Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist

About Us

Heavy industry is the foundation of modern society. We need materials like cement, steel, and aluminum more than ever to rebuild our bridges and roads, to construct wind and solar projects, and to manufacture electric vehicles and heat pumps that will undergird our future. But industry needs a new social contract with America. For all the good industrial progress brings, it also causes a lot of harm. It threatens our climate, reinforces environmental racism, it’s wasteful, and it has left workers and communities behind when convenient to industry’s bottom line.

Addressing this challenge – and the opportunity it presents – is why Industrious Labs exists. With our partners, we’re reimagining the industrial sector as not only a source of good union jobs, but a climate solution where we make things responsibly, prioritize waste reduction, reuse, repair, remanufacture, and recycle. To do this we will have to change how our stuff is made and what we do with it when we are done with it. We see an America that is known again as a country of industry, where the best quality and greenest materials are made with American labor. In the future we build together, industry is a good neighbor to communities, the anchor of a healthy regenerative economy, and leading the world in addressing climate change.

About the Position

Guided by an inspiring vision, smart strategies, and significant early financial investment, we are seeking an entrepreneurial Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist to join our team. Industrious Labs is fully remote, and this role reports to Steel Director Hilary Lewis.

In this newly created position, the Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist is a highly skilled relationship builder with proven ability to establish, grow, and sustain diverse coalitions of stakeholders. They are passionate about solving the climate crisis by focusing on the strategies that will make the biggest impact, including focused campaigns, research and analysis, cross-sector collaborations, and communications. The Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist is energized by the challenge of the climate crises, inspired to step into a new era of the movement and has a strong track record of working with diverse groups such as organized labor, environmental justice advocates, and policymakers.

The Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist's work will initially support campaigns to leverage the auto industry’s purchasing power to advance green steel. Steel is the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting industrial sector, accountable for 7 to 10 percent of global emissions, or 4 billion tons of GHGs annually. In the last year we’ve seen increasing recognition of the importance of the auto industry in steel decarbonization, with Ford and GM joining the First Movers Coalition and new studies demonstrating the intertwined fates of all car makers.

There are a variety of pathways to clean production of high-quality steel, but none of these options are being implemented at the rate or scale needed to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. A coordinated campaign focused on steel for the automotive sector is our best opportunity to accelerate clean steel production so that it can then be used throughout the economy. By bringing together organized labor, local communities, environmental advocates, policymakers and funders, we have the chance to increase the auto sector’s demand for zero carbon steel, wield that demand to end highly polluting blast furnaces and transition North American steelmaking to clean processes.

With coalition partners and colleagues at Industrious Labs, the Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist will support a campaign where interested groups can bring their strengths to the debate and come together to develop skills, share technical expertise, and execute a shared vision. There are currently several working groups within the campaign, including those focused on network building, communications, local and federal policy. The Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist will lead a corporate working group, coordinating inside and outside tactics, engaging with the auto industry and other key buyers to secure greater commitments to green steel. This involves meeting with the relevant groups to understand their goals and approaches, providing support such as drafting letters or planning convenings, leading meetings, and driving campaign tactics.

The Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist will draw on dedicated communications and data analytics staff to help partners implement campaign strategies. Key responsibilities will evolve as the campaign progresses and will initially include the following:

Strategy Development & Implementation

• Work with partners to identify and implement new campaign strategies that accelerate decarbonization of the steel industry in line with the values we share with our partners.
• Build new organizational relationships and alliances that reflect our values and priorities around equity, diversity, and environmental justice.
• Engage key partners in strategy development to build institutional buy-in for the goals of the campaign.
• Develop and execute workplans and track progress to ensure transparency and strong collaboration.
• Stay apprised of industry trends, policy developments, and technology innovations that will inform the trajectory of the campaign.
• Provide briefs and unvarnished analysis of these developments for partner organizations, including funders.

Coalition Building & Capacity Building

• Recruit and build an aligned and powerful coalition of corporate campaign specialists around the vision of cleaning up the steel industry.
• Facilitate bi-weekly meetings of the corporate table(s), manage relationships, and support coalition members.
• Assess the North American steel industry landscape, identifying strengths, current players, and gaps in preparation for investment, engaging key leaders, organizations, and industry partners.
• Collaborate in the development of comprehensive campaign plans, ensuring tight coordination and cohesion between convening, analytics, communications, and advocacy.
• Design and implement trainings and other opportunities for stakeholders to collaborate, train each other, and build the foundational knowledge to develop and refine campaign approaches.
• Identify partners with aligned efforts to accelerate action and leverage resources, relationships, and research.

