Place-Based State Advocate, Environmental Health

Overview

NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the Earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. NRDC combines the power of more than 3 million members and online activists with the expertise of some 800 policy advocates, lawyers, scientists, and communication experts to confront the climate crisis, protect nature, ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. As an international nonprofit environmental organization, NRDC is working to address the world’s most urgent environmental challenges, and advance innovative, science‑based, and enforceable solutions.

Since our founding in 1970, NRDC has helped craft and deliver many of America’s foundational environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Today, we continue to lead in advancing and defending strong environmental protections at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as through the marketplace. Our team works across the United States and around the world, from offices in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as in Beijing, London, and New Delhi (a subsidiary of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd.).

Supported by our members and online activists, NRDC is driving impactful solutions that confront the climate crisis, defend nature and safeguard public health across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At NRDC, we believe lasting change happens when people bring their talent, passion, and expertise together for a common purpose: to build a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient world. Learn more at nrdc.org

Position Summary

NRDC’s Environmental Health Department is seeking to hire a State Advocate in North Carolina to advance our regional environmental health goals in the Adaptation and Air & Water sectors, with occasional work to advance additional Environmental Health goals in the Southeast region, particularly North Carolina. The advocate will be an empowering and collaborative individual who champions equity and justice. The successful candidate will have existing relationships with community, environmental justice, environmental groups, in addition to state and local elected officials and staff and state agencies. The candidate should also be adept at telling compelling stories to diverse audiences and must demonstrate a genuine alignment with the mission and values of NRDC.

The position is remote, with an expectation to be based in Raleigh, North Carolina and to travel occasionally to other parts of the southeastern United States as needed. This is a limited term two‑year position.

Responsibilities

• Support the development of a broad portfolio of policies that seek to protect communities in the face of climate change, environmental degradation, and inequality. Specific priorities include risk‑reduction initiatives that protect homes from climate impacts, homeowner insurance reform, and drinking water contamination (due to PFAS, lead, or other harmful contaminants).
• Work to advance other community‑driven, cross‑cutting initiatives that advance the Environmental Health Department’s wider portfolio, including but not limited to work on air quality, toxics, fossil fuels, and community impacts.
• Build and manage partnerships and collaborate with community groups most impacted by climate and environmental injustices (including Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and low‑income and rural communities) and other allies, including the environmental community, consumer and low‑income advocates, labor, the faith community, state and local decision makers and elected officials.

Qualifications

Minimum Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
• 5+ years of work experience related to the environment, climate, energy policy, or a related field—with at least 2 of those years based in North Carolina.
• Community organization and/or advocacy experience with environmental justice and frontline groups and marginalized, low‑income communities.
• Master’s or other related advanced degree, or an equivalent combination of education and direct experience.

Skills, Abilities, Competencies

• A sense of mission and passion for public interest and environmental advocacy.
• Experience navigating diverse stakeholders, building consensus on policy issues, and driving toward positive outcomes within a team, in a coalition, and with other external partners, particularly partners that reach beyond the traditional environmental community.
• Broad‑based interest in drinking water and/or climate adaptation work, including the ability to quickly get up to speed on NRDC’s policy priorities.
• Ability to represent NRDC with maturity, judgment, and professionalism.
• Strong oral and written advocacy skills, including a willingness to represent NRDC in a variety of public forums and in the media.
• Willingness and ability to register as a state lobbyist.
• Ability to travel to NRDC U.S. based offices, approximately 10% annually.
• Experience working collaboratively across teams (internal and external) towards shared outcomes.
• Commitment to NRDC’s mission, values, and DEI principles.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions within the described work environment.

• Perform desk‑based computer tasks.
• Interact and communicate with employees and others as necessary.
• Attend planned meetings and collaborate with management and coworkers.
• Attend events and activities in the office or offsite occasionally.

Work is sometimes performed primarily in a quiet office. Hours of employment may require flexible or longer hours, including nights and weekends, when necessitated by projects. The job includes work‑related situations such as those involving challenging, important, time‑sensitive, or multiple matters.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet’s most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under‑represented in the environmental movement. We are an equal‑opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Benefits & Compensation

We offer competitive salaries and excellent benefits. Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and is commensurate with skills and experience. For this position, the salary range is $115,000 to $130,000. Internal equity will be reviewed and considered to determine a final offer.

NRDC operates under a hybrid work model. Employees are required to come to the office eight days per month.