Climate Change Ambassador Jobs in Rutherford, NJ

About Waterfront Alliance

Waterfront Alliance is a civic organization that brings together a diverse alliance of more than 1,100 partner organizations dedicated to creating thriving and resilient waterfronts, shorelines, and coastlines. Through community-led planning, policy advocacy, education, and collaborative action, Waterfront Alliance works to advance climate resilience,equitablewaterfront access, environmental justice, and vibrant working waterfronts throughout the New York-New Jersey region.

We believe the people most impacted by climate change should playa central rolein shaping solutions. Meaningful engagement and trusted community partnerships are essential to building resilient andequitablecommunities.

Waterfront Allianceseeksan experienced and entrepreneurialSenior Manager,Community Engagementto oversee and implement community engagement activities across the organization's growing portfolio of climate resilience, planning, education, and advocacy initiatives.

This is a senior programmatic role responsible for designing and leading community engagement strategies,facilitating workshops and public events, cultivating partnerships with community-based organizations, supporting coalition-building efforts, and ensuring community priorities are reflected in projects and policy recommendations.

The Senior Manager, Community Engagement will serve as one of Waterfront Alliance's primary ambassadors in the field. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable facilitating a neighborhood workshop, presenting before a community board, building relationships with local organizations, identifying emerging community needs, and translating community concerns into actionable programmatic and policy solutions.

The ideal candidate is a skilled relationship-builderandproject manager who can operate independently, manage multiple initiatives simultaneously, and take ownership of complex community-facing projects.The candidate will also have experience managing and directing staff to execute a strategy.

Reports To: Vice President, Programs and Strategy

Classification: Full-Time, Exempt

Salary and Benefits: $70,000–$80,000,commensuratewith experience.Waterfront Alliance offers a comprehensive benefits package, including employer paid medical, dental, and vision insurances; life insurance; 401K retirement plan with employer match; commuter and FSA benefits, paid time off, paid sabbatical after five years, professional development opportunities, and more.

Location: New York, NY (Hybrid). Waterfront Alliance has a hybrid work environment, currently requiring two days in the downtown Manhattan office.

Supervises: Climate Justice Fellow

Community Engagement Strategy and Implementation

• Lead engagement efforts for resilience planning, community development, climate adaptation, and waterfront-related initiatives throughout New York City, Long Island, and the broaderNY-NJ Harborregion.

• Design and implement engagement strategies that are inclusive, culturally responsive, andcommunity-driven.

• Organize andfacilitatepublic meetings, workshops, charrettes, focus groups, listening sessions, webinars, and other engagement activities.

• Represent Waterfront Alliance at community meetings, coalition gatherings, public forums, and stakeholder events.

• Develop engagement plans that help ensure community priorities are integrated into planning and implementation processes.

Climate Informed Communities Program Leadership

• Support implementation and growth of Waterfront Alliance's Climate Informed Communities initiatives, serving as a primary point of contact for community-based climate resilience, preparednessand engagement initiatives.

• Cultivate andmaintainrelationships with community-based organizations, neighborhood leaders, advocacy groups, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, public agencies, and other community stakeholders.

• Expand Waterfront Alliance's network of community partners, particularly in frontline and historically underserved communities.

• Design and coordinate community workshops, preparedness events, and educational programming, office hours, listening sessions,and other community engagement activities.

• Connect community organizations with resources, funding opportunities, technicalassistance, peer networks, and resilience-focused tools while supporting local capacity-building efforts.

• Develop strategies that help residents prepare for climate-related impacts including flooding,extremeheat, coastal storms, and other environmental hazards.

• Identifygaps in community resources, resilience services,and preparedness efforts and workcollaborativelywith colleagues and partners todevelop programmaticand advocacyresponses.

• Collect, document, and elevate community storiesand livedexperiences related toclimate impacts,water,flooding, and resilience to inform programming, communications,and policy priorities.

• Manage deliverables across multiple grants, contracts, and community resilience initiatives, ensuring activities are completed on schedule and aligned with projectobjectives.

• Track participation, engagement metrics, and program outcomes to evaluate effectiveness and support continuous improvement.

• Prepare reports, grant deliverables, presentations, and other materials for funders, partners, and stakeholders.

• Coordinate closely with internal staff, consultants, funders, community partners, and public agencies to support successful project implementation and long-term program growth.

Advocacy and Community Planning Support

• Work closely with the Director of Policy and Government Affairs to attend andmonitorcommunity board meetings, public hearings, and stakeholder engagement processes related to resilience, infrastructure, and waterfront projects.

• Present project concepts and resilience initiatives to community stakeholders and local decision-makers.

• Gather community input and synthesize findings into reports, recommendations, and advocacy priorities.

• Support community-centered planning initiatives by ensuring meaningful resident participation and engagement throughout project lifecycles.

Communications and Storytelling

• Work closely with theDirector of Communicationsto develop community-facing content, social media materials, newsletters, toolkits, and preparedness resources.

• Keep the team uptodate on important news from the community that is relevant to brand awareness, brand reputation, and making programmatic connections

• Contribute content and community perspectives for webinars, conferences, educational programs, and public events.

• Elevate community successes, local leadership, and lived experiences through storytelling and outreach effortsincludingdrafting email language, social media content, and writing or editing blog post content, creating flyers, andother communications materials.

• Support creative and culturally relevant engagement approaches, including arts-based and community-driven communications strategies.

• Minimum of5+yearsof experience in community engagement, stakeholder engagement, environmental justice, community development, planning, resilience, public outreach, ora relatedfield.

• Demonstrated experience designing andfacilitatingcommunity engagement processes.

• Strong public speaking, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.

• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.

• Experience managing, motivating, and leading a team.

• Strong written communication andreport-writingabilities.

• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across teams.

• Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends to support community meetings and events.

• Strong familiarity with New York City neighborhoods, community boards, and local stakeholder networks.

• Experience working on climate resilience, environmental justice, adaptation planning, waterfront planning, infrastructure, sustainability, or community development initiatives.

• Experience working with community-based organizations and public agencies.

• Grant-funded project management experience.

• Multilingualproficiency.

• Familiarity with environmental justice and community-led planning frameworks.

• Community-Centered Leadership

• Facilitation and Public Engagement

• Partnership Development

• Coalition Building

• Strategic Communication

• Program and Project Management

• Equity and Environmental Justice

• Independent Initiative and Problem Solving

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Waterfront Alliance encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, physical ability or any other legally protected basis.