Title: Community Engagement Officer

Department: Policy

Location: Remote - US

Compensation: This is a remote position with a salary range of $70,000 - $75,000 depending on experience. Benefits include, but are not limited to: 403b plan with 5% employer match after 1 year of employment, flexible time off plus 17 paid holidays, robust parental leave, technology and co-working space stipend, health reimbursement arrangement, and supplemental insurance.

Upstream's Mission: We drive change toward a robust and enduring reuse economy.

Upstream's Vision: We live in a regenerative world where the planet is treated as indisposable and communities thrive.

Job Summary

The Community Engagement Officer plays a central role in connecting Upstream to the broader reuse and environmental justice movement. This role runs the Reuse Solutions Network (RSN), manages shared online platforms, and supports policy and funding tracking across the team. Because the RSN sits at the intersection of policy, communications, strategic initiatives, and community, this role requires someone who can see across the full organization — not just execute within their lane — and who brings insights from external engagement back into Upstream's strategy in real time.

The Community Engagement Officer builds relationships with key allied organizations, identifies opportunities to connect dots between groups working toward shared goals, and creates resources to support the broader reuse and policy community. This role also represents Upstream through speaking engagements and by-request policy engagement at the state and local level.

The Community Engagement Officer will bring strong organizational skills, a collaborative mindset, and a passion for reuse, environmental justice, and policy advocacy. They must be comfortable working in a fast-evolving landscape where priorities shift as the movement grows.

Key Responsibilities

Run the Reuse Solutions Network (RSN), serving as the primary point of coordination for network members and activities, including:
Facilitating RSN sessions with large member groups, requiring skilled facilitation to manage group dynamics, center multiple perspectives, and drive productive outcomes across a broad range of stakeholders.
Leading collaborative discussions across the full Upstream team to plan RSN programming, ensuring that policy, communications, and strategic initiatives all inform and benefit from the network's direction.
Presenting key insights and themes from RSN meetings to the full Upstream team during all-team meetings, to facilitate the translation from what you're hearing from the network into actionable intelligence for the organization.
Manage Basecamp and the RSP Hub, keeping shared online platforms organized and up to date for the team and partners.
Manage the Policy and Funding Trackers, ensuring information stays current and accessible to support team planning.
Engage in policy advocacy at the state and local level by request, including work on legislation and sign-on letters as needed.
Liaise with allied organizations to build and maintain strong working relationships, including:
Coordinating with the Comms team on external communication and joint messaging.
Synthesizing what we're learning from allied organizations into strategic insights for the full Upstream team — not just reporting what happened, but identifying what it means for our work and where we can adapt.
Create resources on behalf of Upstream to support the broader reuse and policy community.
Represent Upstream at speaking engagements, both in-person and virtual.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Intermediate knowledge of policymaking processes and experience engaging in policy advocacy.
Well-organized, able to run/administer online platforms (e.g., Basecamp) and systems to manage relationships and workstreams.
Experience in grassroots engagement and support.
Public speaking skills and experience for in-person and virtual settings.
Facilitation skills and experience engaging with diverse stakeholders and navigating the various lived experiences that exist in these spaces.
Research skills, attention to details, data management, and qualitative data analysis.
Strong preference for candidates with experience supporting environmental justice initiatives.
Self-motivation and a go-getter mindset.
Comfort with ambiguity and evolving priorities — this role will shift as the reuse landscape shifts, and we're looking for someone who sees that as energizing, not destabilizing.
Ability to translate external inputs (conversations, events, network discussions) into actionable insights for the team.
A proactive orientation — someone who identifies gaps and steps into them without waiting to be asked.
Flexibility to occasionally work evening and weekend hours as needed for speaking engagements, press requests, etc. (this is rare).
Passionate about Upstream’s mission (Reuse, EJ, policy advocacy).

Growth at Upstream is driven by dynamism — the more you demonstrate the ability to see beyond your role and contribute to organizational strategy, the more your role will expand to match.

Minimum Qualifications

Located in the US
High school degree or equivalent
Minimum of 2 years of experience leading large, complex networks and projects with confidence and impact.

Working Conditions

This position requires the employee to work at a desk and on a computer for multiple hours a day.
Work is typically performed remotely in the employee’s home or co-working location of choice.
This position requires occasional travel for meetings, conferences, co-working, staff retreats and other convenings. Estimated to be up to 15% of the employee’s time.
May require occasional evening and weekend work to attend or facilitate meetings for the purposes of local organizing and providing expertise to community-based organizations.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for the position. All employees may have other duties assigned at any time.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

EEO Statement

Upstream is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions at Upstream are based exclusively on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, national, social, or ethnic origin, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation and all other statuses as protected by the laws and regulations of the United States and/or the state of Maine.

Hiring Timeline and Process

The priority application deadline is July 22, 2026.

An ideal start date is September 21, 2026.

Apply by submitting your resume and answering the application questions. Applicants will receive an outline of the hiring process.

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