Officer, Preventing Ocean Plastics

at  Pew Charitable Trusts

POSITION OVERVIEW

The officer, preventing ocean plastics, will serve as a subject matter expert, focused on ensuring the policy positions advanced by the plastics team are based on the best available information. This position will focus on bridging the technical analyses conducted by the team with policy development and collaborate with team members across all six workstreams, which span modeling and scenario analyses to metrics development to policy advocacy. This position will also advise on the best approaches for multilateral policies and assist in developing and implementing strategies to deliver those policies.
Reporting to the project director, preventing ocean plastics, this position is based in Washington, DC (or London) and will participate in Pew’s core in-office days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will have flexibility to work from home the remainder of each week.
Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country for which they are seeking employment without visa sponsorship.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
• Generally eight years of applicable experience in the conservation arena, with a particular focus on or familiarity with ocean and international policy, marine science, or plastics. Specific knowledge or experience in approaches to tackling plastic pollution, corporate disclosure and data and modeling analyses preferred.
• Prior to commencing employment with Pew, candidates for this position who were registered to lobby in any jurisdiction must certify termination of previous registration(s) and provide copies of termination notices with said jurisdiction(s) to Pew.
• Demonstrated business judgment and discretion in handling complex and sensitive matters.
• Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills. Develops and maintains productive relationships with colleagues and partners from diverse backgrounds who may have disparate or conflicting goals or approaches. Excellent listening skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills. Experience synthesizing materials and focusing quickly on the essence of an issue and the means to address it. Confident in presenting Pew’s views and one’s own ideas and diplomatically persuading others as appropriate.
• Experience with delivering policy recommendations and/or scientific findings to policy makers and the public.
• Develops and moves projects forward with a high degree of independence and autonomy and achieves results in a complex working environment in which influence is often exerted indirectly rather than through traditional chain of command hierarchies.
• Strong problem-solving skills. Must be flexible, creative and consistent. A strong commitment to producing measurable results.
• Demonstrates a strong collaborative spirit.

• Foster a work environment that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible and in line with Pew and the project’s related goals.
• Collaborate closely with team members across the technical and policy workstreams to ensure research conducted by the team, as well as the best available information, supports and informs the policy positions advanced by the team.
• Actively identify the science needs of the policy teams and provide advice and guidance to link the activities of the policy and technical teams.
• Master the technical analyses under the scenario modeling workstream and collaborate with project partners in conducting the analyses and support their development of policy recommendations.
• Represent Pew in the technical working group hosted by our partners under the Scaling Plastics Disclosure project’s corporate disclosure and reporting platform and provide feedback in the development and implementation of the plastics metrics.
• Build partnerships with other organizations in the public and private sectors and cultivate and maintain productive working relationships with key government officials and nongovernmental partners.
• Research, write, and edit campaign materials, such as reports, policy briefs, fact sheets, presentations, letters, and web content.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and represent Pew publicly at conferences, events, and meetings and with the media to cultivate and engage key constituencies about the need for a corporate disclosure and reporting system for plastics.
• Develop contracts and budgets and manage and conduct oversight of contractors and consultants contributing to project objectives.
• Maintain a broad knowledge and keep abreast of developments and publications on the relevant policies, science and solution options to tackle plastic pollution.
• Contribute to and participate in tasks of the project and department as assigned, as well as activities that support program and Pew-wide objectives as needed.