Director, North American Compliance Markets

Founded in 2007, The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) manages the VCS Program, the world's leading greenhouse gas (GHG) certification program in the voluntary carbon market. 

VCS brings standardization, transparency and credibility to the voluntary carbon market and other results-based mechanisms, and continues to pioneer the establishment of frameworks that enable the development of new and innovative projects and programs that reduce GHG emissions worldwide.

Due to its success, the VCS Program is now positioned to play a key role in a number of emerging compliance frameworks throughout the world.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has approved VCS as an Offset Project Registry (OPR) within California's groundbreaking cap-and-trade program. In this role, VCS will register ARB-eligible projects and issue registry offset credits to these projects, as well as work with state authorities to ensure the efficient conversion of these credits into the California compliance carbon market. 

Position Overview 

VCS now seeks a Director of North American Compliance Markets to meet the needs of project developers, capped entities and the state government, in respect of the California compliance market and beyond.

The Director of North American Compliance Markets will report directly to the CEO, be a key member of the senior management team and lead the organization's efforts to work with existing and emerging compliance frameworks throughout North America, with an initial focus on California and a secondary focus on Quebec and emerging opportunities in the US (given the announcement of the proposed EPA regulations) and Mexico. Depending on the work required, the position could evolve to include compliance markets worldwide.

The Director of North American Compliance Markets will be supported by a strong technical team that is already trained in all of the ARB-approved protocols and in the management procedures VCS has developed to manage its OPR, and by a communications team that will provide insight and support in respect of all outreach efforts undertaken. 

Responsibilities 

The Director of North American Compliance Markets' main responsibility will be to ensure VCS plays a prominent role in the success of California's cap-and-trade program, and other emerging programs, which will include a number of tasks and responsibilities, as follows: 

• Conduct outreach to the project developer community to introduce and promote VCS services in respect of being an OPR, particularly in respect of listing projects with the VCS OPR.
• Conduct outreach to entities covered under the cap-and-trade program to introduce and promote VCS services in respect of being an OPR, including the likelihood of future protocol approval.
• Engage ARB and the broad community of stakeholders to continue expanding the cap-and-trade program, to include, for example, the development of new offset protocols and how to incorporate sector-based offset credits (eg, REDD+) into the program.
• Engage government officials outside of California as they consider programs that include carbon offsets in some way, in order to provide accurate and reliable information to help drive the development of effective climate change policies.
• Assess and pursue potential opportunities for existing and new VCS methodologies to generate offsets eligible for use in North American regulatory frameworks, including California's cap-and-trade program and Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
• Work closely with the VCS Program Team and the wider organization to ensure VCS is meeting the needs of established and emerging compliance programs, to include developing and executing an integrated strategy with targets, timelines and a proposed budget. 

Qualifications 

Required Knowledge, Experience and Skills: 

• At least ten years of relevant work experience, including expertise in carbon markets.
• Experience in, or technical knowledge of, key sectors (eg, mine methane, forestry, ODS) would be considered an asset.
• Master's degree in business, economics, public policy or a related field would be considered an asset.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills.
• Fluency in English is essential; fluency in Spanish or French would be considered an asset. 

Compensation and Terms: 
A competitive salary is available. Other terms and conditions will be discussed during the application process. Applicants must be US citizens or hold current work authorization to work in the United States. 

To Apply 

In order to streamline the application process, applicants are requested to submit the following documents to the email address provided below: 

• Cover letter (not to exceed one page).
• Resume/CV (not to exceed two pages). 

Note: All documents must be submitted by Friday, September 5, 2014.