Job Title: Director/Senior Director
Status: Exempt, 40 hours per week
Location: Madison, WI; Tucson, AZ; Remote
- Remote candidates will be considered and will be required to travel to hub offices occasionally.
JOB SUMMARY
The Director is responsible for team guidance, leadership, and technical direction of ILLUME projects. The Director will draw upon their own deep expertise and the work and expertise of colleagues to successfully deliver thoughtful work and expert consulting services to our clients as well as contribute to ILLUME’s growth through marketing and sales.
Directors can serve one of two critical roles on projects:
- Subject Matter Expert, integrating within teams to provide critical technical guidance, making space for team learning and autonomy in decision-making
- Project Leadership, responsible for setting the vision of a project and enabling the successful delivery of the project through team leadership, mentorship, and technical guidance.
Directors are senior leadership members of the company, and as such responsible for balancing the client, team, and company needs in their decisions and guidance. The Directors work collectively with the Executive team to meet the company’s strategic goals through their expertise and exceptional client, team, and project management.
The Director is also responsible for fostering ILLUME’s knowledge in key areas of strategic growth. They enable learning and application of best practice methodologies, discerning when coaching versus more directive feedback is needed.
Primary Responsibilities & Key Results Areas (KRAs)
Team Leadership
Exhibits the following key competencies in leading ILLUME team members and projects.
- Communication: communicates in a manner that is appropriate for the audience, including level of detail, in a clear way, right medium, and recognizing the needs of the recipient of the communication.
- Problem solving, prioritization, and independent decision-making: critical and systematic assessment of issue to provide solutions, taking the right amount of time then acting, engaging other team members as needed to socialize or confirm decisions, prioritizing issues to address, and consideration of short- and longer-term implications.
- Influence: With team members and clients, engage, direct, persuade, and motivate; empower team members (vs. tell or do for team members); motivate and stretch team members to exceed expectations; build trust through clear, kind, and timely, and direct feedback.
- Organizing and planning: Plan for and use own and team time effectively, maximizing time available; efficiently plan for and leverage team resources (funding, labor time, etc.); empower team to organize and plan in their own way, proactively identifying and providing guidance when needed.
- Intrinsic drive: Self-motivated to improve, excel, and produce high quality; is passionate for work and how the work contributes to team and company success; exhibits endurance through high intensity periods while discerning when it is necessary to balance and boundaries for self; models ILLUME values, including healthy boundaries, for the team.
Project Success
- Hold relationships with major accounts, serving as primary client contact and/or supporting the project manager as the primary point of contact for the client.
- Provide direction to a project team, maintaining and communicating the big picture of the client’s needs in the context of their policy and/or organizational environment when specifying and directing project work.
- Support and enable the team to prioritize study needs, ensure activities are right-sized to their research, budget, and timeline needs.
- Stay abreast of project progress, risks, needs, and help mitigate risks of project success.
- Continually balance the team and company needs when directing work.
- Discern when team members should be empowered to make independent decisions, and when it is necessary to be more directive, keeping in mind the end goal of achieving both team growth and project success.
Staff Development, Training, and Mentorship
- Foster the development of the team through in-project training and mentorship.
- Make space for the team to take chances and bring forward their creativity and unique thinking, concurrently staying engaged to provide guidance and support on how and when to pivot based on progress, client expectations, etc.
Subject Matter Expertise (SME)
- Serve as a SME in support of a project or company growth.
- Stay abreast of industry trends and opportunity in that area and identify strategic opportunities for ILLUME in these areas.
- Work across ILLUME project teams to support the development of methodologies and project designs related to personal areas of SME.
- Ensure project approaches are methodologically sound, creative, and that they meet ILLUME’s high quality standards and client project needs.
- Ensure teams are effectively interpreting and conveying the key take-aways of various research activities in a way that is actionable and relatable to a general, less technical audience.
Business Development, Upselling, & Proposal Development
- Identify and realize project expansion (upselling) opportunities with current clients and move that opportunity from a lead to a sold project.
- Proactively develop materials and content for marketing and business development.
- Grow ILLUME’s pipeline and market presence by leading and realizing work through proposals and scope of works.
- Cultivate relationships with new or potential clients to expand ILLUMEs client base.
