DescriptionAbout the Organization
ClimateWorks Foundation is a global organization committed to our mission: to end the climate crisis by amplifying the power of philanthropy. Since our founding in 2008, we have awarded over $1.3 billion in grants to more than 600 organizations advancing climate solutions around the world. We helped grow the field of climate philanthropy to where it stands today, establishing infrastructure, global networks, and momentum for continued growth. Through our Global Programs and Services, we equip philanthropy with global knowledge, networks, and solutions to drive climate progress.
● Scaling solutions: Our collaborative Global Programs — focused on solution areas including carbon dioxide removal, cooling, industry, transportation, and more — produce results that are bending the greenhouse gas emissions curve. From the U.S. to Europe, China, Brazil, and beyond, we collaborate with a diverse community of funders, NGOs, and climate leaders to accelerate just and equitable climate solutions.
● Guiding and supporting funders: Our Global Services provide funders with comprehensive resources to assess, build, evolve, and execute high-impact climate-giving strategies. Our Global Intelligence service equips funders and the climate community with climate insights to pinpoint opportunities for impact and philanthropic insights to help identify investment priorities. We facilitate Global Collaborations that enable funders to increase individual and collective impact. Our Global Grantmaking services enable funders to invest in climate solutions around the world.
● Fostering collaboration, exploration, and growth: Our collaborative approach and commitment to learning ensures that we continuously explore innovative ideas and emerging opportunities — all with the aim of scaling philanthropy-supported initiatives to help end the climate crisis.
As experts in climate science, public policy, economic and social analysis, and strategic philanthropy, ClimateWorks’ staff understands the multi-faceted challenges and opportunities of climate change. We are researchers, strategists, collaborators, and grantmakers who care passionately about our mission. For more information, please visit www.climateworks.org.
Department Summary — Funder Collaborations
Built to serve results-driven philanthropy, ClimateWorks leads collaborations that enable funders to strategize, learn, and execute new and existing climate initiatives. Our suite of best-in-class collaborations empower the largest global climate funders to increase individual and collective impact. We facilitate a wide range of international collaborations designed to build high-trust relationships, create strategic alignment, and facilitate coordinated actions across the climate philanthropy ecosystem, including funders, grantees, and other climate leaders. The Funder Collaborations Department works closely as a team to strategically support high-caliber global collaborations, convenings, and special projects including funder forums, learning networks, and joint action groups. We work in a fast-paced environment, serving as the secretariat for our flagship climate philanthropy collaboration and hosting two international hybrid convenings a year as key community moments. Through all of our efforts, we embody our JEDI principles and work to engage more diverse voices and perspectives.
We like to say “collaboration is in our DNA”. It is core to how we operate internally and what we do externally.
Job Summary
The Senior Manager for Session Content and Design, Funder Collaborations is responsible for the design and coordination of the content for high-priority, complex, multi-day convenings for international climate funder collaborations. This role reports to the Director, Funder Collaborations.
For each convening, the Senior Manager coordinates the activities of many stakeholders (internally and externally, individually and in teams) to elicit and gain agreement on the outcomes for each session. For a subset of the sessions, the Senior Manager is responsible for translating the outcomes into exciting, effective, efficient session designs that flow from a powerful agenda that ties everything together thematically and cumulatively. The remaining sessions (there can be as many as 30 different sessions for a convening) are designed by others in consultation with the Senior Manager, who provides training and support to ensure that the sessions are coherent, achieve the outcomes set, and meet the high standards our convenings are known for.
The Senior Manager tracks, coordinates, and synchronizes the work of all the session teams by convening and facilitating numerous planning, design, and review sessions with multiple participants (including the external funder(s) leading each session, the internal project managers assigned to each session, various consultants, and other FC staff). This is a highly facilitative and supportive role that requires expert stakeholder engagement, often on tight timelines.
People interested in this position have to be equally at ease collaborating with team members and assisting with the creation and iteration of high-impact programming; working independently to design refreshingly engaging agendas and sessions; and project managing teams of people who are not their direct reports.
