Sustainability Specialist

The City of Las Cruces is hiring a Sustainability Specialist to support energy, climate change, and environmental policies for city operations and the community. The role involves implementing sustainability initiatives, monitoring targets, and fostering partnerships. The position requires desk work and some outdoor tasks, with light physical demands. Regular attendance is essential, and the job is full-time, exempt, and not remote.
Nature of Work

Provide specialized support for policies and practices related to energy, climate change, resiliency, and the environment for internal City operations, and the community to advance the goals and objectives of the City’s sustainability initiatives.

In response to the federal Inflation Reduction Act, the Sustainability Office is seeking and has received multi-year grant funding to launch a scalable lower income home retrofit program to increase clean and energy affordability and extreme heat resiliency. This work will be accomplished using an equity lens to build workforce capacity in the energy transition, homeowner self-advocacy, and alternative finance options. Many of the duties and responsibilities described below will be applied to this project.

Environmental Factors

Work is primarily performed in a standard office environment with some work being done outdoors with exposure to all types of weather and traffic conditions.

Physical Factors

Light physical demands; mostly desk work requiring the ability to lift and carry files and reports and frequent use of a personal computer.

Work Situation Factors

Position involves competing demands, performing multiple tasks, working to deadlines, occasional work beyond normal business hours, and responding to customer issues. Regular attendance is an essential function of this position to ensure continuity of services. Position is subject to drug testing in accordance with applicable State and Federal regulations and City of Las Cruces policies.

FIRST CONSIDERATION MAY BE GIVEN TO CURRENT CITY OF LAS CRUCES EMPLOYEES WHO MEET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.

Meeting or exceeding the minimum qualifications does not guarantee an invitation to participate in the process.

Full-Time; Regular; Exempt

This position is graded RX19.

Duties and Responsibilities
• * Identifies, monitors, and measures City government sustainability targets and metrics, and collaborates with other departments and community partners to accomplish various goals and objectives; works to implement sustainable practices that create resiliency, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution prevention, waste reduction, conservation of natural resources, energy efficient strategies, and environmentally sound purchasing policies and their relationship with equity.
• Prepares and presents various special and recurring reports to communicate strategies, progress, efficiency, and performance metrics.
• Determines, develops, and implements resiliency goals and objectives; identifies and provides measurable outputs to ensure the City can adapt to natural and human caused strain and shock; implements targeted strategies to increase the resiliency of vulnerable populations within the City.
• Coordinates, facilitates, and initiates regional, community, business, public, and private agency relationships; defines opportunities for collaborative partnerships related to economic, equity, and environmental goals for the Sustainability office and its strategic initiatives.
• Reads, understands, interprets, and applies latest research on environmental and energy matters; remains current with sustainability trends and practices; performs comprehensive analysis, synthesizes information, and makes recommendations for implementation on policy and programmatic matters.
• Performs and reviews various technical calculations and studies; prepares and evaluates graphs, tables, spreadsheets, and other data reports; reviews, maintains, and updates records in various formats, mediums, and automated systems to ensure data integrity and adherence to internal controls, practices, policies, and procedures.
• Develops and recommends current and long-range plans and policies; evaluates programs and operations to identify areas for improvement; monitors results compared to performance benchmarks and evaluates progress toward achieving goals; manages and coordinates special projects.
• Presents recommendations, technical data, policy options, trends, and progress of initiatives to management for review and potential action.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Sustainability, Environmental Science, Energy, Urban or Land Use Planning, Architecture, Geography, Public Administration, or related field AND two (2) years of professional experience in one (1) or more areas of sustainability. A combination of education, experience, and training may be applied in accordance with City of Las Cruces policy.

Licenses/Certifications

Valid driver’s license is required. Position requires an acceptable driving record in accordance with City of Las Cruces policies.

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

Considerable Knowledge of: environmental and other sustainability issues, trends, resources, and agencies; technical issues, management, and policy practices in multiple sustainability areas; principles, practices, techniques, activities, rules, and regulations related to the operations and functions of the services provided; principles and practices of effective customer service and problem resolution techniques; occupational and environmental safety and health hazards, and safety practices; principles of research methods, record keeping, and records management; safe and effective use and maintenance of related tools and equipment; methods and standards for preparing business correspondence; business English, spelling, and grammar; basic and specialized personal computer applications; modern office practices and procedures; City organization, operations, policies and procedures to effectively perform the required functions and duties of the position.

Ability to: perform a variety of duties and responsibilities timely and with accuracy to meet deadlines and to ensure achievement of goals and objectives; read, understand, interpret, apply, and ensure compliance with a variety of policies, procedures, rules, and regulations governing related activities, programs, and functions; analyze and provide recommendations for sustainability initiatives; evaluate and provide recommendations on issues with complex variables and technical concerns; safely operate associated tools, equipment, and motor vehicles; communicate appropriately and effectively orally and in writing; research and compile applicable information and maintain accurate records; prepare and present accurate and reliable reports containing findings and recommendations; review documents and extract relevant information; establish and maintain effective and appropriate working relationships with employees, other agencies, and the public; use initiative and independent judgment within established procedural guidelines to successfully meet established goals and objectives.

Skills in: analyzing issues, evaluating alternatives, and making logical recommendations based on findings to address issues and/or improve services, procedures, policies, and methods; researching, interpreting and communicating policies, regulations, and technical procedures and information; using independent judgment and personal initiative; maintaining complete and accurate records; evaluate procedures for efficient and cost-effective management of resources; operating tools, equipment, and a personal computer with installed generic and specialized software; interpreting technical instructions and analyzing complex variables; assessing, prioritizing, and managing multiple tasks, projects, and demands to ensure achievement of goals and objectives.

To view a summary of benefits offered by the City of Las Cruces,

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01

Are you a current City of Las Cruces employee? (If you fail to include this information under the work experience section of the application, you may be disqualified from the selection process.)
• Yes
• No

02

Position requires at least a Bachelor's Degree in Sustainability, Environmental Science, Energy, Urban or Land Use Planning, Architecture, Geography, Public Administration. Do you meet this minimum requirement? (If you fail to include this information under the education section of the application, you may be disqualified from the selection process.)
• Yes
• No

03

I understand and accept that if my response is "YES" to the question above, I agree to provide proof of the required degree and/or transcript (official or unofficial) if recommended for the position.
• Yes
• No

04

Position requires at least two (2) years of professional experience in one (1) or more areas of sustainability. Do you meet this minimum requirement? (If you fail to include this information under the work experience section of the application, you may be disqualified from the selection process)
• Yes
• No

05

Position requires a valid driver's license. Do you meet this minimum requirement? (If you fail to include this information on the application, you may be disqualified from the selection process)
• Yes
• No

06

If you answered "yes" to the question above, please provide the license number, type of license, any endorsements or restrictions, expiration date, and the state that issued the license.

07

PREFERENCE: This position is active in collaboration, consultation, and communication within the community. Do you have experience with equity and community engagement? (Be sure to include evidence of this in the work section in order to get credit, otherwise it will appear as a misrepresentation of qualifications.)
• Yes
• No

08

PREFERENCE: This position actively participates in policy development. Do you have experience in policy development? (Be sure to include evidence of this in the work section in order to get credit, otherwise it will appear as a misrepresentation of qualifications.)
• Yes
• No

09

PREFERENCE: Innovation adoption is encouraged within our organization. Do you have experience in implementation of innovative programs? (Be sure to include evidence of this in the work section in order to get credit, otherwise it will appear as a misrepresentation of qualifications.)
• Yes
• No
• Required Question