Program Manager

Firm: Empower Efficiency LLC
Location:
San Francisco Bay/Greater Sacramento

Payment: Paid
Start Date: May 11, 2015
Category: Community Development
Contact: Francesca Amari Sajtar
information@empowerefficiency.com
760-364-6201
Posted: Apr 18, 2015

Job Title: Program Manager

Start Date: This position is available immediately.

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: Various: San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Sacramento Area with regular travel to Woodland, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Francisco, and San Jose, CA

Background: Empower Efficiency is a small and growing consulting company dedicated to making energy efficiency and renewable energy desirable to consumers. In partnership with local leaders and local electric and gas utilities, Empower Efficiency specializes in developing, implementing, and evaluating energy efficiency, renewable, and clean energy initiatives that combine social psychology, consumer-focused community-based social marketing, and grassroots outreach.

This position will support two key behavioral initiatives in five communities of the San Francisco Bay Area and the greater Sacramento area. We are seeking a versatile person that is also an experienced consultant to work with our team on these residential and commercial behavior-based energy efficiency projects. The successful candidate for this role will be a seasoned relationship builder and team leader; an organized and meticulous project and people manager; and a skilled analyst and writer. We are looking for candidates with an entrepreneurial spirit, as well as a passion for reducing energy waste in buildings.

The Program Manager will manage complex projects with many moving pieces and multiple staff and stakeholders. The successful candidate will have a combination of excellent communication and interpersonal skills, staff supervision experience, project management experience, sales or account management experience, and the ability to work well with all levels of internal management, staff, and outside clients and vendors. The job requires an individual who is flexible and creative, working both independently and collaboratively, depending on client and management direction. The role requires knowledge and experience with community-based social marketing, social science research methods (e.g., interviews, surveys, focus groups and observational research), and the ability to customize and apply these methods within the scope of the initiative.

Residential Outreach Initiative Management
This role is the day-to-day manager of two small outreach teams for a social marketing initiative that targets residential utility customers. The Outreach Initiative Management duties include maintaining the operational aspect of the initiative and fostering strong relationships with clients, community leaders, outreach staff, and volunteers. The Program Manager will supervise a staff of seven community organizers who contribute to and execute organizing plans that drive the initiative toward achieving initiative goals.

Responsibilities:
• Supervise outreach/organizer staff in Woodland, San Carlos, and Redwood City. Provide daily oversight and management of staff workloads and priorities, schedules, time management, and performance tracking. Establish positive team morale; create benchmarks and reward systems; ensure performance goals are met and celebrated.
• Lead regular coordination meetings to manage and maintain relationships with local client staff and local municipal staff. Develop and nurture the engagement, support, and participation of a broad group of stakeholders, both in the communities/municipalities, and internal to the client.
• Lead development of campaign/organizing plans for each participating community; coordinate feedback and input from the initiative stakeholders; execute plans with the Empower team.

• Plan and conduct outreach events with local teams and stakeholders; incorporate input into final planning documents; obtain required approvals and sign-offs from the cities and the client.
• Seek out, collect, and assess insights and intelligence about these communities and their social structures to inform Outreach Plans and our test/learn/adapt approach.
• Support Empower Marketing Director to develop and execute detailed Marketing Plan and thematic calendar and integrate Organizing and Marketing Plans with client’s related initiatives and messaging calendars; Support collateral production, including print pieces and visual props for events.
• Support content development for website, participant emails, and social media.
• Support contractor coordination and engagement; work with stakeholders to engage with contractors working in Woodland, San Carlos, and Redwood City.

Commercial Behavioral Research and Implementation
This role collaborates with Empower Efficiency staff, client stakeholders, and initiative partners to: 1) assess behavior-based opportunities for energy reduction in large commercial buildings, and 2) collaboratively develop an implementation plan for achieving those reductions.

The duties include site visits with initiative participants (and a client representative) to: 1) apply social science approaches, such as interviews and structured observational research; 2) collect information about participants’ current energy practices; 3) communicate opportunities for reducing energy consumption and potential barriers to change; 4) help initiative participants establish a savings plan that identifies specific initiative elements, goals, and a timeline for completion; and 5) additional ad hoc support to initiative participants as needed to ensure initiative success.

Responsibilities:
• Conduct Behavior-Based Energy Assessments for participating large companies
o Work with implementation team and client to set up and conduct half-day energy assessments (interviews, focus groups, observational research)
o Review assessment data from each participant, analyze data and summarize findings
o Schedule and conduct follow up meetings to share assessment results; provide phone support and site visits to help participants develop action plans to achieve the savings opportunities identified by the assessment.
o Coordinate with contractors and attend additional meetings with participating companies when deemed necessary to support the success of their action plans
• Contribute to and support overall strategy for outreach to participating companies
o Collaborate on the development of assessment method and approach to documentation and reporting of findings
o Develop training material and train client and other team members on the behavior assessment purpose, methodology and how to perform the assessment
o Develop insights concerning lessons learned, best practices and opportunities for improvement of the Behavior-Based Energy Assessment methodology and materials
o Advise on development of streamlined Assessment methodology for small and medium customers
o Update data systems as needed



Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science, Systems, Marketing, Business, or another relevant field
• Graduate degree is a plus
• Three to Seven (3 to 7) years of experience with:
o Supervision of teams, especially outreach or organizer staff;
o Community-based social marketing, psychology, behavioral science, social science, consumer product marketing, etc.;
o Building technology use and waste reducing options, especially occupant-controlled energy actions (e.g., one-time and habitual actions), as well as low-hanging technology solutions (e.g., approval, purchase, and installation actions)

Desired Qualifications:
• Ability to fulfill the duties and job responsibilities outlined above
• Experience working on California residential energy efficiency initiatives and policies
• Familiarity with the San Francisco Bay Area and willingness to travel to project locations and to work occasional evenings and weekends
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including experience in preparing and delivering public presentations; experience communicating directly with press is a plus
• Ability to condense and explain technical information in concise and pointed summaries that can be understood by diverse constituents
• Ability to work independently and as a member of many teams at once; Well-organized and self-motivated, ability to work at home or by yourself
• Ability to develop and manage interpersonal relationships
• Ability to design work plans, and to prioritize and meet goals under strict deadlines and changing priorities
• High attention to detail and the ability to perform multiple tasks under strict deadlines
• Ability to maintain a calm demeanor and work productively despite competing priorities, and tight deadlines
• Competent with standard software applications, including: word processing, databases, spreadsheets, and presentations; experience with graphic design software a plus

Compensation: $75,000 to $125,000 per year (commensurate with experience) in a start-up environment

Application Instructions:
Interested candidates should submit the following documents to information@empowerefficiency.com:

 Resume – No more than two pages
 Cover Letter – Address the following questions in your cover letter:
 Why do you want this job?
 How do you fulfill the job duties and responsibilities?
 What are your top three to five strengths?
 One or more work samples; would prefer to see one writing and one graphical example
 At least two professional references (name, phone, email, position, company, span of dates that worked for the reference)

Subject line of the email should read: Program Manager – [First Name Last Name]

Application Deadline: Applications will be reviewed as we receive them. Please submit your application no later than May 8, 2015.