The successful candidate enjoys designing and project managing meetings with various goals (e.g., group learning, collaboration, problem solving, innovation, evaluation) more than being “in front of the room” and facilitating, but has enough facilitation experience to be able to design and support the team of facilitators running the sessions, and to step into the role of facilitator, when needed.
The Senior Manager is an expert in adult learning, curriculum design, and the use of facilitation techniques and technology for best-in-class in-person, hybrid, and remote meetings. This position currently has no direct reports, but will be matrix managing individuals and teams, and should be interested in and fluent with the skills of managing and influencing others.
Essential Tasks
Session design and stakeholder coordination
▪ Plan and manage a collaborative design process that elicits input from and follows the direction of external session leaders (one or more funders who are leading the session) and other stakeholders. Sessions often focus on climate mitigation strategies in certain sectors or regions, or around infrastructure or capacity building.
▪ Guide and support stakeholders as they participate in the agenda and session design process so that they are satisfied with the process, confident in the design, feel a sense of shared ownership and buy-in, and are comfortable leading/participating in the final result: an exciting, engaging, efficient session.
▪ Design comprehensive agendas for high-priority meetings and sessions, most often in partnership with external and internal stakeholders.
▪ Facilitate regular coordination meetings with session project managers, leaders, facilitators, and consultants, including planning and scheduling the meetings; creating and disseminating any materials needed, managing the logistics, as well as pre/post-session communications; and keeping to a sharp meeting agenda.
▪ Build and maintain strong working relationships with a network of philanthropic funders, internal and external experts, organizational partners, policymakers, and others.
Project management and implementation of session design process
▪ Ensure that the agendas and session designs for convenings large and small are consistent with the strategy set by the Senior Director, and Director, of the Funder Collaborations team.
▪ Project manage session planning and implementation for two international convenings a year, including developing the plan for all content delivery and facilitation; coordinating as a matrix manager all of the individual session project managers, consultants, and stakeholder teams; defining deliverables, timelines, and roles; continuously monitoring progress; and taking action to flag issues, remove barriers, resolve problems, and obtain the resources needed to keep things moving on the right track.
▪ Coordinate the work of a number of external consultants who assist with session management, design, and facilitation (with an eye toward eventually managing some or all of them, if applicable).
Training and resource development
▪ In partnership with other design and facilitation content experts, develop and deliver training on effective meeting design and facilitation for funder session leaders, community leaders, internal staff, and others.
▪ Further develop and maintain training materials and resources on meeting design and facilitation, including resources on how to engage more diverse voices and support an inclusive and participatory meeting culture.
▪ Provide on-going guidance for effective and impactful agenda/session design and facilitation to community leaders and funders.
Required Qualifications
Must have
▪ 8+ years of experience managing multi-stakeholder, collaborative meetings and sessions, and teaching others to do the same
▪ Experience project managing at least one large, cross-team, multi-month (or multi-year) endeavor with numerous stakeholders that succeeded on time, on budget, and with high marks for quality and customer/audience/client satisfaction
▪ The excellent communication skills, influence skills, and emotional intelligence to thrive in a collaborative, consensus-driven environment with diverse, highly respected stakeholders from a range of cultures and executive levels
▪ Experience running highly organized, efficient project coordination meetings that cut across programmatic, relational, and logistical workstreams
▪ Experience designing sessions and agendas that bring together multiple stakeholder groups, and make room for divergent points of view, ideally in the climate philanthropy community
▪ Experience supporting session facilitators with practical assistance, such as time keeping, Q&A tracking, breakout facilitation, etc.
