in the Central Region (primarily IN, IL,MI, OH, KY, ND, SD, NE, IA, MN, WI)
• Collaborate with onshore wind, solar, storage, and hydrogen project development teams to integrate community engagement and public education into development plans in order to achieve a “social license to operate” for RWE’s renewable energy projects
• Conduct Social Risk and Community Assessment research and stakeholder mapping exercises to analyze relative likelihood of organized opposition and identify strategies to ensure local approval of development projects
• Create and implement community engagement plans for onshore development projects
• Support development and operations teams with maintaining a contact or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database for local stakeholders at each assigned RWE onshore renewable energy project in the Central Region
• Plan and attend in-person community events, including wind farm tours, open houses, landowner dinners, school or community group presentations, and local fairs or festivals
• Provide input to Communications on project-specific marketing, such as project websites, newsletters, fact sheets, and other communications materials
• Manage community relations purchases, invoices, and external consultants supporting social media, digital marketing, media relations, project logos, or other community engagement campaign activities
• Work with project development teams to set up local offices and, where requested, recruit local hires as community liaisons
• Meet with project stakeholders, track community concerns, and report on organized opposition around development projects
• Design social investment plans that help RWE achieve its corporate goals while meeting the particular needs of local communities
• Build productive internal/external working relationships to resolve mutual problems by collaborating on procedures or transactions. Focus on providing standard professional advice and creating initial reports/analyzes for review by experienced team professionals
• Work on problems of moderate scope which are often varied and routine where analysis of situations or data requires a review of a variety of factors. Exercise judgment within defined procedures and practices to determine appropriate action. Applies learned techniques and contributes to analysis and investigation to solve problems
• Develop professional expertise, apply company policies and procedures to resolve a variety of issues. Determine a course of action based on guidelines and modifies processes and methods as required

 

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred
• Minimum 2 years experience working in community organizing, outreach, strategic communications, or political campaigns, strongly preferred
• Knowledge of the structure and function of US, state, regional and local government including experience with renewable energy permitting and regulatory issues is preferred
• Experience working in renewable energy, rural communities, political organizing, environmental management, agriculture, or real estate development is a plus
• Strong interpersonal skills, with ability to manage customer relationships
• Demonstrated desire to learn about the Company and the renewa