Director, Data Stewardship

The New York Climate Exchange (The Exchange) is a new nonprofit that unlocks climate solutions at speed and scale by activating a broad, multi‑stakeholder model. Our diverse coalition of partners—committed and prepared to collectively disrupt the status quo—incorporates local and global perspectives on climate change from academia, the private sector, and community‑level organizations; this multidisciplinary coalition speaks to the collaboration necessary to unlock integrated and scalable approaches to climate change.

While The Exchange will be headquartered at a dedicated campus on Governors Island, its spirit and influence extends beyond the Island into New York City and across the country and world.

The New York Climate Exchange (“The Exchange”) seeks to recruit a full‑time Director of Data Stewardship to lead The Exchange’s newly launched Climate Data Stewardship initiative, a flagship program within The Exchange’s priority focus on activating climate data to power climate solutions. As part of this program, The Exchange seeks to collaborate with others to preserve, steward, and activate climate and environmental data for the public and global good.

The initiative will engage key stakeholders and Exchange partners in hosting, curating, and using climate and environmental data and will build an appropriate framework for open data governance and access. This new initiative will lay groundwork for assuring that the broader climate data ecosystem, from collection to access, is more resilient and accessible to a range of stakeholders generating climate solutions.

Applicants should feel comfortable working in a fast‑paced, start‑up environment with tasks changing on a regular basis. It is expected that the individual filling this role will work in‑person in the Exchange’s New York office, although periodic remote work is allowed with prior approval. The position will join a growing, multidisciplinary team of full‑ and part‑time climate data specialists, data architects, software engineers, staff associates, and Research Fellows.

This position reports to the Exchange’s Chief Executive Officer.

Salary for the Director of Data Stewardship will be between $210,000 and $250,000 per year. The position includes eligibility for generous health and retirement benefits, and paid time off/sick leave. Salary will be set based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, and specialized training. The above hiring range represents The Exchange’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

This position is contingent on the availability of funds.

• Provide senior‑level expertise with a strong focus on technical implementation priorities for the data stewardship initiative.
• Assess the current landscape of public climate data, including data infrastructure and key stakeholders across sectors, and lead the development of innovative and more resilient approaches to preserve and improve access to critical climate datasets.
• Conduct technical assessments of infrastructure needs, risks, and opportunities; assessment and mapping of workflows by key users across sectors; stakeholder coordination; and development of new infrastructure and access methodologies at The Exchange as well as in coordination with external collaborators.
• Identify and collaborate with key stakeholders and users of climate data across academia, government, nonprofits, and the private sector, including coordinating with stakeholders currently engaged in climate data preservation and access to minimize gaps or duplication of efforts.
• Work with other key stakeholders to shape the formation of guiding principles for climate data categorization and prioritization, as well as identifying key experts required to maintain curation and usability of prioritized climate data.
• Oversee the development of a data storage strategy and protocols, including storage managed by The Exchange as well as efforts to coordinate data storage roles/responsibilities across institutions. Leverage storage and access methodologies across…