Job Opportunities across the Sunrise Project

As we take on new challenges to solve the climate crisis, our team is growing rapidly. We’re looking for passionate changemakers to join our team. See below for current job openings across the Sunrise Project network.

We’re passionate about finding the right people for the right roles and then supporting them to do great work. Find out more about our generous employee benefits, our values, and our commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Not seeing the right role for you but think that you’d be a good fit on our team? Get notified of future jobs across the Sunrise Project.

For all job, recruitment and volunteering enquiries, please contact us via [email protected]


Current roles available

Remuneration: $115,695 – $124,866 USD

About the role: This newly established role requires high-level competence and experience in cloud-based services and infrastructure, security, data governance, and managing helpdesk. As part of the Technology and Transformation team, you’ll lead the global remote technology team of three people, to provide day to day services, and build out our technology function to service the needs of the organization as we continue to grow.

Our IT environment is designed to be secure, easy to maintain and readily available from any location around the world. We use Apple and Google Workspace in our environment and we rely on standard tools configured appropriately to support our teams to achieve the Sunrise mission effectively and securely.

How to apply: Read the job description and submit your application here.

Application Deadline: Open until filled, earlier applications prioritized

Remuneration: $115,695 – $124,866 USD

About the role: The role ensures our financial management, forecasting  and compliance controls are effective, transparent and provide the organisation with the insights it needs to make nimble, informed decisions. This role holds a key relationship with the program teams, partnering with them to translate financial data into strategic insights and ensure that financial forecasts are current and accurate.

How to apply: Read the job description and submit your application here.

Application Deadline: 27 Oct 2024 at 11:59pm PST

Remuneration: JPY 8,429,571 – 10,813,472

About the role: This role will lead the development, coordination, implementation, and evaluation of goals and strategies aimed at accelerating the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy by Japanese private and public financial institutions, while also decarbonizing Japan’s real economy.

The role will spearhead the implementation of campaign strategies, fostering partnerships, identifying grantees, and monitoring the role of Japanese financial institutions in the climate transition to identify opportunities for influence whilst contributing to the overarching Asia strategy.

How to apply: Read the job description and submit your application here

Application Deadline: Please apply ASAP. Your expression of interest should include a cover letter responding to
the skills required in the job description and resume to [email protected] quoting #1250174.

Meet some of our people

Nichola Gardner COO portrait

Nichola is the Sunrise Australia COO and works for Sunrise Project Australia.

They live in Sydney Australia and started with Sunrise in November 2022. 

What drew you to work at Sunrise?

Having worked across a variety of organisations in the corporate world, I was looking for an opportunity to leverage my skills and contribute to solving the climate crisis; I wanted to be able to look my children in the eye in the future, and wholeheartedly tell them I did what I could, with the skills I had. I was drawn to Sunrise due to both the impact that they are contributing to in the world, as well as their deep commitment to furthering Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

What’s your experience been like so far?

Being new to the climate movement, and having never considered myself an activist previously, it is definitely something of a culture shock; coming into a space where the people you are working with have dedicated their lives to fighting for a cause was new for me, and it requires a different level of care for each other that corporations and businesses don’t often have. The level of passion and dedication within Sunrise is like a delicate super-power, and it’s been an enriching experience to join the team.

Why do you enjoy working here?

From the moment I landed at Sunrise, I was made to feel welcome, valued and integral to the mission. I am constantly inspired and motivated by the smart, proactive and committed people that I get to collaborate with, and appreciate the opportunity to learn from our people all over the world. I relish the challenge of trying to solve complex problems, so to work in a team that is doing that at both an organisational level as well as at a systems level through our programs has been particularly thrilling!

Xiomára is an Organizer with the Investors & Asset Managers program and works for Sunrise Project Inc.

Xiomára lives in occupied Anishinaabe territory, also known as Chicago, IL and joined Sunrise in July 2022.

What drew you to work at Sunrise?

