USDN Resilience Manager

Resilience Manager

About USDN

The Urban Sustainability Directors Network’s (USDN) mission is to create equitable, resilient and sustainable communities by supporting local government sustainability practitioners as they pursue transformative change. We do this by building the capacity of local government sustainability practitioners to take action, scale innovative practices and solutions, influence systemic change, and harness data and insights to advance and influence the field.

The heart of USDN’s work is a network of local government sustainability professionals from over 250 cities and counties across the United States and Canada dedicated to creating a healthy environment, advancing racial equity, and building thriving and resilient communities. USDN brings local government sustainability practitioners together to learn, innovate, collaborate, and accelerate the work of local sustainability.

USDN is powered by a distributed team of 20 people that work together across the United States, and a robust network of trusted partners and collaborators.

USDN believes that a diverse, inclusive, and equity-centered climate movement is essential to achieving our mission. For meaningful, long-term change local governments must work from the ground up through a collaborative approach with the communities they serve.

Position Overview

As a member of the Direct Support and Innovation team, the Resilience Manager will support members in development and implementation of equity-centered climate resilience initiatives. This includes direct management and support of USDN’s Resilience Hubs community of practice. This position requires the ability to effectively manage and support several innovative projects that assist local government practitioners in transformational practice to generate impactful outcomes in the movement toward a just, resilient, and sustainable world. This position reports to USDN’s Direct Support and Innovation Director.

The Direct Support and Innovation (DSI) Team develops, designs and supports innovative processes and projects with USDN members and partners. The DSI team then supports members in testing these new concepts and approaches and adjusting approaches to support the network and network partners. The team creates and provides opportunities for members to push beyond the norm and to ideate and apply innovative approaches that create more just, sustainable and climate prepared communities. As a member of the DSI Team, the Resilience Manager will support existing resilience-focused programs and collaborate with members, partners and staff to develop and design innovative resilience approaches and projects. The Resilience Manager will support program conceptualization, design, training, coaching and guidance in several areas:

1. Resilience Hubs: USDN’s Resilience Hub Program is the foundation for Resilience Hubs around North America and beyond. Along with content and guidance, there is an established community of practice as well as a range of implementation partners involved in peer learning, direct support and project implementation.
2. Equity-Centered Resilience Initiatives: Ensure all climate resilience work is grounded in racial equity and that equity is embedded holistically in all elements of resilience work.
3. Transformational Resilience Practices: Deep and impactful transformation of local government structures, policies, metrics and practice. This includes centering racial equity and shifting of power in resilience planning and project work; integrating whole human approaches and design; development of metrics for success; and exploring new ideas with partners.
4. Innovation: Experiment with and evaluate new and innovative approaches to equity-centered climate resilience initiatives, policies and projects and support members in taking action.

Examples of recent USDN Resilience-focused Direct Support and Innovation include:

• The USDN Resilience Hub White Paper
• USDN Resilience Hub Guidance Document
• USDN Resilience Hub website
• USDN New and Improved Hazard Mitigation Plan guidance
• USDN Game of Floods, Game of Heat and Game of Extremes Training Series

Under the management of the Direct Support and Innovation Director, the Resilience Manager plays a lead role in:

• Support of the USDN Resilience Hub initiative and community of practice
• Improve equity-centered resilience process and project co-design and implementation
• Coaching, cohort support, and partner coordination for resilience-based work
• Fundraising and regranting for implementation of resilience-based work
• Center equity in resilience and connectivity with other resilience initiatives

Responsibilities

Team

• Foster engagement, camaraderie, collaboration, and clarity within a remote environment.
• Co-develop a clear work plan that aligns with an integrated team plan.
• Participate as an effective team member.

Supporting Projects and Programs

• Manage and support the USDN Resilience Hub community of practice and Resilience Hub initiative
• Manage USDN Resilience project portfolio and support resilience programming
• Manage and update usdn.org resilience pages and Resilience Hub website
• Create and maintain internal project tracking systems
• Design, support and facilitate workshops and events

Communications and Relationship Building

• Support cross-team and cross-staff collaboration within USDN.
• Share learnings and ideas within the DSI team and with other internal teams and seek to learn from their experiences and perspectives.
• Establish positive working relationships and cooperative arrangements with key programmatic partner organizations.
• Recruit and support Resilience Hub planning and implementation partners that commit to the holistic concept and work to shift power to community-based partners
• Contribute to materials that USDN may develop to broadly share to influence the field of practice.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Focus

• Cultivate and maintain professional competency in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). EDI is a central goal, fundamental value, and required competency for the practice of sustainability and climate change. USDN staff cultivate EDI skills and competencies through personal practice and training.
• Emphasize USDN’s adopted EDI principles in the design and delivery of support and throughout the performance of job responsibilities. The position will advance EDI principles as a characteristic of responsible governance, where all levels of government have a fiscal and moral responsibility to address the long-term implications that inequity has on prosperity, health, and safety of residents.
• Identify and respond to EDI challenges that members are experiencing.
• Commitment to social justice and anti-racist prinicples.

Qualifications

While no single candidate may embody all the qualifications below, an ideal candidate would possess many of the below experiences and skill sets.

Required Experience:

• Experience managing and supporting initiatives with multiple stakeholders and partners
• Experience effectively tracking large projects and connecting to other initiatives
• Experience developing, delivering and evaluating climate resilience programs and a desire to shift away from traditional approaches to more innovative solutions
• Experience with centering equity in climate resilience practices and policies
• Experience working with or within local government
• Experience designing, convening and supporting productive workshops and trainings, and/or experiencing coaching.
• Experience working with other professional organizations and state and federal government agencies that work on climate resilience

Desired Knowledge and Skills:

• Ability to manage multiple complex programs and projects and multiple deadlines simultaneously.
• Ability to work independently and with team members in a collaborative and dynamic environment.
• Ability to design and facilitate productive workshops, brainstorming sessions, and trainings (virtually and in-person).
• Ability to work in uncertainty and ambiguity while assisting in sense-making.
• Strong relationship-development and facilitation skills.
• Design skills in adobe programs and basic website design
• Ability to think outside of the box and seek new equitable methods for supporting local government sustainability practices and policies.
• Ability to develop relationships and work across a diverse array of teammates, partners, and communities.
• Ability to work productively in an unstructured environment.
• Proficient in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Suite, Zoom and Slack.
• Ability to generate and implement support structures that take into account members’ diverse perspectives and changing conditions.
• Active listening, verbal and written communications.

Position Details

• Full-time position for 12 months, with possibility of extension
• Reports to USDN Direct Support and Innovation Director
• Compensation: Expected range $85,000-$95,000 annually, commensurate with qualifications. Robust benefits package, including health, dental, disability and life insurance, flexible leave policy, coaching and 401(k) program.
• Location: This is a fully remote, work-from-home position. USDN has no central office but staff collaborate extensively via video call meetings. Candidates must furnish their own quiet office space for conference calls. USDN provides a computer, smartphone, and IT stipend to cover internet and phone, software, and other home office supplies.
• Work hours: 9am-5pm Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific Standard Times (flexible); 40 hours/week

The Urban Sustainability Directors Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to equal treatment of all employees without regard to race, national origin, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, physical or mental disability or other basis protected by law.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.