Job description
Full TIME
Location: Remote (U.S.-based), with a preference for Washington, DC. Regular virtual meetings and occasional travel are required.
OVERVIEW
The climate emergency is the defining challenge of our time, demanding an urgent and transformative response. The window for small, incremental action has closed; the moment for bold, emergency-level action is now.
Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE) operates at the intersection of clean energy advocacy, strategic media, and civic participation to accelerate global decarbonization. Through cutting-edge media strategies, ACE combats climate disinformation, flattens the curve of clean energy opposition, increases diverse participation in our democracy, and inspires meaningful action. Our programs engage tens of millions of people annually, mobilizing audiences that traditional climate efforts often overlook.
ACE’s dynamic and diverse team thrives in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment, united by a shared commitment to addressing the climate crisis. As we expand to meet this critical moment, we seek talented individuals eager to make an impact.
JOB SUMMARY
The National Field Director will serve as the strategic architect of ACE’s field operations nationwide. This role requires a seasoned organizing strategist with extensive campaign experience, keen political acumen, and the ability to build and lead a high-performing team across multiple states.
The ideal candidate will have extensive experience designing and implementing integrated field programs that span issue-based and electoral campaigns, while also building a durable volunteer infrastructure. They will be responsible for developing and executing ambitious state strategies, coaching and managing field staff, and ensuring every component of ACE’s organizing work is high-impact, metrics-driven, and aligned with organizational priorities.
This is a director role requiring exceptional judgment, leadership presence, operational rigor, and a demonstrated commitment to recruiting, training, and empowering a core demographic of youth (18-34) in climate and renewable energy advocacy.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
National Field Strategy & Organizational Leadership
- Lead the development and execution of a national field strategy that delivers electoral wins, advances clean energy policies, and strengthens youth-led climate organizing.
- Design scalable organizing frameworks and models that reflect both local context and national alignment.
- Provide strategic vision to align field programs with ACE’s long-term organizational goals and campaign priorities.
- Represent field strategy at the executive level, collaborating with colleagues across departments to shape institutional direction.
- Monitor field trends, state dynamics, and national opportunities to refine and evolve the organizing strategy in real-time.
State Campaign Oversight
- Supervise State Directors, Regional Field Managers, Field Organizers and Digital Organizers to implement campaign strategies across high-priority states.
- Develop campaign plans aligned with key electoral cycles, general issue advocacy as well as policy and accountability opportunities.
- Ensure consistency and quality in field execution across states through shared systems and expectations.
- Guide targeting, messaging, and resource allocation based on political intelligence and campaign data.
- Build cross-state synergy to maximize impact and elevate ACE’s national field footprint.
Team Development & Performance
- Build and manage a high-performing national field team with clear structures, goals, and accountability systems.
- Ensure state and regional field leaders are executing strategic plans effectively and consistently across all geographies.
- Develop and enforce rigorous performance standards, with regular tracking, coaching, and corrective action when needed.
- Foster a results-driven team culture focused on strategic discipline, innovation, and operational excellence.
- Oversee staff development, retention, and internal promotion pathways to ensure organizational sustainability and growth. Lead equitable management practices that prioritize inclusion and diversity.
Grassroots Power-Building
- Oversee state field teams to ensure grassroots efforts are coordinated, targeted, and aligned with strategic objectives.
- Ensure field staff are building and executing outreach plans that are data-informed and impact-oriented.
- Hold teams accountable for volunteer recruitment, voter contact, and leadership development metrics.
- Guide the integration of grassroots efforts with broader campaign goals, ensuring field work supports legislative and electoral outcomes.
- Drive a culture of strategic discipline and performance within field teams to maximize grassroots effectiveness. Establish organizing structures that allow young leaders to move up the ladder of engagement.
Data, Reporting & Analytics
- Oversee field data infrastructure, ensuring effective use of tools such as VAN, Mobilize, and other organizing CRMs.
- Establish systems for tracking and reporting on key metrics, including volunteer recruitment, voter contact, and leadership development.
- Train field staff in data-informed organizing practices, including building and understanding universes, turf cutting, and report generation.
- Collaborate with the data team to design evaluation frameworks that inform strategy and optimize performance.
- Ensure timely and accurate reporting across teams, fostering a culture of data accountability and insight-driven decision-making.
Program Management & Team Oversight
- Collaborate closely with digital, communications, data, and policy teams to align organizing strategy with media, messaging, and analytics.
- Lead cross-functional meetings and processes to ensure campaign coherence across all programmatic channels.
- Integrate relational organizing and storytelling into field strategy with support from comms and digital teams.
- Coordinate real-time field responses to national and state political developments with internal stakeholders.
- Translate on-the-ground insights into feedback loops that inform broader campaign planning and narrative strategy.
- Other duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate will be an experienced and dynamic organizer with a deep understanding of grassroots movement building, climate policy advocacy, electoral strategy, and legislative sessions.
- 8+ years of experience in grassroots organizing, field management, and electoral campaigns, with a proven track record of scaling large volunteer programs.
- Extensive experience designing and executing organizing programs focused on electoral engagement and renewable energy policy advocacy.
- Strong understanding of national and state elections, legislative processes, and political power mapping to influence clean energy policy.
- Demonstrated success in managing diverse field teams and ensuring the execution of complex multi-state campaigns.
- High-level strategic thinker with experience developing winning campaigns to pass or block legislation at the local, state, and federal levels.
- Deep understanding of digital and in-person organizing strategies, including voter outreach, town halls, public testimony, and issue-based advocacy.
- Strong project management skills, with the ability to oversee multiple workstreams, set priorities, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Attention to detail and ability to analyze and optimize organizing strategies using data and performance metrics.
- Expertise in relational organizing, volunteer recruitment, and leadership development using Ladder of Engagement and Snowflake Model frameworks.
- Deep knowledge of clean energy policy, permitting issues, and climate justice advocacy.
- Exceptional ability to build coalitions and partnerships, particularly with environmental justice, youth, labor, and frontline community groups.
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders across a broad spectrum of backgrounds.
- Adaptive and creative problem solver, capable of pivoting strategies to meet emerging challenges.
POSITION DETAILS
- Annual salary range: $110,000 - 130,000, commensurate with experience
- Generous benefits include: Medical, Dental, Vision, 403b retirement savings plan, Vacation, Sabbatical, Paid Parental Leave, 2 Floating Holidays, 2 Community Service Floating Holidays, sick time, two weeks of full-staff time off (July 4 week and Christmas-New Years week) and 13 observed holidays
- ACE is an equal-opportunity employer that highly values staff diversity
- Location: Remote (US only; preference for Washington, D.C.)
If you meet the majority of the above qualifications, please apply. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship.
This description reflects ACE’s assignment of essential functions; it does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned. ACE retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position at any time. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship.
ACE is an equal-opportunity employer that highly values diversity, equity, and inclusion and views the climate crisis as a social justice crisis. People who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), people who experience gender oppression, people with disabilities, and people who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community are particularly encouraged to apply.
