Energy Benchmarking Specialist

• Position Type:
  City Manager`s Office/ Energy Benchmarking Specialist
• Date Posted:
  10/2/2026
• Location:
  
  Civic Center
• Date Available:
  
  TBD
• Closing Date:
  10/16/2026

The City of Evanston has a long track record of leading nationally on climate action and social equity. This position has been created to support the implementation and enforcement of the 2016 Energy & Water Benchmarking Ordinance and 2025 Healthy Buildings Ordinance in order for the Evanston community to advance the goals outlined in the City's unanimously adopted 2018 Climate Action and Resilience Plan.

The Energy Benchmarking Specialist, under the guidance of the Sustainability & Resilience Manager, will contribute to ongoing policy implementation, engage with key stakeholders, and develop additional data analysis, programming, communications, and outreach materials to ensure successful implementation of the City's benchmarking efforts. Work assignments include qualitative and quantitative tasks conducted within short-term and long-term goal horizons requiring both collaborative and independent work styles.

This role is full time, time limited and is currently funded through 2028. Employment beyond that timeframe is not guaranteed.

• Supports implementation and enforcement of the Energy and Water Benchmarking program
• Manages and tracks benchmarking data for 550+ buildings in Evanston
• Reports benchmarking information to the community
• Generates benchmarking compliance reports for City Manager, City Council and other public bodies
• Issues warnings and citations for benchmarking non-compliance
• Develops and conducts communication and outreach directed at increasing benchmarking program awareness and compliance rate
• Staffs the benchmarking helpdesk; serves as point of contact for all benchmarking-related inquiries
• Provides staff support to the Healthy Buildings Accountability Board and the Healthy Buildings Technical Committee (meetings are often after normal work hours and on weekends.)
• Develops trainings and information sessions for property owners and managers to comply with City ordinances related to building energy data and decarbonization
• Identifies obstacles and solutions to program implementation and periodically evaluates program success.
• Attends and presents information as needed at public meetings, including City Council, Environment Board, Utilities Commission, and relevant boards, committees and commissions (meetings are often after normal work hours and on weekends.)
• Represents the City at external conferences; participates in relevant local, state, regional, national, and international networks
• Acts on behalf of the Sustainability & Resilience Manager at their request or in their absence.
• Other duties as assigned.

Must possess a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Energy/Climate Policy, Environmental Policy, Urban Planning, Architecture, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field with at least 18 credit hours in quantitative analysis or environmental coursework, paired with a minimum of 1 year (12 months) of full-time professional or academic experience managing data sets of 500+ records using advanced Excel/Google Sheets and GIS mapping software.

OR

Must have an Associate's degree or higher in construction, a relevant trade, or a closely related field, plus at least 3 years (36 months) of full-time work experience in decarbonization, building science, project or facilities management, data science, data analytics, or statistics.

Experience with Energy Star Portfolio Manager preferred.

Experience with BEAM or…