Policy and Programs Manager, Chief Program Office Natural Resources Defense Council; NRDC

Position description

NRDC is a non‑profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America’s bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations.

Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing, Chicago, New Delhi, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica, and Washington D.C.

The Policy and Programs Manager supports and works closely with the Chief Program Officer (CPO) to manage and advance the strategy and execution of NRDC’s programmatic work, in coordination with the leaders of NRDC’s Programs:
Climate & Clean Energy, International (including NRDC’s offices in China and India), Nature, Environmental Health, and Green Finance and Economic Development. This also means strategizing the day‑to‑day operations and supporting project management for the teams responsible for delivering the organization’s overall mission. The position is part of the Programs team and assists the CPO in driving the Programs’ operational strategy.

It assists with reporting and tracking of a budget of $100 million and helps to lead administrative efforts, including acting as a liaison with NRDC’s Finance, Workplace Strategy, IT and HR Department, for a staff of over 300. The Policy and Programs Manager will serve as a proxy for the CPO in various internal settings, leading team meetings and representing Programs with Finance, HR, and other internal counterparts.

The Policy and Programs Manager will collaborate with the CPO on strategic leadership within NRDC’s Programs, undertaking discrete strategic projects and serving as a delegatee for the CPO on specific matters relating to the strategy and execution of NRDC’s programmatic advocacy. This is a limited term 2‑year position, with the potential for extension. The position you are applying for is part of the bargaining unit represented by the Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild‑CWA Local 32035).

• Support the team’s strategic planning and results management efforts (~40%).
• Collaborate with and build relationships across institutional verticals to inform strategic priorities in alignment with NRDC’s strategic plan, mission and goals.
• Engage in institutional strategy development and implementation, executing on consistent and cohesive planning and organizational performance management processes.
• Facilitate the process of sector and geographic strategy development and execution within the team, including supporting the performance monitoring of activities to assess impact against goals.
• Support adaptation and continuous learning through feedback and update cycles for strategies and workplans.
• Provide regular reporting and line of sight to senior leadership and the Executive Team on progress against priorities, changes to the activity portfolio, and emerging risks and opportunities.
• Drive project management for Programs in alignment with institutional priorities.
• Develop proposals for institutional initiatives, including SWOT analysis, project management, RAPID decision making and prioritization, and ensuring projects meet milestones and deliver on the President & CEO and Executive Director’s vision.
• Align team functions in accordance with key organizational goals that support the current and future scale of NRDC, optimizing workflows for efficiency, designing processes and systems that scale effectively, mitigating organizational risk, and adapting to the changing needs of the organization.
• Partner with NRDC leadership to develop, define and monitor key metrics and evaluation methods.
• Undertake discrete, substantive projects, under the direction of the CPO, to advance the strategy and execution of NRDC’s programmatic advocacy.
• Create and manage methods of internal…