Program Director

Rainier Climate is seeking seven experienced Program Directors in Bellevue, WA, to lead philanthropic efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across various climate sectors. The roles involve overseeing grantmaking portfolios, collaborating with leadership, and developing strategies for impactful climate action. Candidates are expected to have extensive knowledge in their fields and will work closely with diverse stakeholders to operationalize Rainier’s objectives.
About the Search

Rainier Climate is hiring 7 experienced Program Directors to help drive innovative and urgent action in the climate sector. Our focus is philanthropic funding to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions. We’re looking to build an experienced, collaborative, and entrepreneurial Program Director team with expertise across several climate sectors, including:
• Forests / Land Use
• Clean Energy
• Transportation
• Industry
• Buildings
• Strategic Communications
• Climate Finance

If interested in the Program Director role, please submit your resume for consideration. You do not need to specify which issue area you feel most closely aligned with. We will follow up in the coming weeks to review options across one or more of these program areas depending on your background and areas of content expertise.

The Opportunity

As Rainier builds a world class team in Bellevue, Washington, the organization is now recruiting seven Program Directors who will each oversee grantmaking portfolios across the various climate sectors and cross-cutting approaches noted above, including one additional Program Director exclusively focused on climate finance. Portfolios for the Program Directors may shift over time.

The Program Director roles represent a rare and unique opportunity to join a philanthropic organization in the early stages of shaping its strategic trajectory, culture, and programmatic aims in climate. Working in close partnership with the President, and alongside the Co-founders, who collectively have decades of philanthropic experience and insights, the Program Directors will be instrumental in operationalizing Rainier’s ambitious grantmaking objectives in the coming years and will help to further define its vision and strategy for innovative and urgent action in the climate sector.

Initially reporting to the President, the Program Directors are expected to be senior leaders in their respective fields, with deep and extensive knowledge of the many opportunities, challenges, and strategic approaches that Rainier might consider when addressing its broader priorities for work in climate. Externally, the Program Directors will serve as leaders, thought partners, and collaborators within the ecosystem of funder, nonprofit, government, and business communities in climate. They will monitor progress of existing strategies and approaches and develop new strategies as appropriate for consideration and approval.

In order for Rainier to remain agile and entrepreneurial, the Program Directors will at times act as complementary generalists for the entire portfolio of work at the organization. This means being able to contribute to or even pivot to new focus areas in the future. Working as a team, the Program Directors will be active, supporting members across all program areas, and will work collaboratively with the President and Co-founders in the planning and implementation of Rainier’s strategy.

Program Director Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Management
• Lead the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of an impact-oriented philanthropic strategy and grants portfolio in their specified field.
• Effectively communicate program vision, strategies, and impact. Represent Rainier’s interests to a broad array of external audiences and constituencies, including engaging in due diligence, funder collaboration, and networking to capitalize on emerging opportunities relevant to the organization’s mission and priorities.
• Identify partners, experts, consultants, and co-funders to advance programmatic goals and maintain accurate and current knowledge about trends, movements, policy developments, and philanthropic approaches, including on equity and justice, in their specified domain.
• Make grant recommendations that support efforts to enact policies, create public demand, and build political will to achieve Rainier’s objectives in the climate sector. Conduct extensive outreach and rigorous due diligence to identify and support impactful grantees, from institutional to grassroots-level organizations, and across a variety of political, economic, and policy spectrums.

External Engagement
• Identify and establish the necessary partnerships within NGO, policy, corporate, and philanthropic sectors that together will inform philanthropic strategy and grantmaking for a portfolio of high-impact grants.
• Stay current on emerging issues, trends, and interventions related to climate change and decarbonization.
• Convene external stakeholders when needed, including grant recipients, subject matter experts, policy stakeholders, co-funders, and others, in order to explore, compare, and coordinate strategies.

Strategic Learning & Assessment
• Contribute to building Rainier’s learning and impact assessment framework, ensuring that grantmaking strategies and approaches are creating meaningful impact and the organization is learning from its successes and failures in order to continuously improve.
• Use data and knowledge gathered in the field to advise on trends, movements, and policy developments related to climate and clean energy.
• Manage external relationships with other funders, advisors, and grant recipients to facilitate the exchange of information, maximize lessons learned, and foster cross-organization collaboration.
• Help plan and facilitate learning opportunities for grant recipients, as well as develop progress indicators with grant recipients to monitor and track the impact of projects funded.

Management & Organizational Leadership
• Contribute to efforts to develop, implement, and assess organizational structures, systems, and processes in order to ensure effective and efficient use of both internal and external resources.
• Develop and manage program budgets, including assessing and analyzing resource allocation matters.
• Be attentive to legal compliance and the alignment of Rainier’s activities to its mission and impact goals.
• In addition to managing consulting resources, some Program Directors may manage a program associate role, which will be a shared resource across the program team.

Qualifications and Experience

Alignment on Mission and Program Expertise
• Deep commitment to the mission and values of Rainier Climate, with an unwavering passion and drive and to make a lasting impact on climate change.
• Minimum of 15 years of senior experience in one or more of the programmatic focus areas at Rainier as well as in philanthropy, the nonprofit sector, or a related field with a proven track record in strategic planning, program design, and impact assessment.
• While bringing a perspective on programmatic strategies and the role of philanthropy in driving positive change, the ideal candidate will not be wedded to one approach or theory of change; rather an ability to leverage their expertise to identify multiple pathways and strategic interventions for mission impact.

Strategic Leadership
• Experience working with multiple types of capitals (financial, social, relational, human, intellectual, and others) in the advancement of an organization’s mission.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial operator with the ability to readily identify opportunities for innovation and change. Must have the intellectual agility and dynamism needed to contribute to strategy discussions across a variety of disciplines within the climate sector.
• Experience working in and helping to facilitate an enabling team environment, encouraging colleagues to learn, engage with each other, act with integrity, co-create, and remain curious and compassionate in the face of challenges and setbacks.

Project Management and Implementation
• Since Rainier will maintain a small, nimble team of senior leaders and program staff, Program. Directors must bring the appropriate balance of strategic thinking, hands-on, individual contributor skills, and team collaboration.
• Excellent project leadership and management skills.
• Financial acumen, with the ability to contribute to program budget development and prioritization of resource allocation.

Representation and Networks
• Demonstrated background building and operating in partnership networks and collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including in the government, NGO, and funder sectors.
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and convey it clearly to a range of audiences.

Compensation & Benefits

As a mission-driven organization, we are committed to offering competitive compensation and benefits aligned with the talent market in climate philanthropy.

Location & Hybrid Work

The position is based full-time in Bellevue, WA. Rainier Climate practices intentional hybrid work. All Rainer Climate employees are expected to work on-site in Bellevue on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and as needed on other weekdays based on the needs of the team. The number of in-office days may shift or increase as the organization evolves. Commuting to Bellevue from outside the region will not be considered.

Rainer Climate is an equal opportunity employer and is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity is valued. Individuals seeking employment at Rainer Climate are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation.