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About the Role

Waterfront Alliance seeks an experienced and entrepreneurial Senior Manager, Community Engagement to oversee and implement community engagement activities across the organization's growing portfolio of climate resilience, planning, education, and advocacy initiatives. This senior programmatic role involves designing and leading community engagement strategies, facilitating workshops, cultivating partnerships, supporting coalition-building, and ensuring community priorities are reflected in projects and policy recommendations. The successful candidate will be a skilled relationship-builder and project manager, comfortable operating independently and managing multiple initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead engagement efforts for resilience planning, community development, climate adaptation, and waterfront-related initiatives throughout New York City, Long Island, and the broader NY-NJ Harbor region.
Design and implement inclusive, culturally responsive, and community-driven engagement strategies.
Organize and facilitate public meetings, workshops, charrettes, focus groups, listening sessions, webinars, and other engagement activities.
Represent Waterfront Alliance at community meetings, coalition gatherings, public forums, and stakeholder events.
Develop engagement plans to integrate community priorities into planning and implementation processes.
Support implementation and growth of Climate Informed Communities initiatives, acting as a primary contact for community-based climate resilience, preparedness, and engagement initiatives.
Cultivate and maintain relationships with community-based organizations, neighborhood leaders, advocacy groups, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, public agencies, and other community stakeholders.
Expand Waterfront Alliance's network of community partners, particularly in frontline and historically underserved communities.
Design and coordinate community workshops, preparedness events, educational programming, office hours, listening sessions, and other community engagement activities.
Connect community organizations with resources, funding opportunities, technical assistance, peer networks, and resilience-focused tools, supporting local capacity-building efforts.
Develop strategies to help residents prepare for climate-related impacts including flooding, extreme heat, coastal storms, and other environmental hazards.
Identify gaps in community resources, resilience services, and preparedness efforts and work collaboratively to develop programmatic and advocacy responses.
Collect, document, and elevate community stories and lived experiences related to climate impacts, water, flooding, and resilience to inform programming, communications, and policy priorities.
Manage deliverables across multiple grants, contracts, and community resilience initiatives, ensuring timely completion and alignment with project objectives.
Track participation, engagement metrics, and program outcomes to evaluate effectiveness and support continuous improvement.
Prepare reports, grant deliverables, presentations, and other materials for funders, partners, and stakeholders.
Coordinate closely with internal staff, consultants, funders, community partners, and public agencies to support successful project implementation and long-term program growth.
Work closely with the Director of Policy and Government Affairs to monitor community board meetings, public hearings, and stakeholder engagement processes related to resilience, infrastructure, and waterfront projects.
Present project concepts and resilience initiatives to community stakeholders and local decision-makers.
Gather community input and synthesize findings into reports, recommendations, and advocacy priorities.
Support community-centered planning initiatives by ensuring meaningful resident participation and engagement throughout project lifecycles.
Work closely with the Director of Communications to develop community-facing content, social media materials, newsletters, toolkits, and preparedness resources.
Keep the team informed of relevant community news impacting brand awareness, reputation, and programmatic connections.
Contribute content and community perspectives for webinars, conferences, educational programs, and public events.
Elevate community successes, local leadership, and lived experiences through storytelling and outreach efforts, including drafting email language, social media content, blog posts, flyers, and other communications materials.
Support creative and culturally relevant engagement approaches, including arts-based and community-driven communications strategies.

Requirements

Minimum of 5+ years of experience in community engagement, stakeholder engagement, environmental justice, community development, planning, resilience, public outreach, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience designing and facilitating community engagement processes.
Strong public speaking, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.
Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
Experience managing, motivating, and leading a team.
Strong written communication and report-writing abilities.
Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across teams.
Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends to support community meetings and events.
Strong familiarity with New York City neighborhoods, community boards, and local stakeholder networks.
Applicants must be legally authorized to work fulltime in the U.S. and should not require employment sponsorship now or in the future.

Skills

Community-Centered Leadership
Facilitation and Public Engagement
Partnership Development
Coalition Building
Strategic Communication
Program and Project Management
Equity and Environmental Justice
Independent Initiative and Problem Solving
Public speaking
Facilitation
Relationship-building
Written communication
Report-writing

Location

New York, NY

Work Type

Full-Time
Hybrid

Experience Level

Senior

Salary/Compensations

$70,000–$80,000

Benefits

Employer paid medical, dental, and vision insurances
Life insurance
401K retirement plan with employer match
Commuter and FSA benefits
Paid time off
Paid sabbatical after five years
Professional development opportunities

About the Company

Waterfront Alliance is a civic organization that brings together a diverse alliance of more than 1,100 partner organizations dedicated to creating thriving and resilient waterfronts, shorelines, and coastlines.
Through community-led planning, policy advocacy, education, and collaborative action, Waterfront Alliance works to advance climate resilience, equitable waterfront access, environmental justice, and vibrant working waterfronts throughout the New York-New Jersey region.
We believe the people most impacted by climate change should play a central role in shaping solutions.
Meaningful engagement and trusted community partnerships are essential to building resilient and equitable communities.

Equal Opportunity

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Waterfront Alliance encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, physical ability or any other legally protected basis.