▪ Experience leading people who are considerably more senior than they are to bring projects with shared outcomes to a successful conclusion
▪ The comfort and confidence to staff VIPs and executives, paired with the judgment to handle sensitive matters with diplomacy and discretion
▪ A solutions-oriented and flexible management approach that is able to operate with equanimity and patient resolve in ambiguous and evolving situations
▪ Assiduous attention to detail, strong organizational skills, and a passion for creating seamless project plans
▪ Tech-savvy, fluent with and willing to learn new time-saving platforms, especially project management software such as Asana
▪ Ability to travel internationally, typically about 20 days a year
▪ Ability to work effectively and efficiently (both virtually and in-person) with minimal supervision
▪ A global outlook and the sensibility to empathize with, and adjust to, different cultures
▪ Commitment to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environment
▪ Commitment to the mission of ClimateWorks Foundation
Nice to have
▪ BA or BS degree
▪ Expertise in adult learning and curriculum design
▪ Ability to facilitate diverse stakeholder groups and hold divergent perspectives; knowledgeable about group dynamics
▪ Knowledge of the drivers of climate change, and climate change solutions
▪ Experience in nonprofit organizing or advocacy, policy or diplomacy work, fundraising or stewardship, coalition building or philanthropy preferred
▪ A sense of humor and patience amidst pressing deadlines and high-stakes outcomes
Physical Demands and Working Environment:
▪ Regularly stand, sit, and walk; use hands; reach with hands and arms; talk or hear
▪ Generally works in an office environment, and will be required to perform job duties outside of the typical office setting during partner events
Compensation
ClimateWorks offers an excellent benefits package and a competitive salary that is commensurate with experience (geographic differential applied based on location).
Salary Range: $120,000 - $140,000 annually ***ClimateWorks strives to create an equitable culture of transparency and fairness.
Location
ClimateWorks Foundation is based in the San Francisco Financial District. This position is classified as US Flexible. Exceptional candidates can work from the SF office or from other locations, geographic differential applied to compensation based on local cost of labor.
Commitment to Racial and Social Justice
At ClimateWorks Foundation, we are driven by our vision of creating a thriving planet for all living beings for generations to come. We aim to foster an inclusive workplace that values diverse lived experiences and emphasizes the voices of marginalized people — especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — who are most vulnerable to climate impacts, and whose voices, ideas, and leadership are crucial to winning the climate fight.
To ensure that we are making meaningful progress, we have made a set of diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments across all dimensions of our work to further our mission and realize our vision. For more information, please visit: Fostering Racial and Social Justice in Pursuit of our Mission
Equal Employment Opportunity
Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at ClimateWorks Foundation and as such we are committed to creating a diverse and multi-cultural work environment. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race (including traits historically associated with race), ethnicity, religion, color, sex (including childbirth, breast feeding, and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, uniform service member and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, age, protected medical condition, genetic information, disability, or any other protected status in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.
This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, termination, promotions, transfers, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms and conditions of employment.
ClimateWorks Foundation is committed to complying with all laws protecting qualified individuals with disabilities, as well as employees’ religious beliefs and practices. This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, termination, promotions, transfers, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms and conditions of employment. ClimateWorks Foundation will provide a reasonable accommodation for any known physical or mental disability of a qualified individual and/or employees’ religious beliefs and practices, as required by law.
If you require an accommodation, please notify Human Resources. Once ClimateWorks Foundation is aware of the need for an accommodation, it will engage in an interactive process to identify possible accommodations.
Application Process
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. To be considered for this position, interested candidates must submit a resume and cover letter. This position will remain open until filled.
Employment at the ClimateWorks Foundation is at-will.
BenefitsClimateWorks offers an excellent benefits package:
Healthcare Plans:
Multiple options available through Kaiser & UHC
- HMO - 100% coverage for employee and dependents
- POS - Employee pays difference beyond HMO coverage (3 out of 4 POS options are at 100% coverage for employee and dependents)
- Dental –100% coverage for employee and dependents
- Vision – 100% coverage for employee and dependents
Fertility Benefit
- Fertility care through Carrot Fertility. Access to on-demand doctor-approved content, pregnancy support, and virtual chats with medical, legal, and regulatory experts.
Disability Benefit (long and short-term)
Life Insurance (3x base salary up to $750k for employee only)
PTO
- 20 days (1st year)
- 25 days (2nd - 8th year)
- 30 days (9th year)
Holidays
- 11 Observed and 2 floating
401k Plan
- After 6 months of service, CWF automatically contributes 9% of gross earnings per pay period to retirement fund*
- After 6 months of service, CWF matches 100% of employee contributions up to a max of 6% of gross earnings per pay period*
