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Program Manager, Ocean & Climate
The Aspen Institute
Operations
Washington, DC, USA
USD 90k-100k / year
Posted on Apr 24, 2025
ABOUT USÂ
The Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.Â
Commitment to Diversity, Equity & InclusionÂ
To achieve our mission of a more free, just, and equitable society, we commit to working proactively to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our myriad endeavors such as the recruitment, compensation, training, and advancement of staff. The best people-serving institutions make this commitment, and we seek to be a leader in the ways that we do so and learn from others. Visit our website to learn more about our commitment and recent actions taken toward building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment.
Energy and Environment Program
The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program (EEP) explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. In addition to energy and environmental policy, which the program has been addressing for several decades, EEP is now actively and purposefully engaging in climate change policy – mitigating the effects of climate change, adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, and the international cooperation needed to achieve these goals.
ZEMBAÂ
The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) is a first-of-its-kind buyers group within the maritime sector with the mission to accelerate commercial deployment of the most scalable clean energy shipping solutions, enable economies of scale for freight buyers and suppliers, and maximize positive impact beyond what any one freight buyer could accomplish alone.
ZEMBA’s mission is to:
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Accelerate the deployment of ZE shipping solutions and create access to high integrity environmental attributes (emissions reduction).
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Enable economies of scale for freight buyers and suppliers, especially for fuels and technology with potential to scale and decrease in cost over time.
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Maximize emissions reduction beyond what any one freight buyer could accomplish alone.
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Facilitate credible, transparent, traceable in-sector investments in maritime decarbonization solutions that freight buyers can claim toward their Scope 3 targets.
ZEMBA has successfully launched two tenders to date, and is looking to design future RFPs, building off continued success and driving the market forward for new scalable solutions.Â
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ABOUT THIS ROLEÂ
The Program Manager is a key member of the Ocean & Climate team dedicated to and responsible for managing activities related to the ZEMBA project and other projects within the Ocean & Climate team. The Program Manager works with the Sr. Director and other senior leaders of the team on formulating and developing substantive programs in alignment with EEP’s strategy and goals, managing project details, communicating and conducting outreach, and identifying, developing, and securing funders. As this is a leadership position, it is expected that the Program Manager will complete all tasks assigned in a timely manner while maintaining deadlines. The Program Manager may also be charged with overseeing other staff and interns, as assigned.
This position reports to the Senior Manager, Ocean and Climate. The salary range for this position is $90,000-$100,000. This role is a limited-term position for 6 months, with the potential to extend. In accordance with our Reimagining Work policy, the Program Manager should be willing to be in-person with colleagues a minimum of 40% of the time while having the flexibility to work remotely for the balance. In-person consists of meaningful connections with colleagues in an office, traveling to a different office or location to meet fellow staff members, at an Aspen event, at a meeting outside the office or other opportunities to meet in person with teammates and colleagues. Â
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WHAT YOU WILL DOÂ
Program management (50%)
- Manage development and implementation of the request for proposal 3 (RFP-3) and accountability for delivering on key milestones;
- Identify, recommend, and implement process improvements to existing infrastructure to inform RFP-3;
- Provide technical analysis, strategic input, and design structure of the RFP-3;
- Coordinate amongst technical advisors and legal counsel to manage shared workload and drive toward project milestones;
- Collaborate with ZEMBA program leads and staff in the development and execution of ZEMBA’s strategy, including timeline, milestones, and design and implementation of RFP-3;Â
- Manage refinement of critical materials and resources required to operationalize ZEMBA’s RFP-3 and inform future RFPs.Â
- Support ZEMBA RFP-2 and policy engagement as needed and draw connections between RFP-3 learnings and other workstreamsÂ
Corporate and Partner Engagement (50%)
- Coordinate and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders in a robust multistakeholder and cross-disciplinary design process;
- Organize agendas and materials at external events in collaboration with partners (workshop-style side events);Â
- Coordinate research and informational findings with the broader maritime community to inform RFP-3
- Design and run a request for information (RFI) as needed;
- Maintain database of company contacts, profiles, key interactions and documents, and other pertinent information;
- Provide technical analysis and input to support the development of future ZEMBA tenders.Â
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WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO THRIVEÂ
- Bachelor’s degree in policy, climate, clean energy, environmental science, business, or related field;Â
- Minimum 5+ years of project management and collaborative partnership management experience with multiple and diverse stakeholders required;Â
- Previous facilitation experience with workshops, webinars, and meetings is a plus;
- Strong knowledge and/or experience with clean energy, transportation fuels, policy landscape, and general experience with maritime;
- Leads with curiosity and a creative problem solver (and loves it), thinks outside of the box, can pose bold questions but is grounded in practical realities of business and policy constraints;
- Experience with advanced market commitments and/or forward sourcing for new/innovative products is desirable;
- Ability and desire to rapidly learn a wide variety of new subject matter;Â Â
- Ability to successfully manage many tasks simultaneously, master workflow details, and self-prioritize;Â
- A positive “Yes, and...” attitude and ability to work well independently and collaboratively as part of a team;
- Experience and proficiency in productivity tools, project management software, and video conferencing platforms, i.e Microsoft Office Suite, Zoom, Google Workspace;
- Excellent verbal, writing, and editing skills;
- Excellent professional and diplomatic interpersonal skills and demonstrable ability to discern political, economic and cultural beliefs and ideologies related to policy questions and subject matter, including participant and institutional biases; andÂ
- Willingness and ability to travel, as much as 20% of the time, during certain times of the year.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave.
The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.
If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation regarding the accessibility of our website, a modification or adjustment of the job application or interview process due to a disability, contact HRSupport@aspeninstitute.org or call (202) 736-5800.