About Texas Water Trade
Texas Water Trade (“TWT”) is an organization aimed at unleashing the power of markets and technological innovation to build a future of clean, flowing water for all Texans.
Our work focuses on deploying capital to clean water solutions for people and the environment, with an emphasis on leveraging water transactions to ensure healthy flows in Texas rivers and scaling up investment in net zero municipal water solutions.
Our FY21 budget is roughly $2.3 million. For more information visit https://texaswatertrade.org
About the Position
The Program Associate will be joining TWT’s critical startup phase to support the leadership team responsible for setting and achieving the organization’s programmatic goals. This person will be expected to work well in a dynamic team environment and be comfortable with quickly-changing priorities amid multiple deadlines. TWT is a young, forward-thinking NGO and this is an opportunity to work in a space where conservation is being approached with creative thinking. While there will be many types of responsibilities associated with this role, we see this position as allowing the right individual to have a part in shaping their trajectory in the organization. We are a mission-driven organization that is small, but nimble, and we foster an environment that is supportive, empathetic, and also demanding.
The Program Associate will support TWT’s existing programs aimed at generating voluntary transactions to secure environmental water while also meeting agricultural, industrial and municipal needs. This includes executing assigned tasks for TWT’s centerpiece program, Texas Water Market Makers (Market Makers), through which TWT pledges multi-year technical and strategic support to conservation partners to advance environmental water markets in their priority basins. The Program Associate will assist the Conservation Finance Director in aiding these conservation partners in securing and structuring financial packages to execute the transactions they design. Funding for these transactions will take a wide variety of forms, including multilayered stacks of grants, loans, family and institutional capital. The Program Associate will also support the Conservation Finance Director in assisting the Market Makers in monitoring the outcomes of their transactions, from contractual compliance to hydrological and ecological responses.
Beyond the Market Makers program, the Program Associate will be expected to participate in TWT’s other priority market efforts. Those include land protection in critical watersheds, the market-based restoration of Comanche Springs and Net Zero water infrastructure to meet corporate and municipal demands. Each of these programs depends on vibrant and collegial relationships with nonprofit, corporate and municipal partners.
The Program Associate will be expected to assist TWT in other operational areas as well. This includes assisting the Director of Development and the Senior Executive Administrator as needed in fundraising efforts, operational functions, and outward-facing activities.
For more information on the breadth of TWT’s programming, please see our 2020 Annual Report.
About You
The position will report directly to the Conservation Finance Director and will work in concert with the entire TWT team. The Program Associate will be responsible for providing data management, mapping, grant writing and reporting support and other programmatic and fundraising tasks.
Responsibilities will include:
Program Support (40%):
- Help preparing program slides for presentations
- Assisting in building maps and collecting data
- Helping to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously
- Creating summaries of reports and tracking program progress
- Liaising with partners as needed
- Proofreading and commenting on internally-generated reports
Communications/Media (25%):
- Assisting with writing/proofing grant proposals and reports, including assembling supplemental documentation and submissions
- Building and maintaining a bank of approved photos
- Implementing social media engagement
- Assisting in drafting press releases and outreach to journalists
- Assisting with drafting bimonthly newsletters and mass emails
- Assisting with event planning and implementation
Operations (35%):
- Maintaining compliance with government grant account platforms and registration
- Handling gift processing including acknowledgments, donor database management, and other tasks in coordination with the Senior Administrator and Director of Development
- Preparing and mailing print communications, including hard copies of end of year solicitations, and annual reports.
- Data collection/management/entry (programmatic and budgetary)
- Assisting in coordination of team calendars as needed
The Program Associate’s time allocation represented above may rebalance toward more programmatic work as the organization grows and positions become more specialized.
Qualifications
Texas Water Trade will seek candidates who are diligent and results-driven, with demonstrated team orientation and an interest in water resilience.
Required Qualifications:
- A college degree; concentrations in hydrology, GIS, ecology, or remote sensing could all be useful
- Minimum of 3 years’ experience working in a team environment
- Experience working with a diverse group of partners
- Demonstrated ability to reach goals
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Strong core computer skills in MS Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint
- Ability to thrive in a demanding, dynamic and entrepreneurial setting
- Strong time management skills
- Strong interpersonal skills
Preferred Qualifications:
- Interest in Texas springs, rivers, bays and estuaries, the future of urban water supplies, market-based conservation and transformative technology for clean water access
- Familiarity with Texas water players and/or industry.
- Proficiency with GIS mapping platforms (e.g., ArcGIS, Google Earth, Tableau)
The Program Associate must be located in the greater Austin area. While the office is currently in limited use due to COVID-19, eventually the expectation will be for the Program Associate to work from Texas Water Trade’s Austin headquarters at least 3 days a week. Similarly, while work travel is limited now due to the pandemic, by 2022 we anticipate the Program Associate may make 1-2 trips per month for conference and meetings. There will likely be occasional events after work hours.
Benefits and Compensation:
The entry salary for the Program Associate is up to $55,000, based on skills and experiences. We provide excellent benefits, including:
- 10 paid holidays per year. At the discretion of the Chief Executive Officer, the Texas Water Trade offices may be closed from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day, with all eligible staff receiving pay.
- 10 days paid vacation leave for the first year and 15 per year thereafter
- 5 paid get well days per year
- Up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family care, eligible following 12 consecutive months of employment at TWT
- Up to 4 weeks of paid maternity/paternity leave, eligible following 12 consecutive months of employment at TWT.
- 90% employer contribution to health insurance coverage
- Long- and short-term disability insurance
- Up to 6% match on employee 401(k) contributions, eligible following 12 consecutive months of employment at TWT.
To Apply
Please submit inquiries, cover letter and resume including three professional references to [email protected] Resumes will be reviewed on receipt until 4/30/2021. Target start date is May to June 2021.
We are especially excited about increasing applications from people who understand the value of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. We welcome applications from all people, including persons with disabilities, people of color, and LGBTQ+. Read Texas Water Trade’s commitment to bringing clean drinking water to all Texans and especially communities of color who are disproportionately affected by the water crisis.
We are proud to be an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Our employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran or military status or any other legally protected status.
