About you

You’re committed to an equitable and environmentally thriving future, with the skills to project manage who understands how to balance working with humans and getting work done. You enjoy the process of figuring out how all the pieces fit together and how to move work forward while supporting others and being responsive to shifting needs. You see potential in improving how things are done to help house California’s in healthy and resilient communities, and are excited about helping make it happen. You’ve seen the housing challenges facing Californians, and you want to help create and enable housing that will support equitable, affordable, and regenerative communities that are accessible to all residents, while able to juggle the ambiguity of a startup culture. If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you!

About us

Build It Green (BIG) is a California-based nonprofit dedicated to transforming the California housing system in service of human communities and ecological vitality. We prioritize cross-sector collaboration to reimagine the way homes and neighborhoods are built, so we can advance equity, housing affordability, and ecological well-being. We are a human-centered organization that values the lived experiences and perspectives of our team. Learn more at www.builditgreen.org.

About the position

The Program Manager helps develop and launch new, original, and innovative projects and reformulate and coordinate existing programs to ensure that the work of BIG is up to the task of addressing California’s social equity and climate challenges as those challenges present through housing issues. The Program Manager is integral to the development and delivery of emerging BIG programs and projects. These programs and projects will be diverse in nature and require adaptability, flexibility and ingenuity to meet rapidly changing needs in the housing ecosystem and to respond to inputs from diverse stakeholders, partners and other collaborators.

What the work looks like

The Program Manager will work closely with other members of the Program team to develop and manage projects and programs, including ideation with Network members and other partners. Once programs and projects are developed, the Program Manager will, in collaboration with BIG colleagues and leadership, be responsible for maintaining and administering workstreams and logistics for multiple bodies of work, in good time, within budget, and in alignment with BIG’s strategic vision. Specific work may include (though isn’t limited to):

Manage 1-3 significant programs/ projects (and several small initiatives), working groups, and/or programs throughout the year–in partnership with members of the Innovators Network, partners and collaborators with direction from BIG leadership.
Facilitate and/ or support discussions with small and large groups— in-person or online—to support idea generation, work planning and/ or discussion.
Coordinate planning and input to prepare relevant materials and set-up for meetings, workshops and events both in-person and virtual.
Research, data management, and report writing on the wide variety of topic areas in support of BIG projects, including working with the communications team to develop materials and content to promote our work and the network stewardship team to support member efforts.
Support participants and collaborators to move towards inclusive and intersectional work that furthers the equity, affordability, and environmental housing aims of BIG outside of structured projects.
Ensure useful documentation of BIG program work and regularly evaluate work and methods for improvements to current systems.

Other occasional activities:

Support hiring, onboarding, and/or coaching Program Associate(s) or interns under the direction of BIG leadership.
Support internal development efforts such as through activities at a staff retreat or hosting an all-staff discussion on a specific project or topic.
Attend and be a positive representative of BIG at a variety of other organizations’ events, webinars, and conferences throughout the year as part of our commitment to continued learning and support of other’s work.

Requirements

We understand no single applicant will have all of these skills. If you feel you meet most of them and find this job exciting, we encourage you to please apply!

Adept with stakeholder/ partner engagement and communication, including uplifting their contributions and building connections between diverse groups/ individuals.
Proficiency with collaborative problem solving, critical thinking, and project management in dynamic settings with ambiguous or flexible goals.
An eagerness and demonstrated capacity to quickly learn new topics, tools, programs, etc.
A commitment to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout all our work.
Excellent initiative to give form to loosely defined work, interpersonal communication skills, and ability to follow through with limited oversight.
Ability to rapidly reprioritize and negotiate timelines in collaboration with others as context and needs change.
A combination of education and demonstrated success with project management, ideally in one of the following areas: environmental, building or sustainability sciences or design, urban planning, housing and environmental equity and justice including policy, or other relevant topics to our core work.
Ability to use and learn web-based document management, project management, video conferencing, direct messaging, and other remote work tools.

Optional but helpful qualifications:

College degree with focus or classwork in environmental or sustainability sciences or design, public policy, urban planning or development, building science, or similar OR equivalent years work experience in a related field and/ or working knowledge or experience in equitable development, green building principles and building decarbonization, community development processes and/ or regenerative design.
Experience with community development and engagement.
Working knowledge of/ familiarity with California climate goals, green building standards, energy efficiency, building science, HVAC, construction or related fields.
Experience with remote work tools used at BIG, including Google Workspace, Slack, Mural (digital whiteboard), Asana (project management), Salesforce NPSP (CRM), or similar programs.

Physical requirements

Employees must have the appropriate telecommute tools to conduct work at home or at an alternative work location. When working in the office, BIG supplies necessary tools. BIG also provides a Telecommute Expense Reimbursement stipend and a laptop with all necessary software.

Considerable time is spent using a computer laptop.
May be asked to move objects up to 15 pounds.
Ability to travel to various locations may be required such as attending conferences or training sessions within the Bay Area or in- or out-of-state locations. The role may travel of roughly 2-4 overnight trips per year.

Benefits

Our office is located in the heart of downtown Oakland at 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, close to BART and AC Transit lines. Employees based in the Bay Area currently work on a hybrid remote and in-office (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) schedule. The ideal candidate is based in the Bay Area, but we will also consider candidates based beyond the Bay Area.

The salary range for this position is $83,500 - $88,000.

We offer a competitive wage and benefits package that includes:

100% employer-paid medical, dental and vision insurance
403(b) retirement savings plan with a 5% employer match
Life and disability insurance
Health savings and flexible spending accounts
Work/life balance
Flexible schedule
15 paid holidays
Week off between Christmas and New Year’s
Paid time off begins with two weeks per year for 0-2 years of service, three weeks for 2-5 years of service, and four weeks after 5 years of service

To Apply

Please submit a resume and cover letter sharing relevant experience and interest to the Hiring Committee by clicking apply on the listing page.

Build It Green is committed to centering equity and inclusion in our programs and across all aspects of our organization to make it a fair, safe, and inclusive workplace. We believe that diversity is necessary to meet our mission. Recruiting and supporting staff to create an inclusive and equitable organization that reflects the communities and places we serve is a priority. People of color, LGBTQIA+ people, women, and members of other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Since our founding, Build It Green has operated within systems where discrimination and racism are institutionalized, leading to uneven distribution of benefits and burdens based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, physical and cognitive abilities, and other factors. We recognize we must take conscious action to ensure principles of justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity are central to both our organization and our approach to regenerative neighborhood development. Read more here.

Build It Green is an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Build It Green considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to age, sex, ethnicity, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military/veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

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Program Manager