Registry Officer/Registry Manager, depending on experience

POSITION DETAILS

Position Description: Implementing next generation carbon credit registries

Position Title: Registry Officer or Registry Manager, depending on experience

Location: U.S. remote or hybrid setting with offices in Arlington, VA and Little Rock, AR

Department: Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) - ACR

Reports To: Director, Registry Operations

GENERAL

The Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) is a wholly owned nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International and was founded in 1996 to offer trusted solutions to environmental markets to catalyze transformational climate impacts. ERT ensures the integrity of environmental assets, including carbon credits, by developing science-based, peer reviewed accounting standards, overseeing independent third-party verification of emission reductions and carbon removals and providing transparency throughout the process including the issuance, transactions, and retirement of serialized offset credits on public registry systems. ERT operates three carbon crediting programs:

ACR is an internationally recognized carbon crediting program that operates in global compliance and voluntary carbon markets. ACR was the first private greenhouse gas registry in the world and brings three decades of unparalleled experience and innovation to is operation as an independent carbon credit standards body and registry. ACR is also an approved Offset Project Registry for the California and Washington State Cap-and-Invest Programs (administered by the California Air Resources Board, or CARB and the Washington State Department of Ecology, or Ecology, respectively).

The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) was established in 2018 as the first market-based initiative to incentivize the protection and restoration of tropical forests at scale, also known as jurisdictional REDD+. ART is the leading global carbon market initiative for jurisdictional REDD+, ensuring the social and environmental integrity of climate results from protecting and restoring forests at scale. ART’s growing pipeline of participating jurisdictions currently includes over two dozen governments on five continents covering over 1 billion acres – 25% of the world’s tropical forests.

ERT is also developing the Standard for the Transformation of the Electric Power Sector (STEPS), a first of a kind sectoral carbon crediting standard to incentivize steeper and more rapid electric sector decarbonization.

ACR and ART are approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to supply emission reduction and removals credits to airlines for use towards their obligations under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) pilot phase (complete), phase 1 (2024-2026) and phase 2 (2027-2029). The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has assessed ACR and ART against the Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and approved both as a CCP-Eligible programs. Both also have an MoU with Singapore to supply credits for use towards national carbon tax obligations and are positioned for roles in new compliance offset markets and under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, as well as increased prominence in the global voluntary carbon market.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Registry Officer or Registry Manager (depending on experience) will join the Registry Operations team soon after the launch ACR and ART on a re-envisioned registry platform with a new registry technology service provider, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). At this juncture the team is developing support resources and supporting staff and partners in their use of our registries as well as working with ICE to enhance functionality and features as part of a phased deployment to deliver a quantum leap forward in infrastructure to enable the scaling and integration of global carbon markets.

This is an operations and client services role contributing to all aspects of registry services management. The position will engage daily with ACR’s critical registry platform infrastructure and will support the technical team members and registry participants in their use of the system infrastructure and functionality developments. This includes, but is not limited to, carbon credit issuance process, onboarding of new registry participants, and maintaining accurate registry data and billing services.

The Registry Officer or Registry Manager will develop a strong functional understanding of relevant aspects of the ACR Standard, California and Washington regulations, and CORSIA and ICVCM requirements to ensure that projects move through the registry process efficiently, while upholding our program policies, regulatory compliance, technical rigor, quality and transparency. They will contribute to the maintenance and development of operational processes ensuring the integrity of the carbon credits issued and transacted. The successful candidate may also support registry platform infrastructure related to the ART and STEPS programs as needed.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support staff and stakeholders use of the registries during GHG project listing, validation/verification, and credit issuance and transaction processes.
• Review project data and documents submitted to the ACR registry for accuracy and completeness prior to credit issuance.
• Assess new registry participant applications, including conducting know your customer (KYC) and providing onboarding assistance.
• Represent the organization and constructively engage with partners to directly support ACR’s success in all markets, including answering registry participant, stakeholder, and market participant questions.
• Track relevant program developments, including publication of new methodologies and approval of new Validation/Verification Bodies to ensure the registries’ functionality is in alignment.
• Think creatively and practically about opportunities to improve registry service and standard operating procedures.
• Maintain and update ACR policy and template documents for use by ACR users and staff.
• Contribute to the development of analyses, reports, presentations, and outreach materials to support program operations and strategic business development opportunities for the registries to connect to emerging carbon markets and platforms.
• A Technical Officer will learn, test, troubleshoot, and teach the functionality of the registry systems. A Technical Manager will additionally draft and/or review system specifications for infrastructure enhancements.
• A Technical Officer will support, and a Technical Manager will provide leadership in engagement with its registry service providers on behalf of ACR, ART and STEPS. Participate in regularly scheduled meetings to track development needs and outcomes. Communicate as needed with the registry service providers to address any issues or questions that arise.
• A Technical Officer will contribute to, and a Technical Manager will provide leadership in the ongoing management of registry datasets.
• A Technical Manager will mentor more junior staff.
• Complete other tasks as assigned.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Bachelor’s degree required. Degrees in Business Administration, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Information Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Environmental Sciences/Policy, GHG Accounting, or related field preferred.

Experience: Minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience is required for a Technical Officer. Minimum of 6 years of relevant work experience is required for a Technical Manager. Additional years of experience and experience in environmental markets are preferred. Relevant experience includes environmental markets, customer support, database management, and systems organization.

Computer/Technical Skills: Proficiency in the full MS Office suite is required. Experience developing software requirement specifications and conducting user acceptance testing is preferred. Experience with data analytics platforms such as Tableau is a plus.

Communication Skills: Strong speaking and written English communication skills are required. Presentation skills are an asset. Fluency in one or more additional languages is an asset.

Position-Specific Skills:            

• Strong organizational, analytical, and systems thinking skills and a willingness to learn on the job.
• Demonstrated project management ability, including effectively managing workflow for multiple tasks and partners, tracking and meeting deadlines, and reporting progress.
• Detail oriented with the ability to meticulously review and provide substantive feedback on datasets and documents.
• Demonstration of high level of client service, including thorough and timely responses to partner inquiries.
• Impeccable integrity and trustworthiness, and a diplomatic approach to problem solving.
• Ability to work well in teams and independently and consistently interact with others in a professional, courteous, and tactful manner, maintain a positive attitude, and work effectively in a team setting.

OTHER

Commitment to mission and interest in market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions required. Candidate must be comfortable working in a flexible, high-paced environment.

Must have work authorization in the United States. Sponsorship for this role is not available. 

Must be available to travel domestically 1-3 times per year for short-term assignments.

Typical office environment with continual sitting or standing required.

The pay range for this role is $65,000 - $115,000 per year and determined based on the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's experience, specialized knowledge and skills, internal equity, and current market conditions. Winrock offers an excellent benefits package.

Winrock is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by law.

At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation.