Associate I / II on the Communications & Engagement Team

About Lotus

Lotus Engineering and Sustainability has delivered responsible and progressive sustainability solutions for public and private sector clients since 2012. Our consulting services combine the technical and pragmatic approaches of engineering and business with the holistic and innovative approaches of efficiency and sustainability. We excel at helping clients look at their sustainability and social initiatives through various lenses including public relations, financial, political, and environmental impact.

The work we do makes a difference, and we want a broad audience to engage with it.

• We recognize that great relationships form the foundation for great projects. We take the time to get to know our clients – their context, motivation, and goals. We invest in our relationships with our employees and contractors because we recognize that they are integral to our success.
• We do great work, and we turn it around quickly so that our clients can deliver on their commitments.
• We use a wide range of communication skills to deliver the results of our analysis so that non-technical audiences can use them to make decisions.

Our projects address sustainability, climate action, and resiliency planning; greenhouse gas accounting; environmental justice and social equity issues; energy efficiency program development and management; and market/regulatory analyses.

At this time, Lotus is unable to sponsor visas.

Lotus’ Commitment to Equity

At Lotus, we know our expertise is a catalyst to address the current and future impacts of climate change. However, that is not enough.

We recognize with humility that our role as consultants is to use that expertise to co-create solutions with communities. With this in mind, we commit to sustained collective action to heal past harms, uplift lived experiences, and dismantle systems of oppression to help all our clients realize a climate-just vision for their futures. We know environmental and climate justice is social and racial justice. We take this responsibility seriously.

Research shows women and other underrepresented and historically marginalized groups tend to apply only when they check every box for job qualifications. If you are reading this and hesitate to apply for that reason, we encourage you to apply.

Team Environment

Lotus believes that collaboration and cooperation result in better outcomes for our clients and our team members. We respect the unique talents and perspectives that each person brings to our team and encourage them to leverage those skills to bring value to our clients. Our success as a team is intertwined with the success of each individual.

We rely on our team members to deliver high-quality work on time and on budget in a fastpaced consulting environment. We are able to be responsive to our clients because we are responsive within our team. We are an organization that relies on effective and proactive communication to achieve our goals.

We succeed because we consider issues from many points of view. We assess how someone else’s context affects their position on an issue; we do this for each collaborator in a discussion, whether it is inside a client organization or in a broader group. We take the time to synthesize these perspectives and identify solutions that create lasting benefits. Each team member contributes their unique experiences and perspectives to consider issues from many points of view.

A Week in the Life of a Lotus Employee in this Position

We are looking to support our growing business by hiring an Associate I or Associate II.

We are looking for someone who is willing to pitch in on all tasks that come up in the course of business.

We need you to be flexible and nimble, willing to adapt to the needs of a business in a rapidly evolving market.

Our business model relies on professionals who don’t mind working independently, who ask additive questions throughout the project, and who love to take the initiative and own project tasks from start to finish.

We need you to be resourceful, quickly leveraging the contacts and resources at your disposal in a strategic manner to work through day-to-day challenges.

During the course of a given week, we’ll ask you to employ a broad range of skills. We’ll ask you to use both sides of your brain. Most of your work will support our projects within our Communications and Engagement team at Lotus. Here’s a snapshot of some of the work that we currently anticipate:

More than anything else, we’ll rely on you to support client engagement work.

• Support and lead engagement and outreach campaigns, including through developing stakeholder maps, engagement plans, social media campaigns, editorial calendars, cold calling campaigns, and similar deliverables.
• Support the facilitation of steering committee, task force, and community meetings, including developing engaging and participatory meeting materials and activities, weaving in research, data, and findings from other components of Lotus’ work into the process as needed.
• Prepare draft narratives and memos to support engagement work and project plans.
• Support broad community outreach and engagement, including conducting qualitative and quantitative research and analysis and building relationships in communities that Lotus will engage.

We’ll ask you to support Lotus’ and our clients’ commitment to equity and environmental justice.

• Identify ways to integrate components that address equity and issues of environmental justice through all of our outreach and engagement work.
• Identify opportunities to improve our public engagement efforts and create a safe environment for engagement.
• Provide support to engagement participants to ensure they are empowered by the process.

We’ll ask you to work independently to manage or support engagement projects for clients.

• Project manage smaller engagement-related projects for Lotus and engagement tasks within larger projects managed by colleagues.
• Work collaboratively across the team to ensure that client needs are met and projects adhere to established budgets and timelines.

We’ll ask you to help us craft a story that explains our work.

• Analyze the results of engagement efforts and weave these findings into climate action plans, sustainability reports, and other client deliverables.
• Support the development of outreach materials, including websites for community plans, surveys, and other innovative approaches to gathering community and stakeholder input.
• Develop meeting materials and presentations using a lot of graphics to present our work to non-technical audiences or to conference crowds.