- Represent ILLUME at key industry events and in key organizations.
OTHER DUTIES
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
COLLABORATION
Collaboration is the minimum standard at ILLUME. Team members build trust through regular, open, and honest communication and by working together across the company to ensure the success of every project. By working together, we create the momentum to accomplish our company objectives and together attain exceptional results.
REQUIRED EDUCATION
Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant area of study, such as policy, social sciences, economics, environmental science, engineering, building science, or related field.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- At least six years of experience providing consulting services to clients in the energy space or adjacent categories.
- Demonstrated ability to deliver exceptional research services on time and on budget without compromising quality or losing one’s focus.
- Exceptional client and stakeholder management.
- Demonstrated success in winning business through responding to RFPs, upselling, and securing sole-source work.
- Experience managing portfolios of work more than $500,000, delivering excellent work on time and on budget.
- Proven experience mentoring and managing staff.
- Superior verbal and written communication skills, demonstrating clarity and conciseness.
- Demonstrated independent decision-making experience with solid judgment.
SALARY AND BENEFITS
The salary for this position will depend on the education, professional experience, industry experience, and subject matter expertise of the applicant. The Director/Senior Director position salary band is $130,000 to $180,000.
ILLUME offers competitive benefits packages including:
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance options
- 401k plan & company match of 3%
- Generous and flexible time off (6+ weeks including holidays)
- Opportunities for professional development and growth
- Flexible work schedule
TO APPLY
Please submit a cover letter, resume, and writing samples/report samples from past work to hiring@illumeadvising.com.
In the subject line of your email, indicate the following:
Last name, First name_ Director
In your cover letter, provide us with:
- A sense of who you are by being honest, creative, and “yourself”.
- Any experience with DEI in the workplace, and your own professional growth.
- Please indicate your desired location (Madison, WI, or Tucson, AZ), or indicate if you wish to work elsewhere and how you will ensure collaboration and availability to your colleagues in a remote environment.
Expect that we will carefully review all of your materials, including your cover letter. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
ILLUME will accept applications until Friday, Nov 10, 2023.
WORKING CONDITIONS
ILLUME employees work in a hybrid work environment and we continuously monitor public health guidelines to make any updates necessary to ensure the health and safety of all employees. This position requires sitting (or standing) for long periods of time at a computer; and communicating by telephone and email. The dress code at ILLUME is business casual (“pulled together”). This position requires some travel.
Background Screening and Drug Testing
Many clients of ILLUME Advising require individuals who will be working with confidential information, visiting client customer homes or businesses, or meet another contractually required circumstance to pass a background screen and/or drug test. In the event you are assigned to work on a contract with client ordered screening requirements you will be required to complete the client’s required screening before working on the project with appropriate notice. The results of background screening and drug testing are used solely to meet client criteria for working on specific projects.
COVID-19
As a federal contractor, ILLUME requires staff to have been vaccinated against COVID-19, or must be willing to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 within 45 days of hire where permitted by applicable law. This is a mandatory requirement except for employees with documented medical reasons and/or exceptions in accordance with the Civil Rights Act.
CULTURE AND COMMITMENT AT ILLUME
Our Vision: ILLUME is the premier consultancy for advancing, re-envisioning, and equitably transforming the energy industry. We align with clean energy and social justice imperatives and give primacy to human dreams and aspirations so that all can thrive in a clean energy future.
Our Commitment to Team Values: At ILLUME, we value the diverse lived experiences of our team. We view diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as an on-going commitment and investment in the growth of our employees, the growth of our company culture, and the growth of our industry. By centering environmental justice, climate change mitigation, and social justice in our work, we aim to transform the way the energy industry looks at its challenges. We believe that our collective well-being depends on how well we explore, elevate, and communicate the experiences of all people who use the electric grid. We quantify the impacts of our public investments to reduce energy demand and mitigate climate change.
ILLUME considers our investment in our team as a long-term and mutual investment. At ILLUME, we’re committed to building a valued business while ensuring rewarding careers to our employees. ILLUME does not discriminate in its employment practices with regard to age, ancestry, religion, arrest record, color, conviction record, creed, cultural background, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, military obligations, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.