Who You Are

The incoming Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist is driven by their belief and commitment to Industrious Labs’ vision, mission, and values. Through their track record and expertise – optimally within the climate or another social justice movement – the successful candidate will play a vital role in the development and execution of the comprehensive North American Steel Campaign.

The Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist joins a deeply committed team that brings a track record of success in campaign strategy, data analysis, and communications, with a particular focus on climate and clean energy. The successful candidate is entrepreneurial and excited about the prospect of building something new in the climate movement from the ground up. They have the experience of setting vision, establishing, and scaling successful programs with an ethos of creativity, humility, and an expectation of continual learning.

Despite enormous obstacles involved in decarbonizing heavy industry, the Industrious Labs team operates with a spirit of possibilities and seeks a Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist who shares the belief that we can all do things we’ve never done before and can stretch ourselves to achieve incredible results.

This role requires a deep commitment to the principles of environmental justice, proven collaboration skills, and the ability to design and execute coordinated strategies that will generate change in a deeply entrenched and seemingly intractable aspect of the climate movement. The Senior Corporate Campaign Strategist demonstrates initiative by diving right in to take a concept from idea to implementation, navigating through internal and external barriers as they arise without getting stuck and finding and deploying resources creatively to solve problems. The selected candidate will also possess most of the following Core and Preferred qualifications:

Core

• Strong commitment to the mission, vision, policies, and goals of Industrious Labs.
• At least 5 years of increasing responsibility, with a proven track record of successful corporate campaigns and coalition building.
• Mastery of relationship-building skills and strong existing relationships with a wide range of diverse external constituencies.
• Emerging leadership skills with clarity of vision and a commitment to the highest levels of integrity, quality, and collaboration, contributing to strong team cultures, and promoting and enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Demonstrated experience working across lines of race, class, gender, and geography and an analysis of how climate change intersects with historically oppressed and marginalized communities.
• Experience in the climate movement or another social justice movement.
• Outstanding oral and written communications skills that demonstrate an ability to:
• Convey a compelling story about Industrious Labs’ mission and impact;
• Translate complex data and analysis into persuasive narratives;
• Communicate Industrious Labs’ strategies with accessible expertise (without jargon).
• Proven ability to prioritize and be flexible in a fast-paced, constantly evolving, and collaborative environment, where working on a team and working individually are all required.
• Commitment to continuous learning, hunger for knowledge, and willingness to ask questions and self-correct; an approach that is curious, self-directed, and entrepreneurial.
• Openness to giving and receiving direct, compassionate feedback.
• Highly collaborative work style with the ability to operate as a peer and thought partner to the co-founders and partners, other leadership team members, and advisors.

Preferred

• Content knowledge or familiarity with the auto or another heavy industry.
• Experience working with organized labor, particularly in industry, within a network or coalition.
• Lived experience in a steel or auto manufacturing community or in the Midwest.

Salary and Benefits:

The salary for this position is $110,000. Industrious Labs has a policy not to negotiate on salaries. Historically, negotiations reward those who have the skill, privilege, and confidence to ask for more money; and because not everyone has those skills, allowing for negotiations undermines economic equity we strive for as an organization. Rather than use negotiations to drive competitive salaries, we endeavor to pay people well and establish a transparent salary scale based on the experience, competencies, and responsibilities required to thrive in this role.

We provide a package of benefits that complement the paid salary to ensure a high quality of life for all employees, including 100% of comprehensive health care coverage for employees (medical, dental, and vision), work from home stipend, up to 5% employer match to 401k and 11 paid holidays plus unlimited vacation, starting with a minimum of 15 business days.

Our Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Environmental Justice:

We believe that diversity in our team isn’t just a value but brings different lived experience and perspective that is essential to solving the climate crisis. If you’ve read this job description and are excited by it, if you can see yourself happily filling this role and making a difference on climate change, we really hope you apply. Industrious Labs is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to transparent and equitable recruitment, hiring and promotion processes that foster inclusion and belonging. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please email Cathy Schreiber at cathy@industriouslabs.org.

Application Procedure:

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter answering the following:

1. What motivates you to spend your time, skills and expertise working on climate change?
2. What are your thoughts about industry's role in solving the climate crisis?
3. Can you share a story of a corporate campaign you played a key role in -- what was the goal and outcome? What lessons did you take away from the experience that you would bring with you to Industrious Labs?

This position is open until filled. Candidate review and phone screens begin immediately and will be conducted throughout the search. We anticipate several steps of mutual exploration, including a phone screen, panel interview(s) and thought exercises for finalist candidates. Our search processes generally take 3 - 4 months.

Submit your application HERE