About Us

The Sunrise Project is a global network of independent organizations united by a common mission: scaling social movements to drive the global transition beyond fossil fuels. We've developed a unique model that combines strategic grant-making with campaigning, supporting interconnected organizations to create powerful change aligned with our mission.

Sunrise Inc. is a proud member of The Sunrise Project network. Our organizational culture is dynamic and adaptable. We're committed to supporting our team members to thrive as we tackle the urgent challenge of climate change. We believe that a diversity of experiences and perspectives strengthens our strategies, teams, and movements.

Sunrise Inc. takes the broadest possible view of diversity and encourages 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 Program

The Sunrise Organising Lab (SOL) is a program of The Sunrise Project that works to build a more powerful and effective movement to shift finance out of fossil fuels and into clean energy. We do this by focusing on three key areas: strategy design and iteration across our campaigns and with our partners; partnerships and regranting to ensure we’re scaling organisations and ecosystems to win; and powerbuilding and constituency organising to bring in new, needed groups to shift key stakeholders while also growing the number and types of voices in our movement. 

About The Role

The Senior Strategist, US Ecosystem Lead serves as the strategic lead of the ecosystem we’re building across the United States overseeing strategies to ensure we’re growing, supporting, and nurturing a powerful movement across communities, and leveraging and building power with key actors to win our projects and enforce policies. This role understands the nuance of our targeted campaigns and strategies, can see the context of the big picture needs for landscapes, and then designs strategies to intersect the two and build actionable plans for maximum impact.

The Senior Strategist will lead our US movement strategy, proactively bringing in partners in new and diverse constituencies, growing their skills, and developing more strategic capacities to win. The main role is to lead development and implementation of our US movement strategy, including powermapping, understanding constituency needs, recruiting constituencies and groups, running experiments, supporting groups and organizations, and distributing grants. They will work with the SOL team and collaborate closely in other teams in the US. 

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’re a strategic, experienced, and collaborative leader and organiser with a passion for movement building, campaigning, and winning. You have a nuanced understanding of how political change happens and you can take a long term view of power and power building in order to build networks and coalitions that can bring about lasting change. You enjoy working with people across the political spectrum or different theories of change because you understand we’re all needed to win. 

You understand what it takes to build trust, nurture creativity and unleash the potential of individuals and groups. You’re an open and honest communicator with the ability to build strong relationships and nurture collaboration between diverse stakeholders. You are a skilled people manager that enjoys guiding and developing staff members.

You do not need senior experience in fossil finance or climate – you can be an advanced leader in your own field of environmental or social justice work with a desire to be more active in the fossil finance movement. You have a firm grasp of the role of finance actors in the climate crisis, and how civil society and social movements can influence their actions. 

Key Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of the US regional ecosystem strategy, working to build a strategic movement that can win current projects and campaigns and continue to impact outcomes into the future. 

• Working closely with the Program Director, manage SOL’s US work, including managing the regional budget.

• Work in US project teams to support design of campaign strategies to meet programmatic goals. Responsible for integration of movement building, powerbuilding, and justice into campaign design. Lead on power mapping in key areas and scoping potential and needed partners. 

• Design rubrics for constituency recruitment in identified key areas, tailored to assessments of needed power; conduct and assess constituency experiments.  

• Directly recruit needed constituencies into projects, including through direct recruitment, organising experiments, and other methods, such as building longer-term relationships with groups that are needed for wins and ecosystem building. 

• Directly manage US constituency organisers and contractors, supporting their development. 

• Nurture and maintain generative relationships with partners, understand their needs, and proactively support them to reach goals. This includes regular check ins on strategy and impact, and providing support to iterate on work, including training, coaching, resources, and facilitating cross-partner skillsharing engagement.

• Collaborate on movement strategy programs, including identifying, recruiting and tailoring cohorts in the region. Build and facilitate training on campaign issues and areas.

• Implement partnership practices and make strategic grants. Use data to identify gaps and solutions for the US ecosystem growth. 

• Facilitate convenings, strategy meetings, and retreats with partners and the team. 

• Align programmatic strategies and OKR’s with Sunrise’s Values.

Required skills and experience    

• 8-10 years of advanced experience in a similar role at the managerial level.

• Proven track record in project management, training, facilitation, and coaching.

• Demonstrated experience in organizing, including proven experience scaling a base and developing leaders in constituency-based organizations (eg trade unions, faith groups, community organisations, worker bodies, etc). 

• Demonstrated experience in corporate and political regional and local campaigns,  including winning or iterating on campaigns through diverse stakeholder strategies.  

• Demonstrated experience in people management and team leadership.

• Strong and evidenced relationships with US power building and other organizations. 

• Strong understanding of the US political landscape and historical context of campaign wins and movement shifts. 

• A high level of emotional intelligence with excellent interpersonal, communication and group facilitation skills.

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

Desirable Skills and Experience   

• Experience starting and running an NGO in the US, including fundraising and scaling work is ideal.

Job requirements

• You must have full working rights in the country in which you will be working. The Sunrise Project is unable to sponsor applicants for employment visas.

• Previous employment reference checks will be required for successful applicants

• Attend local in person partner actions.

• Intermittent travel with advanced notice may be required.

How Sunrise supports its staff

The Sunrise Project Inc. (Sunrise Inc.) 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 and/or temporarily appointed-fixed term staff:

• 401(k) & employer match

• 100% employer paid health, vision and dental coverage

• Five weeks of vacation leave

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

• Life Leave (up to 40 days p.a. for significant personal reasons)

• Flexible Working Policy

• Floating public holidays (cultural leave)

• Employee Assistance Program

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

• Generous allowances for:

  • 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

• 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.