Overview

Climate change is destabilizing marine ice sheets, creating a risk of catastrophic sea level rise over the next century. Arete Glacier Initiative is a new nonprofit initiative to better understand this risk and to assess the efficacy, safety, and feasibility of potential interventions to stabilize ice sheets. Arete Glacier Initiative will fund, coordinate, and otherwise accelerate research to enable informed and legitimate societal decisions about these interventions. Arete’s Chief Scientist is Brent Minchew, a professor of geophysics at MIT. His research focuses on the dynamics of extant glaciers, with an emphasis on the mechanics of glacier beds, ice-ocean interactions, and ice rheology. 

As part of this work, the Program Director will work closely with the Chief Scientist and advisors to develop and implement the programmatic strategy, including R&D roadmap, program/organizational structure, key partnerships and stakeholders, and fundraising. The ideal candidate will excel in this building phase and grow into a continuing leadership role as the organization matures. This is an entrepreneurial role: the candidate will contribute to shaping a new organization with opportunities for future growth, and must be comfortable with the uncertainty and challenges that come along with building something from the ground up. 

Arete Glacier Initiative is a fiscally-sponsored project of Digital Harbor Foundation. Through a portfolio of projects focused on developing leadership within communities, Digital Harbor Foundation supports those closest to challenges to take deliberate actions based on a design thinking approach, backed by data analysis, grounded in a practice of collective impact, and driven by a commitment to racial equity.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in Natural Sciences (Earth science, physics, chemistry, or related field) or engineering discipline (civil, mechanical, aerospace, environmental, or related field) 
• First-hand experience building/scaling real-world technology, businesses, and/or programs
• Existing network in relevant technical fields, with relevant funders and/or with stakeholder communities. 
• Experience allocating large budgets towards frontier technologies (such as philanthropies, VCs, or government grant programs like NSF, NASA, DARPA, and ARPA-E)   

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Exceptionally fast learner. You enjoy (and have experience) quickly ramping up on new technical topics. 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills - you are adept at translating technical jargon into layman’s terms and succinctly summarizing complex concepts. 
• Can get to the crux of an issue and quickly sort signals from noise.
• Creative and attached to outcomes, not process – you’re constantly looking for new paths to the destination and excited to switch gears if there’s a faster, better way to get something done.
• Team player with a proven track record of working well across teams and with external partners.

Roles & Responsibilities

Organizational and Programmatic Management 

• Co-develop and direct Arete’s research program. 
• Build and strengthen relationships with scientists, partners, funders, and policymakers. In particular, help to forge strong, productive, and diverse research teams whose members are dispersed across domains and geographies. 
• Coordinate a complex multi-institutional research program with a diverse and constantly evolving set of actors, relationships, and processes. 
• Actively monitor the state of the field to understand how emerging research will impact funding priorities, anticipate/solve for upcoming challenges, and develop evidence-based, well-vetted theories of change to inform decision-making. 
• Support the research by 
  • Documenting our grantmaking processes and regularly review and advise on ways to improve these processes 
  • Guiding potential grantees through the proposal process 
  • Overseeing active grants, including tracking progress, responding to updates and changes, and advising leadership regarding grant renewals 

Strategic Leadership

• Help to define the strategic objectives of the organization and design roadmaps to achieve key goals and milestones. 
• Adapt to changes to ensure Arete Glacier Initiative has the capacity and expertise to deliver on its mission
• Foster a healthy, inclusive culture of strong teamwork, organizational sustainability, and a bias towards action. 

Fundraising and Fiscal Management

• Help develop fundraising targets and strategy, identify and engage with potential funders, and develop proposals and other materials needed for funding. 
• Manage program budget, and provide timely updates and reports to the rest of the team on program finances and grantmaking activities. 
• Ensure that funds are spent according to grant agreements, including through operational management of the fiscal sponsor relationship, grant execution, and invoices. 

External Relationships and Communication

• Act as one of the public faces of Arete. 
• Identify strategic opportunities for building relationships through private and public events, engaging with research and civil society communities, and the media as needed. 
• When necessary, prepare talking points, written material, and presentations for yourself and/or leadership that effectively communicate our work and perspective to various audiences.

Other Duties

• Please note that 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.

Additional Notes

Arete’s founding team is located in Boston, MA and New York City. We love seeing each other in person and believe regular co-location is important to maximally accelerate our work, so we have a preference for candidates located in/near – or willing to move to/near – one of these two cities. However, we will prioritize hiring the right person, and making this job work for them, over location. 

To that end, we plan on quarterly team co-working weeks, usually in Boston. And expect to travel 1-2 times per month for conferences, external meetings, and team gatherings. Of course, we cover those travel costs. 

Compensation

Compensation for this full-time position is $125k–175k annually. 

Arete Glacier Initiative provides a best-in-class comprehensive set of benefits to support the team. All regular, full-time employees are eligible to receive:

Health Benefits & Insurance

• Advantage Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance (Arete Glacier Initiative pays 100% of the premium for employees and 80% of dependents)
  • Use this link to view available plans and estimate your costs, if any: https://secure.zenefits.com/benefitsPreview
• Pre-Tax Health Savings Account (HSA) (with $75 monthly employer contributions)
• Pre-Tax Flexible Savings Account (FSA)
• Paid Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance
• Paid Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Paid Life Insurance

Retirement

• 401k Retirement Plan (with 6% matching from Arete Glacier Initiative)

Paid Time Off

• 15 Days Paid Time Off Per Year
• 20 Days Paid Time Off Per Year (after 3rd Anniversary)
• 25 Days Paid Time Off Per Year (after 6th Anniversary)
• 16 Paid Holidays (14 common plus 2 flexible holidays)
• Paid Bereavement Leave
• Paid Parental Leave for Moms and Dads (two weeks after first year)

If our mission and vision align with your personal values, please apply!

A cover letter outlining your qualifications for the position along with your resume is required. Interviews will be conducted virtually.

Arete Glacier Initiative and Digital Harbor are equal opportunity employers.