I had reached a point in my community organizing where I felt I was hitting a wall of how I could offer support to Indigenous communities seeking help, particularly in the Amazon Rainforest paying the price for BlackRock investments. The prospect of having a greater reach to support Indigenous, frontline, and grassroots community resistance, the people most often overlooked and taken advantage of while fighting for our lives, was very exciting. As an Indigenous woman, I really appreciated Sunrise’s efforts to collaborate with movements doing the work on the ground and draw the connections between white supremacy and environmental racism. 

What’s your experience been like so far?

It has been joyful getting to know our grassroots partners, hearing what they’d like to be able to do with their work.  I have been looking for ways to create space for relationship building between our grassroots partners and Indigenous and frontline communities where stories are shared on a personal level, not exclusively on a movement level.  I am continually seeking ways to empower and uplift work that’s been in motion since extraction, and abuse of our communities and the resources of our beautiful Mother began, and connecting that work being done to other people bringing all their different varieties of gifts to the Movement table.  I appreciate working with a team of people who are also looking for ways to grow and shift the nonprofit status quo of transactional relationships, and examining the facets of what that looks like, as it is required in the pursuit of Justice for oppressed peoples.

Why do you enjoy working here?

I very much value The Sunrise Project’s desire to step back and encourage our partners to step forward into the light they deserve to shine in, and then a step further: seeking to support all different aspects of the work.  I have witnessed many organizations that do not seek to create relationships and instead exclude frontline communities while making sure their brand is notably present. I am hopeful for our pursuit to balance these relationships and I pray that the work I contribute to here is making my Ancestors proud.

Casey is a Senior Strategist and works for Sunrise Inc.

Casey lives with his family in Oakland, California, U.S. He’s been with the Sunrise Project since April 2017. 

What drew you to work at Sunrise?

When I started at Sunrise, there were about eight full time employees in Australia and one in the nascent finance program. Yet even then I was struck by the organisation’s level of ambition and collaborative approach to solving seemingly intractable campaigns. I had met Sam the year before and was familiar with John’s work ever since I met him at an internal Greenpeace meeting in 2010. It felt like they were creating something powerful and I jumped at the chance to be a part of it.

What’s your experience been like so far?

It has varied and evolved a lot over the past five plus years! When we were first building the finance program I had to wear a lot of different hats. I was developing relationships with partners who would be integral to our campaign success, all while playing the role of campaigner, occasional media officer and funder. It was difficult but exciting and rewarding work. As Sunrise has grown and my ability to campaign has been limited (I have been battling ALS/MND [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neurone Disease] for about three and a half years), I have focussed on building campaigns with my colleagues that take on the biggest investors in climate change.

Why do you enjoy working here? 

To me, Sunrise is a finishing school for corporate campaigners. I learn so much from my colleagues and the network of changemakers we involve in our campaigns. I have realised that I have been hungering for a professional home where I have kindred spirits who also long for the tools, resources and mentality to help create social change to thwart a threat as large as the climate crisis. I enjoy what I do, feel supported by my colleagues to continue to do this work despite my disabilities, and am lucky to call many of my colleagues friends.

Umme is the Program Director, Sunrise Organising Lab (SOL) and works for Sunrise Project Inc.

They live on land governed by the Pueblos in New Mexico in the United States and started at the Sunrise Project in November 2021.

What drew you to work at Sunrise? We know the urgency of climate change, and who is actually responsible for it. So the question then becomes who gets to decide how we respond to it. Will we perpetuate the inequalities that exist in our current global systems and structures? Or will we build the power we need on a community level to ensure a future that works for all of us, centering those most impacted? Sunrise and especially Sunrise Organising Lab (SOL) thinks intentionally about this question and the movement we’re building and supporting, and that’s where I wanted to be.

What’s your experience been like so far? A wild and kind of incredible ride! Sunrise is growing fast to meet the crisis, and SOL is right there with it. Sunrise’s unique model and SOL’s understanding of the need for global powerbuilding and growth across different parts of the movement has provided a lot of opportunities for strategic collaboration, engagement, powerbuilding, and learning with incredible people and groups all over the world.

Why do you enjoy working here? Fighting the institutions of finance and capital, while also supporting people all over the world to unlock their own power, think strategically, build campaigns and take action with networks of folks they’d otherwise potentially never even engage with, is a real privilege. It’s exciting to be part of Sunrise Organizing Lab and growing the Finance Action Organisers Network to support our campaigns and programs, helping ensure wins, and also strive to support our overall mission to scale social movements to hasten the transition to renewable energy.

