Senior Director, Program Operations

ABOUT U.S. ENERGY FOUNDATION

U.S. Energy Foundation’s (EF) mission is to secure a clean and equitable energy future to tackle the climate crisis. We envision a healthy, safe, equitable economy powered by clean energy. We believe a thriving clean energy economy can create sustainable opportunities, spur innovation, and protect our climate—for today and future generations.

 

EF supports education and analysis to promote nonpartisan policy solutions that advance renewable energy and energy efficiency, while opening doors to greater innovation and productivity—growing the economy with dramatically less pollution. For more than 30 years, EF has supported grantees to help educate policymakers and the general public about the benefits of a clean energy economy. Our grantees include business, health, environmental, labor, equity, community, faith, and consumer groups, as well as policy experts, think tanks, universities, and more.

 

We are working daily to create equitable systems that support people to flourish. We aim to bring humility, transparency, respect, and an appreciation for others’ lived experiences to our interactions with colleagues, grantees, and partners.

 

EF’s Fundraising Philosophy

As EF’s primary clients and partners are our funders and grantees, EF commits to acting as a strategic thought leader for our current and prospective funding partners and the field by:

 

1. Collaborating—and co-creating, where feasible and desired—on strategy development, including hosting and/or managing funder collaboratives
2. Highlighting the opportunity for climate philanthropy to maximize benefits to disadvantaged communities and those most impacted by climate change
3. Offering excellent, responsive service by providing proactive, compelling, and timely updates and information

 

EF is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and our more than 100 staff members are based in locations throughout the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Western regions, where they can best serve our programs, partners, operations, and other functions.

 

EF believes that a diverse workforce makes us a more effective organization and is essential for achieving a clean and equitable energy future. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.    

 

POSITION SUMMARY

At a time when the country is facing ever-increasing urgency to tackle the climate crisis, EF is operating on the frontlines of this fight. As the organization has scaled to meet the challenge of transitioning to a clean energy economy, the need for effective program operations has emerged as a top priority. EF is seeking a Senior Director, Program Operations (SD)—an experienced operations leader and strong people manager who will play a key leadership role in managing a complex budget and in building internal relationships and systems that foster clarity and inspire confidence in a highly matrixed organization with evolving needs. The SD serves as a leader within EF’s Program team, which, in addition to the Program Operations team, comprises the National Policy team, focused on developing and implementing national strategy; the States and Regions team, which deploys place-based campaigns at the local, state, and regional levels; and the Strategic Communications team. 

 

Using strong organizational, analytical, and communication skills, the SD supports work across the Program team. Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Programs, the SD’s primary responsibilities include overseeing the programmatic grantmaking budget; ensuring systems are in place to establish accuracy and transparency; managing the three-person Program Operations team; ensuring clear lines of communication and streamlined efforts across all areas of program operations; serving as the main liaison with other departments (e.g., Finance, People and Culture, IT, Grants Management, Strategic Partnerships); spearheading projects to improve our grantmaking and increase efficiency in our operations; developing and fine-tuning systems and processes to improve internal collaboration and alignment; and troubleshooting problems in inter-departmental alignment or budgeting. 

 

This is a rare opportunity for someone who is highly organized and thrives in complex environments that allow high-level thought partnership and execution across multiple and varied workstreams—all while working to solve the most profound challenge of our time. 

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 

Budget Management. The SD manages the organization’s approximately $200 million programmatic grantmaking budget, including managing allocations across EF’s programs, tracking incoming revenue, and ensuring the organization’s overall fiscal health. Th