Assistant to the President

The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) seeks an Assistant to the President to provide support to IGSD’s President, Durwood Zaelke. The Assistant also handles a wide range of support to other IGSD staff. The ideal candidate is highly self-motivated, professional, able to manage multiple deadlines and prioritize tasks in a high-pressure but rewarding environment. This position is based in Washington D.C.

IGSD is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to build resilience by accelerating fast climate mitigation actions to slow near-term warming and self-reinforcing climate feedbacks, avoid catastrophic climate and societal tipping points, and limit global temperature to 1.5°C—or at least keep this temperature guardrail in sight. These strategies include cutting climate “super pollutants” s­­uch as methane and protecting and enhancing carbon sinks. Fast mitigation strategies are essential to limiting warming and must complement long-term decarbonization and carbon-removal efforts.

Our fast mitigation strategy was originally laid out in the article for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Reducing abrupt climate change risk using the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions (2009), authored by a team organized by Durwood Zaelke and Dr. Mario Molina. In May 2022, an IGSD-led team updated the Molina, et al. 2009 paper, with another paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which concluded that adopting a “dual strategy” that simultaneously reduces emissions of both carbon dioxide and the other super climate pollutants would cut the rate of warming in half by 2050, making it much more likely to stay within safer limits.

IGSD is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Minimum qualifications:

• Demonstrated commitment to climate and environmental progress, and strong interest in working in non-profit, non-governmental organizations
• Excellent writing, communication, research, and editing skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Adobe, Dropbox, and Zoom.
• Ability to multi-task, work independently, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• High level of interpersonal skills to work effectively with executive professionals and to handle sensitive and confidential information and situations
• Strong attention to detail and time management skills
• Availability to arrange necessary logistics outside of general office hours
• 0-3 years of work experience
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience

Responsibilities will include the following:

• Maintaining the President’s schedule and activities
• Monitoring the President’s correspondence to ensure timely action and response
• Preparing relevant documents for all the President’s meetings
• Arranging travel logistics for the President, IGSD staff, and consultants
• Handling general virtual office logistics
• Setting up video conferences for the President and for IGSD staff and consultants
• Assist with organization of offsite meetings and workshops

Benefits

• Competitive compensation
• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance coverage
• Generous vacation policy

IGSD is looking for a candidate with availability for training beginning 2 January. To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to info@igsd.org.