Sustainability and Resilience Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About Us

AlexRenew is one of the most advanced wastewater utilities in the United States, serving over 300,000 customers in Alexandria, VA, and parts of Fairfax County. Each year, our facility processes and treats approximately 13 billion gallons of wastewater received from area homes, schools, and businesses to protect public health and the environment. If you are interested in working for a leader in the wastewater industry, we invite qualified candidates to apply for our Sustainability & Resilience Manager position.

What we do and how we do it is driven by our five Goals:

• Operational Excellence: Taking proactive steps to meet current and future challenges.
• Thriving Workforce: Investing in our staff and fostering a culture of belonging.
• Strategic Partnerships: Promoting watershed-level thinking.
• Environmental Sustainability: Being good stewards of our resources to minimize our impact.
• Commitment to the Community: Strengthening connections with the public and providing affordable service.

Summary:

AlexRenew’s board-approved Strategic Plan identifies sustainability as one of five critical objectives. The Sustainability and Resilience (S&R) Manager is responsible for leading AlexRenew’s sustainability agenda and integrating sustainability and resiliency practices across the organization in accordance with the Strategic Plan. The role will work cross-functionally with all AlexRenew departments to identify, develop, and implement sustainability and resiliency best practices into projects, programs, and policies. Applicants should have a strong technical understanding of sustainability strategy, environmental management, climate change risk and resiliency, energy efficiency practices, water reuse, and decarbonization/net zero programs.

The S&R Manager will be a positive communicator who is able to lead tasks without direct supervision and motivate others to adopt and champion sustainability and resiliency efforts.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement an organization-wide sustainability plan.
• Develop key sustainability metrics, create visual reports, and report on progress quarterly.
• Support cross-organizational sustainability efforts and manage cross-functional teams working on sustainability-related projects.
• Support AlexRenew projects through the development and incorporation of sustainability standards and specifications.
• Develop organizational standards related to the attainment of sustainability ratings through LEED, Envision, and others, when applicable.
• Manage environmental justice assessments, develop recommendations, and report on outcomes.
• In partnership with Engineering, develop scopes, procure contractors, and manage projects to improve AlexRenew’s sustainability posture. Examples include: solar panel upgrades, EV charging installations, power monitoring improvements.
• Manage AlexRenew’s climate resiliency study and incorporate outcomes into the organization’s programs and practices.
• Lead periodic resiliency assessments and communicate recommendations for improving resilience of infrastructure and operations.
• Serve as an organizational subject matter expert on sustainability and resilience initiatives – participate in associated advocacy organizations and conferences.
• Support communications and public engagement around sustainability and climate resilience by representing AlexRenew at events and providing simple to understand content for the organization’s various communications channels.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualification Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the education, experience, knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Key Competencies, Individual Contributor:

• Accountability
• Quality of Work
• Initiative
• Safety Awareness
• Teamwork

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited university or college in natural science, environmental science, environmental policy, sustainability, climate studies, or closely related field desired, advanced degree preferred.
• A minimum of five (5) years’ experience implementing sustainability and resilience programs in the public or private sector desired.
• Knowledge of wastewater treatment, climate resilience, stormwater and/or pollution prevention; waste reduction, decarbonization approaches, energy efficiency, and current federal, state, and local laws, codes and ordinances regarding sustainability.
• Experience working in cross-functional teams and across departments with an ability to build and maintain strong and positive relationships.
• Able to communicate effectively, and to synthesize and communicate findings appropriately.
• Experience with project and task management, including managing contracts, scopes, schedules, and budgets.
• Working knowledge of geographic information systems.
• Envision SP certification, or ability to attain certification within six (6) months of hire.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands describe here are representative of those that an employee may perform on an occasional to regular basis while performing functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform these functions. A detailed Physical Demands Analysis is available in Human Resources and a copy will be provided to all incumbents in this position. While performing the duties of this job, typical of office work, and include lifting up to 10 pounds, and minimal pushing or pulling.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee performs work indoors in a climate-controlled environment, with outdoor trips between buildings.

Disclaimer:

The above information on this job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.