About You in the Position

Are you a thought leader interested in using innovation and creativity to address air pollution and health inequities in the most impacted and overburdened communities in the Bay Area? Are you motivated to lead and direct high performing and motivated teams working on the development and implementation of plans, projects, and policies? Are you energized by collaboration, enthusiastic about interdisciplinary work, and committed to working to build and maintain a culture of shared trust and respect?

If yes, the Planning and Climate Protection Division is looking for you! The Manager will join a high performing team of professional planners, scientists and engineers working on interdisciplinary efforts to address air quality, climate, health inequities and environmental injustice. They will lead one of the Division's four program areas (see below), provide strategic leadership to ensure program alignment with the Air District Strategic Plan, will be accountable for effectively managing all projects within the program area, and will work closely with other Division managers in a matrixed management team-oriented work environment.

To be successful in this role, you will need experience developing, leading and managing programs, projects, and interdisciplinary teams. You will need excellent project management skills and must be familiar with using project management tools, including those in the Microsoft 365 suite, to support direct reports and team members. You will also need experience recruiting, hiring, supervising, and reviewing staff performance as well as coaching and mentoring team members with less or different experience than yourself. Ideal candidates will be excited to inspire individual staff and teams to work together to achieve shared goals and objectives and will be able to demonstrate their dedication to creating a supportive and inclusive work environment that promotes job satisfaction, empowers staff to thrive and grow, and maintains good rapport. They must also be comfortable juggling multiple projects, programs, and managerial duties simultaneously and be able to adapt to changing circumstances and priorities. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are a must, as is being willing and able to work with people of varied backgrounds and perspectives, including low-income communities of color and communities overburdened by air pollution.

About the Planning and Climate Protection Division

The Planning and Climate Protection Division works collaboratively to integrate air quality, health and climate protection into local and regional air quality plans, projects, and programs. The Division is responsible for preparing plans to meet state and federal air quality standards, and works with local communities, cities, counties, and regional agencies to improve air quality and advance climate protection. Through the Air District's Assembly Bill 617 Community Health Protection Program, Division staff partner with impacted and overburdened communities and their local governments to reduce local air pollution and improve health outcomes. The Division is also responsible for developing the Air District's California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) air quality and climate impact thresholds of significance, and for developing and maintaining data, tools and guidelines to assist lead agencies with completing their air quality and climate impact analysis.

The Planning and Climate Division is organized into four programmatic areas: Local Government Support, Region-wide Planning, Climate Solutions, and Community Planning. The Division is matrixed with staff working across various programmatic areas.

The Local Government Support program works with local governments and their community partners to develop and implement plans, policies and projects to improve air quality, reduce climate impacts and contributions to climate change, address environmental justice and health equity. The program creates and disseminates air quality planning and policy tools, guidance, and resources to regional and local governments, practitioners and community partners, including CEQA Thresholds and Guidelines for air quality and climate impacts.

The Region-wide Planning program leads the development and implementation of regional air quality plans in collaboration with other regional agencies, local governments, and community stakeholders; tracks, reviews and comments on new or revised ambient air quality standards; coordinates efforts to meet those requirements; and provides consultation on transportation and general conformity. The program also leads the Implementation Working Group (IWG) for the Zero NOx Building Appliance Rules including all committees and research components, engagement with key stakeholders, the public, and the Air District Board of Directors.

The Climate Solutions program leads the development and implementation of regional climate plans that center equity and focus on health protection and air pollution co-benefits. The program coordinates clean building efforts across the Air District, works to expand and accelerate regional efforts to decarbonize existing buildings, supports partner implementation of energy efficiency enhancements, electrification, health protection and asthma mitigations, and seeks to increase climate resilience measures in at-risk households.

The Community Planning program leads the development and implementation of AB 617 Community Emission Reduction Plans in partnership with the Air District's Community Health Protection program, community co-leads, community steering committees, community members and state, local and regional agencies. Currently, there are four AB 617 designated communities in the Bay Area: West Oakland, East Oakland, Richmond-North Richmond-San Pablo, and Bayview Hunters Point/Southeast San Francisco.

Definition

Under administrative direction, performs mid-level management duties with responsibility for a section, program or defined functional area, and performs related work as assigned. Incumbents in these positions make decisions which impact the daily operations and implementation of established procedures and policies of the related sections or programs and solve problems requiring analyses of issues that may result in deviations from routine processes, new technology and/or additional resources.