Location: Sydney or Melbourne, or remote working (in
Australia

Hours: Full time 35 hpw (0.8 FTE minimum)

Contract Type: Ongoing

Reports to: Program Director

Direct Reports: 4 x Senior Strategists, Program Associate 

About Us 

Driven by a passion to achieve climate justice, The Sunrise Project is a team of experienced changemakers with a mission to scale social movements to drive the global transition beyond fossil fuels. With programs and staff in Australia, and affiliated programs and staff in Europe, and the US, we have developed a unique model of grant making and campaigning that supports networks of organisations to drive powerful change towards our mission.

We have a dynamic and nimble organisational culture. We’re serious about supporting our people to thrive as we tackle the urgent climate challenge.  We believe that a diversity of experiences and perspectives will help us build stronger strategies, teams and movements. We take the broadest possible view of diversity and encourage First Nations people, people of colour, people living outside of cities, people living with disabilities, neurodiverse, and LGBTQIA+ people to apply. We are continually working on becoming a better workplace for everyone.  Find out more here.

About the Australian Gas Program 

Over the past decade Australia’s LNG exports have boomed, with Australia now the world’s equal largest exporter of LNG. The gas industry is responsible for 10% of Australia’s domestic emissions, and emissions from burning the gas we export are greater still. To prevent catastrophic climate change and to achieve climate justice, along with rapidly phasing out coal, we must prevent the expansion of Australia’s gas sector and accelerate its decline.

About the role 

The Deputy Director is an experienced leader with strong power analysis, facilitation, management, and campaign skills.  The role brings the Program’s strategies to life through excellent people and project management, while also playing a key role in ongoing co-development of program strategy. 

We support networks of organisations to work together to achieve outcomes that would not be possible by individual organisations acting alone. We expect all roles at Sunrise to actively support the capacity building of these networks and partner organisations. 

About you 

You wake up every day thinking about how to transform Australia from global laggard to world leader in climate solutions. You understand complex systems and have a deep understanding of how social movements work, and how research, policy and grassroots organising combine to achieve change. You love identifying opportunities to end fossil fuel exports, have good ideas for how to deal with opposition to this and love turning ideas into reality.

You are an inspiring manager with a passion for supporting people to reach their potential. You are empathetic and can adapt your leadership style - you’re generous and caring, can provide wise counsel and have conversations that leave your relationships stronger.

You’re a skilled project manager, facilitator and collaborator with strategic capability and can point to real world changes that you have been a par ot, and the lessons you’ve learned. You are quick to build trusted relationships with community activists through to politicians and business leaders. 

Key responsibilities 

Works with the Program Director to:

• Manage a small team to develop big ideas and deliver real-world results

• Maintain the team’s impact over time by ensuring that our nimble culture is matched with clear and sustainable work plans, a caring team environment, and one where team members have the support they need to do their best work  

• Update plans and strategies as circumstances change; speaks to our program strategy in internal and external forums

• Develop reporting and evaluation materials, with support from the team.

• Support grant development processes, including coaching team members on grant development and ensuring that grants are within budget

• Support rapid-response campaign interventions when big new opportunities or threats arise

• Ensure that the team’s work contributes to a diverse and resilient movement that is more than the sum of its parts 

• Align programmatic work with Sunrise’s mission, values and OKR’s.

Required skills and experience 

• Strong power analysis and demonstrated campaign strategy skills; 

• Demonstrated experience in a campaign (social or environmental) that has achieved real-world change

• Demonstrated experience managing high performing teams and supporting people to do their best work

• Demonstrated experience in planning, workflow management and prioritisation to ensure sustainable workloads and ensure high team wellbeing over the long term

• Excellent communication and relationship building skills with high emotional intelligence, group facilitation, active listening and interpersonal skills;

• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively in a fast paced, highly flexible environment

• A passion for action on climate change and a commitment to social justice

Desired skills and experience 

• Experience in climate change or fossil fuel campaigns

• Experience with effective monitoring and evaluation of complex programs 

• Proven ability to grasp key dynamics at play when getting across complex areas for the first time.

Job requirements 

• You’ll need full working rights for Australia. The Sunrise Project is unable to sponsor applicants for employment visas.

• Employment background checks may be required

• You’ll sometimes need to attend local in-person partner actions

• Intermittent travel domestically, rurally and potentially internationally with advanced notice may be required

• COVID-19 vaccination requirements may apply in accordance with local legislation and/or Sunrise policy

• You’ll occasionally need to adjust work hours to accommodate meetings across time zones

How Sunrise supports our staff

The Sunrise Project Australia is committed to creating a workplace that supports our staff to do their best work and develop professionally. We have the following in place to help us achieve that, noting pro rata will apply for part time staff:

• Superannuation 12.5%

• Birthday leave (if it’s your birthday, you get a day off)

• Solidarity and community leave 1 week p.a

• Cultural leave (floating & additional public holidays)

• Gifted leave (over Christmas and New Year)

• Paid Parental Leave that is gender-neutral & inclusive of all types of families, incl. Parental Return To Work & Keeping In Touch Program

• Employee Assistance Program

• VIDA - An AI tool to support your health and wellbeing.

• A range of generous Allowances:

• Workspace Benefits incl: Macbook & accessories, initial $2,000 for home workspace and IT equipment + $800 every 2 years + up to $75/mth phone/data/internet.

• Shared office support

• Higher Duties 

• Regular all-org and team meetings & retreats

• Learning & Development Program incl. a professional development budget for you

• Coaching & manager support with regular 1:1 meetings

• Annual performance & development reviews with 360 feedback

• A co-developed work plan to ensure clarity on your role & key responsibilities

• We provide our staff with a voice on issues that concern them via consultation, eg JEDI caucuses, working groups, slack channels, surveys and meetings.

How to apply for this job

We recognize that racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, classism and other forms of discrimination creates structural barriers that impact opportunities to formal education and experience. When assessing candidates we look at more than the jobs you've been paid to do but the range of ways you've picked up skills and knowledge throughout your life. This is why we assess candidates on how well they respond to application questions and don’t require a cover letter.