Business Development Associate

Cascadia Consulting Group is a majority women-owned, private environmental consulting firm with over 30 years of experience developing and implementing innovative, community-led solutions to today’s environmental challenges. Cascadia works with public and private-sector clients to advance reduction and circularity, climate change mitigation and resilience, pollution prevention, transportation demand management, ecosystem recovery, and natural resources management initiatives. The Cascadia team brings both established expertise and creative thinking to research and analysis, strategic planning, program design and implementation, outreach, social marketing and behavior change, and evaluation roles. We serve clients throughout North America from our offices in Seattle (WA) and Oakland (CA), and remote locations nationwide.

At Cascadia, we strive to create an equitable and inclusive environment at all levels of the organization. Having staff and partnerships that reflect the diverse communities we serve empowers us to shape innovative and effective solutions together with those most impacted by social, human, and environmental health challenges.

Position Overview

Cascadia’s Business Development (BD) team is seeking a skilled and savvy writer and process manager to support deadline-driven BD efforts with outstanding team coordination, critical thinking, and editorial skills. This person will provide BD coordination and support across multiple Cascadia teams, with a focus on solid waste analysis, zero waste planning, product stewardship and circularity, community development, and public outreach opportunities in the Research & Analysis and Communications & Engagement lines of business. Additional tasks may include supporting targeted marketing initiatives, relationship tracking and management, and editorial support for client-facing deliverables.

The BD Associate will be comfortable developing clear and engaging prose from notes and outlines, readily identifying client priorities and tailoring content and style to address them, prioritizing around tight deadlines and balancing competing priorities, proactively setting schedules and coordinating teammates to meet deadlines, and maintaining perspective and resilience during periods of high demand. This position will report to Cascadia’s Director of Business Development and will be supported by Cascadia’s editorial board, creative team, and a broad cross-section of consulting staff ranging from early career professionals to senior managers.

Everyday tasks may include:

• Developing proposal outlines that are responsive to RFP/Q requirements.
• Coordinating proposal writing and development with internal colleagues and external partners, including setting and managing deadlines.
• Convening meetings to identify key proposal themes and assign proposal development tasks.
• Drafting original proposal narratives from strategy meetings, notes, and outlines.
• Maintaining a digital library of BD materials including project case studies, bios, resumes, and related materials, and working with staff on periodic updates to these materials.
• Conducting research on markets, upcoming legislation changes and clients to support proactive BD initiatives.
• Writing, coordination, and/or fieldwork support on billable projects for clients (~20% FTE).

Qualifications:

• Degree in journalism, communications, marketing, liberal arts, or other writing-oriented major; or related professional experience, such as proposal or grant writing for mission-driven organizations.
• Interest in, and familiarity with, solid waste, zero waste, and circular economy topics. (Familiarity with the sustainability field more broadly—including topics related to climate action, conservation, energy efficiency, transportation, urban planning, and community development—is also beneficial.)
• The ability to track, prioritize, and meet deadlines in a dynamic and collaborative work environment.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to adapt to diverse styles and perspectives.
• Commitment to working both in teams and independently to advance common goals and create high-quality work products.
• The ability to produce responsive, high-quality work proactively, with limited oversight.
• An eye for design; experience with Adobe InDesign or Illustrator is a plus but not required.
• Basic to intermediate experience—and a willingness to expand skills—in producing documents with Microsoft Office 365 programs, such as SharePoint, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and/or Adobe products.
• Experience using collaborative tools such as Google Drive, SharePoint, etc.
• Understanding of, and commitment to, Cascadia’s mission to “inspire and empower communities everywhere to protect and restore our world" in an equitable and inclusive way.
• Commitment to thinking critically about your own cultural lens and being able to communicate respectfully and effectively with people from a diversity of backgrounds.

We encourage you to apply if you think you’ll be successful in this job. The experience and education typical to demonstrate this level of ability is a four-year degree in a related field (e.g., Journalism, Communication Studies, Environmental Studies, Marketing, and/or liberal arts) and at least 2-3 years of relevant experience with progressive responsibility.