Minyoung “Minnie” Shin is Program Director, Insurance and works for Sunrise Project Inc.

Minnie is originally from South Korea and now lives in Texas, U.S. She has been with Sunrise since August 2020.

What drew you to work at Sunrise?

Although my arrival at Sunrise was by pure chance, I knew something was special about this organization when I heard that they were bringing attention to the role of insurance underwriting in stopping fossil fuel expansion. The idea of shifting the finance sector really drew me to Sunrise because throughout my career, I have seen too many times where climate solutions were not implemented due to high cost of capital. And coming from a corporate sustainability and public finance and policy background, I was intrigued by the fact that Sunrise uses the power of social movements to bring about this change.

What’s your experience been like so far?

Every day I am humbled and inspired by my colleagues and the partners we work with. Although I worked on the issue of climate change for a decade before joining Sunrise, campaigning and social movement building were new concepts to me. The generosity of my colleagues and partners in offering strategic expertise and thought partnership have been imperative in the growth and evolution of my work at Sunrise. I am also grateful that I’m able to use and continue to nurture all of my skills and experiences in my current work and be able to address the issue of climate change from a variety of perspectives.

Why do you enjoy working here?

Ever since college, I knew I always wanted to do something impactful that would bring about positive change to our environment and society. Sunrise has made that dream of mine come true. What I most love about Sunrise is that we strive to bring climate justice by supporting others and asking them what they need to achieve their goals. I also appreciate that Sunrise is intentional about creating a more diverse network of movement partners, from global NGOs to small grassroots organizations. It brings me great joy that I can take part in this process and knowing that climate action is being celebrated across regions at the global and local level.

Isabelle is a Strategist, Campaigner & Organizer in the insurance program and works for Sunrise Project Inc.

Isabelle lives in Avignon, France and joined the Sunrise Project in May 2022.

What drew you to work at Sunrise? 

Originally from Quebec (Canada), I’ve been active in the climate justice movement fighting fossil fuel expansion for the past decade. Despite growing strong and diverse movements and coalitions with limited resources, political wins, blocking several pipelines and expansion projects – we weren’t winning fast enough and I was hit by movement fatigue. When I discovered Sunrise, I was really impressed by the model, the bold targets and seduced by the mission to scale social movements to drive the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as fast as possible. Sunrise’s international level of ambition, assertive strategies and unique role it plays in the climate justice ecosystem is really what drew me here to fight the big fight – fossil finance.

What’s your experience been like so far? 

I keep on being impressed by the fact that despite the major global challenges we face and that we campaign on global fossil fuel companies and global finance actors that are hard targets to move, Sunrise and its network partners are able to have such an impact, impulse shifts and achieve wins to drive the transition away from fossil fuels. I really appreciate the wide variety of partners and groups we work with and the continued desire to centre justice in our work and get better at it. In the past year, I’ve learned so much from brilliant colleagues and movement partners and feel I’m part of a solid, impactful and caring ecosystem of change makers that can take on the climate crisis.

Why do you enjoy working here? 

I feel privileged to work in an organisation asking the question “what do we need to do to win” rather than “what is feasible” and at the same time cares for its staff well being and development. The big thing for me is Sunrise’s trust and support in its staff and partners to lead collective impact strategies & distributed campaigns with colleagues that are willing to dare, test new things and be flexible and agile in our campaigning. Because I truly believe that it’s with a wide ranging powerful network deploying striking strategies and a wide scale of tactics that we will be able to achieve the major societal system shifts that we need to make happen.

The Sunrise Project

Driven by the imperative of climate justice, The Sunrise Project scales social movements to drive the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as fast as possible.

CONTACT

For all job, recruitment and volunteering enquiries: [email protected]

For media enquiries: [email protected]

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We respectfully acknowledge the Indigenous peoples and local communities of the lands on which we live and work.  We recognise the leadership of these communities in the struggle for climate justice and our responsibility to uplift their voices and histories.