We’re Hiring!
Position: Consultant III
About the Position
Reports to: Catherine Casomar, Managing Senior Consultant
Type: Full-time employment (30–35 hours/week)
Salary Range: $110,000-120,000 annually, depending on experience (for a 35 hour/week schedule)
Location: Remote within the Bay Area, CA
We seek a Consultant III to join our team. This role will provide policy research and analysis, facilitation, project management, and organizational support. Reporting to Senior Leadership, this role works individually and on teams to fulfill responsibilities such as policy research and analysis, leading and supporting facilitated meetings, and detailed project management for our clients.
We welcome candidates who bring a collaborative spirit, depth of experience in clean energy policy, and a demonstrated commitment to advancing equity in the energy transition.
About Common Spark
Common Spark Consulting works to advance boldly inclusive policymaking as the foundation for a clean energy future for all. We are a team of facilitators, energy policy experts, and advocates for a just future. We offer facilitation grounded in deep experience in the clean energy policy space and serve as strategic partners to organizations reimagining how to advance equity and justice in energy work.
We recognize that the energy system itself is unjust, and that traditional policymaking processes have often excluded community priorities while disproportionately harming low-income and BIPOC communities. In our work, we challenge these norms by holding our partners—and ourselves—to a standard of critical reflection, equity-rooted learning, and action toward reversing structural inequities.
Our clients include community-based and advocacy organizations, local and state agencies, utility commissions, and philanthropic institutions. Whether through facilitation, technical advising, research, or strategic planning, we strive to make policymaking more inclusive, community-driven, and just.
Key Responsibilities
Policy Research and Analysis (50%*)
Independently research and analyze local, state, regional, and federal clean energy policy issues, with an emphasis in California and Western states and in the context of social justice and equity concerns. Analysis may be quantitative and/or qualitative and leverage a range of resources including but not limited to regulatory filings, legislative reports, agency reports, academic articles, and government-funded research. Topics are expected to include, at a minimum, building decarbonization, appliance standards, rate design, affordability, and other topics focused on supporting greater equity for low-income and communities of color.
Develop written deliverables (e.g., comment letters, policy landscape assessments; issue-specific policy memos and reports; working group reports; regulatory summaries; etc.) and make actionable recommendations in the context of social justice and equity concerns. Deliverables should objectively integrate multiple perspectives of an issue and justify positions with data, compelling arguments, and limited jargon.
Advise senior leadership, clients, and other interested parties on energy policy (and related fields), assessing and articulating the opportunities, challenges, and other impacts of regulatory proposals and decisions, including impacts related to social justice.
Facilitation (30%*)
Lead facilitation planning including designing multi-part agenda arcs, content, and materials for technical policy outcomes. Co-create agendas and materials with clients and partners. Proactively integrate feedback to ensure an equitable, inclusive, and effective process.
Facilitate meetings and working groups independently and with support from other team members. Navigate and support technical conversations in real-time. Create inclusive meeting spaces to support shared understanding, learning, and trust-building.
Manage and execute meeting follow-up, including synthesizing notes, preparing takeaways, and writing reports.
Facilitate or co-faciliate Energy (in)Equity (EiE) Trainings and manage the improvement and evolution of EiE Curriculum and offerings over time.
*There is expected overlap of policy and facilitation activities. The specific percentages may ebb and flow to some degree depending on the types of projects in the portfolio.
Project Management (15%)
Lead and/or support project management activities for assigned projects, planning and tracking timelines and deliverables to ensure quality and on-time completion.
Support calendar coordination and scheduling.
Communicate with relevant project team members, both internally with Common Spark colleagues and with client partners.
Build and maintain client partner relationships.
Teamwide Support and Flexibility (5%)
Common Spark fosters a collaborative work culture. All team members are expected to step in when capacity allows them to support one another—regardless of title. We value humility and mutual support alongside role clarity.
Qualifications
An ideal candidate for Consultant III will have most or all of the following:
Energy Policy Expertise: At least 6 years of experience in clean energy policy with broad and nuanced understanding of national and/or state-level clean energy goals, policies, barriers, and opportunities. Areas of expertise may include building decarbonization, building performance and appliance standards, energy efficiency and demand-side resources, rate design, integrated resource planning, energy markets, ratepayer-funded programs, affordability, and utility regulatory processes—particularly in California. Ability to translate policy and technical requirements into strategy and advocacy guidance for client partners. Demonstrated track record of ability to work independently and on teams to deliver high quality written research and analysis. Utility regulatory advocacy experience is a plus. A writing sample will be required from top candidates.
Facilitation Experience: Strong facilitation skills and demonstrated experience, especially in energy justice contexts. Able to balance input and meeting space among diverse stakeholder groups with varying and sometimes conflicting perspectives and address sensitive or complicated topics effectively and empathetically. Experience navigating power differentials, different formats (in-person, virtual, hybrid), real-time synthesis of complex topics to support group understanding, and making policy conversations more inclusive. Experience with multi-month to years-long engagements with both community-based and mainstream policy organizations is a plus.
Equity & Justice Orientation: A demonstrated commitment to racial and economic justice. Familiarity with how systemic inequities shape energy access and affordability. Active learning orientation toward challenging bias, power dynamics, and inequitable processes in your own work and in energy systems more broadly.
Project Management Strength: Ability to track and execute on multiple timelines; develop, monitor, and successfully implement workplans; coordinate cross-functional work; and deliver high-quality outcomes on time with minimal supervision. Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Leadership Skills: Strong emotional intelligence with experience managing projects and building trusted relationships with clients and partners. Able to communicate clearly and accessibly, contribute to a healthy organizational culture, and provide mentorship and support to other team members.
Location & Eligibility: Must reside in the Bay Area of California and be eligible to work in the U.S.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary Range: $110,000-120,000 annually, depending on experience (for a 35 hour/week schedule)
Benefits:
Group health, dental, and vision insurance
Retirement matching
Flexible PTO and sick leave
Holidays
Phone and technology stipend
Professional development support
Please note: We may consider a temporary-to-permanent transition period in consultation with the selected candidate.
How to Apply
Please submit a tailored cover letter (2 page maximum) and a resume to connect@common-spark.com.
Your cover letter should:
Explain why you’re excited to join Common Spark,
Share a story or experience that demonstrates your energy policy and facilitation qualifications, and
Share a story or experience that demonstrates how equity shows up in your work.
Application review begins February 12. We will continue reviewing applications on a rolling basis. Interviews are expected to begin in February.
If you need alternative application arrangements, please email connect@common-spark.com.