ART Registry Officer

Job Description

Job Description

POSITION DETAILS

Position Description: Implementing next generation carbon credit registries

Position Title: ART Registry Officer

Location: U.S. remote or hybrid setting with offices in Arlington, VA and Little Rock, AR

Department: Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) - ART

Reports To: ART Managing Director (Senior Director, ART Operations)

GENERAL

The Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) is a wholly owned nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International and was founded in 1996 to offer trusted solutions to environmental markets to catalyze transformational climate impacts. ERT ensures the integrity of environmental assets, including carbon credits, by developing science-based, peer reviewed accounting standards, overseeing independent third-party verification of emission reductions and carbon removals and providing transparency throughout the process including the issuance, transactions, and retirement of serialized offset credits on public registry systems. ERT operates three carbon crediting programs:

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. ACR was the first private greenhouse gas registry in the world and brings three decades of unparalleled experience and innovation to is operation as an independent carbon credit standards body and registry. ACR is also an approved Offset Project Registry for the California and Washington State Cap-and-Invest Programs (administered by the California Air Resources Board, or CARB and the Washington State Department of Ecology, or Ecology, respectively).

The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) was established in 2018 as the first market-based initiative to incentivize the protection and restoration of tropical forests at scale, also known as jurisdictional REDD+. ART is the leading global carbon market initiative for jurisdictional REDD+, ensuring the social and environmental integrity of climate results from protecting and restoring forests at scale. ART's growing pipeline of participating jurisdictions currently includes over two dozen governments on five continents covering over 1 billion acres – 25% of the world's tropical forests.

ERT is also developing the Standard for the Transformation of the Electric Power Sector (STEPS), a first of a kind sectoral carbon crediting standard to incentivize steeper and more rapid electric sector decarbonization.

ACR and ART are approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to supply emission reduction and removals credits to airlines for use towards their obligations under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) pilot phase (complete), phase 1 (2024-2026) and phase 2 (2027-2029). The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has assessed ACR and ART against the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and approved both as a CCP-Eligible programs. Both also have an MoU with Singapore to supply credits for use towards national carbon tax obligations and are positioned for roles in new compliance offset markets and under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, as well as increased prominence in the global voluntary carbon market.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Registry Officer will join the ART Team soon after the launch of the ART Registry on a re-envisioned registry platform with a new registry technology service provider, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). At this juncture the team is developing support resources and supporting staff and partners in their use of our Registry as well as working with ICE to enhance functionality and features as part of a phased deployment to deliver a quantum leap forward in infrastructure to enable the scaling and integration of global carbon markets.

This is an operations and client services role contributing to all aspects of registry services management. The position will engage daily with ART's critical registry platform infrastructure and will support the ART team and ART Registry account holders in their use of the system infrastructure and functionality developments. This includes, but is not limited to, carbon credit issuance process, onboarding of new registry participants, and maintaining accurate registry data and billing services.

The Registry Officer or Registry Manager will develop a strong functional understanding of relevant aspects of CORSIA and ICVCM requirements to ensure that programs move through the registry process efficiently, while upholding our program policies, technical rigor, quality and transparency. They will contribute to the maintenance and development of operational processes ensuring the integrity of the carbon credits issued and transacted.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assess new Registry account applications, including conducting know your customer (KYC) processes and providing onboarding assistance.
• Assess applications for and assign additional users for Registry accounts.
• Support invoicing and communications with Registry account holders.
• Support staff and stakeholder use of the ART Registry, answering questions on use and identifying any challenges.
• Review documents submitted to the ART Registry for accuracy and completeness prior to posting.
• Coordinate and work with ACR Registry Operations team to ensure communication and efficiencies across ERT.
• Represent the organization and constructively engage with partners to directly support ART's success in all markets, including answering account holder, stakeholder, and market participant questions.
• Track relevant program developments, including publication of new methodologies and approval of new Validation/Verification Bodies to ensure the Registry's functionality is in alignment.
• Think creatively and practically about opportunities to improve Registry service and standard operating procedures.
• Contribute to the development of analyses, reports, presentations, and outreach materials to support program operations and strategic business development opportunities for the Registry to connect to emerging carbon markets and platforms.
• Learn, test, troubleshoot, and teach the functionality of the registry system.
• Support in engagement with the Registry service providers on behalf of ART. Participate in regularly scheduled meetings to track development needs and outcomes. Communicate as needed with the registry service providers to address any issues or questions that arise.
• Contribute to the ongoing management of registry datasets.
• Complete other tasks as assigned.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Bachelor's degree required. Degrees in Business Administration, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Information Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Environmental Sciences/Policy, GHG Accounting, or related field preferred.

Experience: Minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience is required for a Technical Officer. Minimum of 6 years of relevant work experience is required for a Technical Manager. Additional years of experience and experience in environmental markets are preferred. Relevant experience includes environmental markets, customer support, database management, and systems organization.

Computer/Technical Skills: Proficiency in the full MS Office suite is required. Experience developing software requirement specifications and conducting user acceptance testing is preferred. Experience with data analytics platforms such as Tableau is a plus.

Communication Skills: Strong speaking and written English communication skills are required. Presentation skills are an asset. Fluency in one or more additional languages is an asset.

Position-Specific Skills:

• Strong organizational, analytical, and systems thinking skills and a willingness to learn on the job.
• Demonstrated project management ability, including effectively managing workflow for multiple tasks and partners, tracking and meeting deadlines, and reporting progress.
• Detail oriented with the ability to meticulously review and provide substantive feedback on datasets and documents.
• Demonstration of high level of client service, including thorough and timely responses to partner inquiries.
• Impeccable integrity and trustworthiness, and a diplomatic approach to problem solving.
• Ability to work well in teams and independently and consistently interact with others in a professional, courteous, and tactful manner, maintain a positive attitude, and work effectively in a team setting.

OTHER

Commitment to mission and interest in market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions required. Candidate must be comfortable working in a flexible, high-paced environment.

Must have work authorization in the United States. Sponsorship for this role is not available. 

Must be available to travel domestically 1-3 times per year for short-term assignments.

Typical office environment with continual sitting or standing required.

The pay range for this role is $65,000 - $90,000 per year and determined based on the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's experience, specialized knowledge and skills, internal equity, and current market conditions. Winrock offers an excellent benefits package.

Winrock is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by law.

At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation.