Senior Field Strategist, Cement

About Us

Heavy industry is the foundation of modern society. We need materials like cement, steel, and aluminum more than ever to rebuild our bridges and roads, construct wind and solar projects, and manufacture the electric vehicles and heat pumps that will undergird our future. But industry needs a second revolution. For as much as industry made the middle class and ushered in a remarkable era of prosperity for many, it also threatens our climate, reinforces environmental racism, wastes valuable materials and energy, and leaves communities and workers behind.

At Industrious Labs, our mission is to set into motion unstoppable policies, people power, and analysis to make a triple impact on climate, justice, and jobs — drastically reduce dangerous emissions, and make industry accountable to communities and working people. Over our first five years, we have grown from a $1M to a ~$10M annual operating budget, across a 501(c)(3) organization and an aligned LLC, with 26 U.S.-based staff and a growing international portfolio.

We are led by a team of four executives rather than a single executive director — a structure that reflects our commitment to distributed leadership and democratic decision-making. We are deliberately collaborative, equity-centered, and mission-driven. Everyone at Industrious Labs genuinely believes in this work, and that shared conviction is one of our greatest strengths.

About the Position

Industrious Labs is at an inflection point with our international cement work. Demand for cement sits squarely in the Global South, where nearly 90% of the world's new cement will be produced to build housing, roads, mass transit systems, and infrastructure to support economic growth and people's needs. The next several years are a decisive window to decarbonize this demand. People must have access to affordable, sustainable cement to meet housing and infrastructure development needs. It’s also vital that construction trades that use cement remain robust to support livelihoods and pathways to build wealth. 

The Senior Field Strategist will sit within the Field Building team, reporting to Dominique Thomas and working in close collaboration with our Global cement team. Industrious Labs is fully remote, and we are open to US-based and International candidates. International candidates can not be more than 8 hours from the EST time zone. 

The Senior Field Strategist is a highly skilled relationship builder with the expertise to effectively establish, grow, and sustain diverse coalitions of stakeholders. The Senior Field Strategist is energized by the challenge of the climate crisis, inspired to step into a new era of the movement, and has a strong track record of working with diverse groups such as organized labor, environmental justice advocates, and policymakers. This is a public-facing role for an equity-centered leader with a solid track record of working in coalition with others and building capacity and collective vision across diverse perspectives and experiences. In doing so, the Senior Field Strategist further establishes Industrious Labs as a national leader in industrial decarbonization and a go-to resource for policymakers, policy influencers, climate advocates, and community leaders.

The Senior Field Strategist holds key responsibilities that will evolve over time as the team grows and functions are distributed.

This role will work with colleagues on the cement team to meet the following key areas:

• Major policy wins in priority nations/regions such as Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Brazil by the end of 2030, with early evidence of impact. 
• International Finance Corporation (IFC) revises its performance standard incorporating our linguistic recommendations that are 1.5°C aligned and informed by our Global South partners. 
• The Network grows from existing champion organizations of low-carbon cement across countries with in-nation tables to 40+ organizations across 12-15 nations by the end of 2030. 
• Local partners in priority nations are actively engaged and committed to co-developing and implementing the campaign strategy, leading in-nation advocacy, and Network expansion.

The following responsibilities will be a part of the Senior Field Strategist's primary role. 

• Recruit and build an aligned and powerful Global Cement Network with a shared vision, theory of change, and capacity-building strategy for cement transformation. This includes increasing membership, holding consistent organizing 1:1s to build relationships, and ensuring a clear strategy to move to Global South ownership. 
• Execute a comprehensive field-building vision and strategy in key locations with partners that aligns with our field-building department and organizational mission and vision, which could include development of landscape assessments and/or power analyses. 
• Engage and build new relationships with key leaders, organizations, and partners in strategy development to build support for the cement campaign's goals that reflect our values and priorities around equity and justice.
• Collaborate in the development of comprehensive advocacy plans that build a cohesive movement with the power necessary to win cement transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Brazil and beyond. 
• Develop a clear strategy to move regranting dollars to organizational partners in a justice-oriented manner. Be a thought partner to foundations and other regrantors in the space and ensure there is a coordinated, impactful strategy to maximize impact. 

• Design and implement trainings and other opportunities for stakeholders to collaborate, train each other, and build the foundational knowledge to develop and refine campaign approaches.
• Identify partners with aligned efforts to accelerate action and leverage resources, relationships, and research.

The Successful Candidate

The incoming Senior Field Strategist is driven by their belief and commitment to Industrious Labs’ vision, mission, and values. Through their track record and expertise as an organizer and convener – optimally within the climate or another social justice movement – the successful candidate will play a vital role in the development and execution of the cement campaign. The Senior Field Strategist builds authentic and lasting relationships with communities and organizations impacted by pollution from industrial facilities, engaging them as partners in our mission. The successful candidate brings a mindset that considers capacity building the foundation of the vision we see for the future and sees transformational power building as necessary to win and dismantle systems of oppression.

The Senior Field Strategist joins a deeply committed team with a track record of success in campaign strategy, data analysis, and communications, focusing on climate and clean energy. The successful candidate is entrepreneurial and excited about the prospect of working collaboratively internally and building new partnerships within the climate movement. They have the experience of setting vision, establishing, and scaling successful programs with an ethos of creativity, humility, and an expectation of continual learning. They are excited and inspired by the challenge.

Despite enormous obstacles involved in decarbonizing heavy industry, the Industrious Labs team operates with a spirit of possibilities and seeks a Senior Field Strategist who shares the belief that we can all do things we’ve never done before and can stretch ourselves to achieve incredible results.

