Associate Director, Bioenergy, Climate Policy and Sustainability Initiatives, IBSI

United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner's historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. We are an advocate for the UN and a platform for connecting people, ideas and resources to help the United Nations solve global problems.

We help the UN take its best work and ideas to scale-through advocacy, partnerships, constituency building and fund-raising.

POsition Overview:

This position supports the work of the International Bioenergy and Sustainability Initiatives team, led by a Senior Vice President and the work of the Climate and Energy team on issues related to the international climate negotiations. The position requires broad familiarity with the key questions related to bioenergy development, production and use as well as sustainable production practices.

As bioenergy has served as an entry point for the UN Foundation to promote sustainable land use in the context of better agricultural practices, it is essential that the candidate have a working knowledge with the issues of biological sequestration of carbon and the positive and negative impacts of certain crops, tillage and other agriculture practices.

Reporting Relationship/Scope:

• The Associate Director, Bioenergy, Climate Policy and Sustainability Initiatives reports to the Senior Vice President and the Vice President of the Energy and Climate Team.
• The Associate Director, Bioenergy, Climate Policy and Sustainability Initiatives works closely with and coordinates activities with the International Bioenergy and Sustainability Initiative team as well as the Energy and Climate Team.

Responsibilities: 

• Supports the UN Foundation's work on conservation agriculture and sustainable land-use.
• Promote awareness of Forest Carbon Index concept.
• Supports the UN Foundation participation in conservation agriculture meetings, related UN and international meetings and other events as warranted.
• Works with the issues under study in the Terrestrial Carbon Group, the International Energy Agency's working groups on biomass and sustainable land use.
• Supports the work with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels indicators and certifications process.
• Prepare analyses with recommendations, and attend key meetings to represent the Foundation's point of view.
• Track in detail key areas of the conservation agriculture and land use debate and make recommendations for UN Foundation actions to advance some or all of the recommendations/proposals the Foundation is promoting, especially those adopted by the Global Leaders for Climate Action.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Masters degree in public policy, environmental management or economic policy.
• 5-10 years work experience in climate policy or related areas.
• Must be familiar with existing environmental and economic indicator systems that support sustainable management practices.
• Successful candidate will need a strong background in economic policy and indicator development.
• Perceptual acuity.
• Negotiation skills.
• Mediation skills.
• Stress tolerance and resilience.
• Communication skills (listening, speaking, and writing).
• Continuous learning skills and the ability to synthesize information.
• Multi-sector experience.
• Multi-cultural experience.

Location: UNF is located at 1800 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 400 in Washington D.C. (Metro: Dupont Circle).

Compensation: Salary commensurate with experience. Actual salary will depend on qualifications and anticipated contribution to the Foundation.

UNF pays 100% of medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance premiums for its employees and 75% of medical and vision for employees' dependents.

In addition, UNF provides 20 days of paid vacation per year, 12 paid holidays, 3 personal days per year, an immediately vested 150% matching 403(b) contribution up to a limit of 6% of employee pay, Metro Pass benefits, and flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care.

To Apply: 

Please apply on-line. Submit a current resume and cover letter online. Only completed applications with both a resume and cover letter will be considered. Please upload your resume and cover letter as one document or cut and paste your cover letter into the notes section of the online application.

UNF/BWF is an AA/EEO employer. People of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.