Executive Director

About the Open Environmental Data Project

The Open Environmental Data Project (OEDP) envisions a future where data is transparent and usable, supporting stronger systems of participatory environmental governance. To accomplish this, OEDP develops ecosystems for people to share and contribute scientific, environmental, and contextual information within their communities and between communities, as well as to increase curated and usable information shared between communities, researchers, lawmakers, and enablers. To learn more about our work, please visit openenvironmentaldata.org.

About this Position

OEDP seeks an ambitious, experienced, and enthusiastic Executive Director to lead OEDP into its next chapter. The Executive Director will be responsible for driving vision, scaling ambition, and managing a young and growing organization. The Executive Director will be responsible for ensuring benchmarked growth, cultivating a healthy and thriving work environment for team members, and building new partnerships and strategies to meet our mission.

The ideal person for this position understands that environmental data problems are multifaceted and often don’t require new technical approaches or products, but rather socialization of ideas and clear opportunities to transform workflows. We don’t believe the wheel needs to be reinvented, but rather, it needs to operate better.

The Executive Director will be interested in interrogating environmental data and governance infrastructure and systems from multiple perspectives and will see opportunities for building support for this work through building and enhancing new and existing partnerships. The Executive Director will additionally lead a programmatic team focused on identifying 1) where existing datasets need to be translated into more usable formats, 2) the processes, decision-making principles, and political tools that can support data’s application in environmental justice and governance, and 3) opportunities for environmental and data governance systems redesign.

This position will report to the OEDP Board of Directors. OEDP is in its 4th year, so we are looking for someone who is excited about the opportunity to work in an emerging environment, and to think creatively and strategically about the goals of our work.

The Executive Director is responsible for: 

• Developing partnerships on behalf of OEDP: Maintain and build connections to other burgeoning efforts and communities around topics such as data governance and environmental policy.
• Driving organization/business development: Identify key and strategic opportunities for OEDP as a young organization to grow and sustain its budget by developing donor relationships and fundraising.
• Conducting organization planning: Lead strategic development, programmatic integration, oversight, and planning toward broader organizational goals.
• Leading and managing team members to provide programmatic direction across all OEDP program areas.
• Scoping new staff positions and periodically reviewing current staff positions to ensure continued alignment with organization needs.
• Overseeing, managing, and growing a budget of ~$700,000-800,000/year
• Conducting accounting and financial oversight.
• Working with the Board to approve the strategic vision for the OEDP nonprofit.
• Managing staff and conducting oversight of hiring, leadership, and professional development.
• Maintaining, adhering to, and cultivating a culture that promotes OEDP values, the Code of Conduct, and policies and procedures of the nonprofit.

Desired Qualities and Abilities:

• At least 8-10+ years of experience managing programs, organizations, and staff.
• A background in open science, environmental science, policy, and/or justice, data science – especially in US Climate planning, social science, and/or another relevant field.
• Demonstrated ability to plan for growth and sustainability of an organization, and aptitude to pinpoint areas of development for organization and staff.
• Demonstrated experience in stewarding funder relationships and applying for grants to reach budgets between $700,000-$2mm/annual.
• Detail-oriented and organized, with strong management and operational skills.
• Excellent self-organizational and administrative skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills that demonstrate your ability to understand the interests and capacities of different data seekers and users. You should be able to write concise, clear, and engaging descriptions of technical topics in ways accessible to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Self-motivated with previous experience working as part of small and/or remote teams.
• Ability to work collaboratively, both in-person and with remote co-workers, to envision and promote positive change, and to be supportive of others.
• Ability to facilitate activities amongst a highly diverse community of people from many different fields and experience sets, relying on highly tuned senses of diplomacy and empathy.
• Proficiency in environmental data – ability to learn, disseminate and teach about technology and data in the context of community development.
• A commitment to open practices and tools, and an ability to engage in discussion and critique of openness.
• A commitment towards seeing and valuing a diversity of datasets, types, and experiences in environmental governance and decision-making.
• The ability to inspire others, internally and externally, toward the big picture guiding your efforts. For you, working with environmental data is collaborative and centers on building a community around data projects.
• Ability to identify and solve problems as a team member, and to independently make decisions and involve others in the decision-making process where appropriate.
• Ability to create a work environment that fosters shared goals and objectives, and to be part of a cohesive online and offline community.
• Ability to persevere – and motivate a team to persevere – when adverse conditions arise.
• Demonstrated interest in environmental justice, climate justice, and/or equitable environmental governance.

If you don’t believe you meet all qualifications as described, we still encourage you to apply. The best candidate for the position will possess a combination of skills and experience and show clear aptitude for obtaining those they may not yet have.

Benefits: In addition to an annual salary of $110,000-$120,000 (based on experience), benefits include employer contribution to market health insurance, a Work From Home (WFH) stipend, and generous and flexible paid time off (including a four-day work week, 2-4 all team holiday weeks off, and flex time off).

How we work: OEDP is a fully distributed organization and this position is part of our remote-working environment. You must be able to work in the United States and normally be available during U.S. business hours. You should have access to high-speed Internet given the nature of our work. OEDP uses video calls, Slack, and other remote team management tools to facilitate our work. Some in-person meetings and travel will be necessary.

Diversity: Open Environmental Data Project is committed to a diverse, inclusive, and multicultural work environment. We encourage BIPOC, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and people from environmental justice communities to apply. If you need reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please email Megan Zimroth at Megan@openenvironmentaldata.org.