This role requires a deep commitment to the principles of justice and equity, proven collaboration skills, and the skill to design and execute coordinated strategies that will generate change in a deeply entrenched and seemingly intractable aspect of the climate movement. The Senior Field Strategist demonstrates leadership by diving right in to take a concept from idea to implementation, navigating through internal and external barriers as they arise without getting stuck, and finding and deploying resources creatively to solve problems. The selected candidate will also possess most of the following Core and ideally some of the Preferred qualifications:

Senior Field Strategist Core Qualifications

• At least 5-8 years of increasing responsibility in robust coalition development, power building,  and capacity/field/movement building, with a track record of accomplishment. Specifically: 
• Experience creating a clear vision with attainable goals that build power centered around equity and justice. 
• Experience developing and implementing a power analysis, community mapping, and/or landscape assessment. This includes the skill to articulate key findings and patterns. 
• Experience assisting/leading strategy development in coalition spaces and/or with diverse people/perspectives.
• Experience designing/implementing organizing efforts in local, state, regional, national and/or international settings that build long-term sustainable power to win.
• Strong analysis of movement theory, implementation, and the intersectionality of racial capitalism and other systems of oppression.
• Effective relationship-building skills and solid existing relationships with a wide range of diverse external constituencies, from big greens, labor, environmental justice communities, etc.
• Experience in the climate movement or another social justice movement.
• Experience in community organizing or other forms of organizing 
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally on a semi-frequent basis 

Senior Field Strategist Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working internationally and familiarity with the international advocacy and civil society landscape in the Global South.
• Can be located in an international time zone that is not more than 8 hours from the Eastern Time Zone. 
• Entrepreneurial drive to build an organization from the ground up; prior start-up experience as an early team member in a growing organization
• Experience re-granting with partners and moving resources equitably.
• Experience in community organizing or other forms of organizing 

Industrious Labs Core Qualifications

Below are the qualifications expected of all Industrious Labs staff. 

• Strong commitment to the mission, vision, policies, and goals of Industrious Labs.
• Highly collaborative work style with the ability to operate as a peer and thought partner to colleagues and external partners.
• Commitment to continuous learning, hunger for knowledge, and willingness to ask questions and self-correct; a curious, self-directed, and entrepreneurial approach.

• Exceptional oral and written communication skills with the ability to break down a complex issue into manageable and clear decision points that drive the desired campaign outcomes.
• Excited rather than intimidated by the challenge of what's unknown about this role.
• Proven leadership skills with clarity of vision and a commitment to the highest levels of integrity, quality, and collaboration, developing strong team cultures, promoting and enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion, performance management, and professional development.
• Demonstrated experience working across lines of race, class, gender, and geography and an analysis of how climate change intersects with historically oppressed and marginalized communities.
• Proven ability to prioritize and be flexible in a fast-paced, constantly evolving, and collaborative environment, where working on a team and working individually are all required.
• Commitment to giving and receiving direct, compassionate feedback.

Salary and Benefits:

The annual salary for this position is $121,000.  Industrious Labs has a policy not to negotiate salaries. Historically, negotiations reward those who have the skill, privilege, and confidence to ask for more money; and because not everyone has those skills, allowing for negotiations undermines the economic equity we strive for as an organization. Rather than use negotiations to drive competitive salaries, we endeavor to pay people well and establish a transparent salary scale based on the experience, competencies, and responsibilities required to thrive in this role.

Industrious Labs offers a competitive set of benefits, including comprehensive health care coverage, a work-from-home stipend, retirement plan options, paid holidays plus unlimited vacation, starting with a minimum of 15 business days.

 Our Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Climate Justice:

We believe that diversity in our team isn’t just a value but brings different experiences and perspectives essential to solving the climate crisis. If you’ve read this job description and are excited by it and can see yourself happily filling this role and making a difference on climate change, we hope you apply. Industrious Labs recognizes that a variety of different educational or professional pathways could lead to being a strong candidate and contributor for this role. You may have transferable skills from experiences that may not match exactly what we’ve called out in our list of qualifications for this position. We’d love to hear about your experience and the skills you would bring to serve in this role. Industrious Labs is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to transparent and equitable recruitment, hiring, and promotion processes that foster inclusion and belonging. If you need reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please email Heather Beckford at heather@industriouslabs.org. 

A Note About Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Please provide your original thoughts and ideas in your cover letter and answers to our questions. We hope to understand how you think your experience may contribute to being successful at Industrious Labs! Your authentic and unique perspective is important to us. We value this opportunity to gain an understanding of your independent thoughts without the use of artificial input or search tools.  

We understand that your resume may have been built or developed with AI; however, your resume should represent your qualifications and skills accurately. Otherwise, the use of AI in our hiring process, including responses to interview questions, thought exercises or writing prompts, may disqualify your candidacy.

 Application Procedure: 

To apply, please submit a resume and original cover letter answering the following:

1. What motivates you to spend your time, skills, and expertise working on climate change?
2. How do you describe power? How have you built power with others in the past?
3. Do you have experience working with diverse populations internationally? If so, please describe that experience. If you do not have that experience, please describe what skills you believe you would need to build and what support you would need to do global/international work? 

This position is open until filled. Candidate review and phone screens begin immediately and will continue throughout the search. We anticipate several steps of mutual exploration, including a phone screen, panel interview(s), and thought exercises for finalist candidates. Our search processes generally take 3 - 4 months.