We’ll ask you to support us in delivering the highest-quality services to our clients. ● Help respond to upcoming project opportunities.

• Ensure that our clients’ needs and wants are met.
• Ensure consistent communication with your clients and among your teammates.
• Jump in as needed to support projects and client needs in any of Lotus’ practice areas.

This position requires a candidate with the following qualifications:

• Communication and Engagement Skills
  • Experience supporting or leading outreach and engagement campaigns, including through utilizing digital outreach tools and social media.
  • Experience supporting collaborative processes, with a preference for experience in community building and gathering consensus across diverse networks of collaborators.
  • Skills in public speaking.
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and an ability to share complex information in an easily understood format.
  • Excellent listening skills and the ability to hear, process, and aggregate input from multiple sources.
• Professional Experience
  • Collaborative team player and engager.
  • A history of successful, creative problem-solving.
  • A history of self-education on issues outside the immediate scope of prior work.
  • Strong history of self-management and being self-sufficient.
  • A passion and enthusiasm for the work we do with public and private sector clients.
• Education
  • Bachelor’s degree and 2-3 years of relevant experience OR Masters’ degree with 1+ years of relevant experience OR Highschool + 8-9 years of relevant experience.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and the Google Suite (e.g., Docs, Sheets, Forms, etc.).
• Project Management
  • Ability to manage multiple projects, people, timelines, and tasks simultaneously with a moderate level of independence and competence within a fast-paced, complex, innovative environment.

Candidate attributes that provide additional value include:

• An interest in and understanding of the quickly evolving world of sustainability and climate action, including green building, greenhouse gas accounting, environmental justice, transportation issues, and other sustainability topics.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and build professional relationships, connections, and partnerships with clients.
• Spoken and written fluency in Spanish.
• Experience with Miro, Survey Monkey, Zoom, Mentimeter, and other virtual facilitation tools.
• Experience in Canva, Adobe InDesign, and ArcGIS (Desktop and Online).
• Experience in Website design using platforms such as SquareSpace, WordPress, etc.

Compensation and Benefits: Salary commensurate with experience with a range of $65,000-$90,000. This range is based on a 40-hour workweek. We highly value work-life balance and work to equitably distribute workloads or offer flex time to stay within 40 hours. to

A full-time employee will be eligible to participate in Lotus’ medical and dental plans, limited life insurance, wellness stipend, and matching 401K (up to 3%).

Lotus observes 10 holidays for full-time employees and offers a flexible work schedule* with flexible PTO that allows employees to own their work-life balance. Instead of tracking PTO, employees are assigned quarterly target hours that include 40 working hours per week with 15 suggested vacation days and 10 holidays per year – employees are not limited to that suggested time off but are responsible for meeting their targets.

*A limitation to the flexible work schedule requires that meetings with colleagues and clients should only take place during normal working hours.

Additional benefits include: 48 hours sick leave, volunteer and nonprofit board time up to 30 hours per year, annual professional development budget, employee donation matches, paid parental leave, and a dog-friendly office.

Location and Schedule: We are open to remote employees or those that live in the following geographic areas: Denver, Chicago, or Cleveland. If in Denver (or the surrounding Metro area), the work would primarily take place at Lotus’ Denver location (Steno – 1627 Vine St. near City Park).

Note that Denver area employees can remotely work for multiple days a week. If in Chicago or Cleveland, the work would be primarily remote with opportunities to collaborate in-person with colleagues in those regions regularly. We are open to remote working as long as employees are available to chat or email during normal business hours (i.e., the office is generally open from 9 am – 5 pm (Mountain Time) Monday through Friday). Remote applicants would need to provide evidence of experience of effectively working remotely.

We expect periodic in-person meetings in and around Denver and occasional client-related meetings throughout Colorado and nationally.

To apply

Please submit the following documents to hiring@lotussustainability.com with the position name in the title followed by your name “C&E Associate I / II – [Your name]”:

• Resume and Cover Letter – Help us understand why you would be a great addition to our team. Tell a story, highlight your most applicable skills, do whatever you think will capture the essence of what you’ll bring to the table. Cover letters should address your ability to meet the job responsibilities in the Required Qualifications section. Please include 2-3 references.
• Communications Sample – As noted above, we use a wide range of communication skills to support our clients’ needs and deliver the results of our work so that nontechnical audiences can understand them. Please demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively to a broad audience by sharing a sample of a written report, website, social media campaign, meeting facilitation approach, or other written sample.

The review of materials is ongoing and will continue until the position is filled. Early application is strongly encouraged.

Research shows women and other underrepresented and historically marginalized groups tend to apply only when they check every box for job qualifications. If you are reading this and hesitate to apply for that reason, we encourage you to apply.