Illinois State Lead - Lobbyist and Strategist

Role: Illinois State Lead - Lobbyist and Strategist
Role Goal: Build powerful climate outcomes with legislators and coalition partners in Illinois.
Location: Illinois
Timeframe: Applications due August 4th, 2025. Target start date is October 1, 2025.
Compensation: Salary: $85,000-$105,000 commensurate with experience.

About Climate Cabinet

Climate Cabinet helps state and local candidates run, win, and legislate on climate change. State and local policymakers are key to tackling climate change – they drive progress regardless of who is in the White House. That’s why Climate Cabinet exists.

We are a dynamic, passionate, startup team of experienced climate experts with staff on-the-ground across the country and a remote-first workplace. Our team culture prioritizes: supporting each other as full people, striving for the highest standard of excellence in our work, respecting local knowledge, embracing technology and innovation, curiosity, and a continuous growth mindset.

Role Summary

We’re hiring an Illinois State Lead to build powerful climate outcomes with legislators and coalition partners in Illinois. This person will strengthen Climate Cabinet’s presence in the legislature, and continue to scale up our policy and political work in Illinois. This will include a heavy emphasis on coalition work, legislator relationship development, and collaboration with Climate Cabinet’s national policy and political teams. We’re especially excited to meet candidates who bring curiosity, clarity, and collaboration to complex political and coalition environments. 

This is a leadership position that will report to the Senior Policy Director and work in close coordination with our national legislative and political teams to ensure cross-state sharing, and alignment with both state and national goals. If you’re ready to grow climate power in Illinois—let’s talk.

Key Responsibilities

• With the support and direction of Climate Cabinet’s Senior Policy Director and our team, you will:
• Hit the ground running in the Illinois Legislature's fall veto session to fully fund public transportation and advance clean energy in Illinois.
• Represent Climate Cabinet in the Illinois legislature by building strong lawmaker relationships, and through consistent lobbying, policy education, and coalition work.
• Drive Climate Cabinet’s Illinois legislative strategy and help shape our political agenda in collaboration with our Senior Policy Director, our Political Director, and the national team.
• Bring robust, specific policy/legislative expertise that will help you pass and defend key climate policies.
• Be a spokesperson for Climate Cabinet in Illinois media and to funders.
• To achieve these goals, you will be Climate Cabinet’s primary in-state representative. You will:
• Work in coalition with state-based activists, organizations, clean energy businesses, lawmakers, and funders to advance shared priorities. 
• Drive our state-level legislative, political, and media strategies. 
• Track, evaluate, and communicate the impact of Climate Cabinet’s engagement in  Illinois to national and state-based audiences.
• Remain in constant communication and collaboration with our national team, track bills, facilitate cross-state sharing, and develop storytelling approaches to help your efforts build power for climate in Illinois and  nationwide.

Skills and Experience

The ideal candidate is a high-agency leader who’s ready to jump into existing coalition work in Illinois and help turn bold vision into real-world outcomes. This role is ideal for someone who can operationalize strategy, build relationships and trust quickly, and drive progress with both urgency and care. 

Required:

• Legislative expertise and relationships in Springfield. You may have worked as a legislative staffer, advocate, or lobbyist—but what matters most is that you bring a strong understanding of the Illinois legislative process and have existing relationships (or a proven track record of building them) with lawmakers, particularly those representing Chicago suburbs and outer counties.
• Track record of turning strategy into outcomes while being coalition-savvy with soft power. You don’t just talk strategy—you make it real. You’re energized by motivating others around a shared vision, you know how to step into a coalition and be helpful right away—especially in high-pressure legislative sprints. You also know how to build trust over time, guide strategy gently when needed, and steer diverse coalitions move toward effective paths in line with a greater theory of change. 
• Strong communicator and connector. You’re able to communicate across the 10,000-foot and 500-foot levels, adapt your message to different audiences, and align people around common goals. You know when to lead with data, when to lead with a story, and when to lead with a combo of both! 
• Mission-driven with a growth mindset. You’re motivated by the urgency of climate action and the need for equitable, people-centered solutions. You ask for and take feedback, are always learning, and believe iteration is part of building on strategy toward impact. 

Bonus Experience (Not required but valued):

• Experience lobbying in Illinois, ideally with a focus on climate, energy, transportation, land use, environmental justice, agriculture, or resilience.
• Familiarity with climate and energy policy at the state level. If this is new for you, that’s okay—as long as you care deeply and are eager to learn fast.

Location: Remote based in Illinois with frequent travel to Springfield. This role will require some out of state travel.

Compensation

• Salary: $85,000-$105,000 commensurate with experience.
• Medical, dental and vision insurance; premiums fully covered.

Application Process

• We are accepting applications via Greenhouse on a rolling basis through August 4, 2025. Include a resume, LinkedIn page, and answers to our application questions:
  • Why do you want to work at Climate Cabinet and in this role? (200 words max)
  • What is holding back climate progress in Illinois and what will it take to change it? (200 words max)
  • Describe your experience working with Illinois state legislators (or other elected officials if none). (200 words max)
  • Are you currently located in Illinois? If so, where?
  • Do you have lobbying experience? 
• All applications submitted through August 4, 2025 will be reviewed and candidates will receive updates on their candidacy no later than August 15, 2025.
• The interview process will include approximately three Zoom interviews with a recruiter and staff, including the Senior Policy Director, and reference checks.
• Target start date is October 1, 2025.

You should apply! We encourage applications from people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, women, first-gen and low-income people, and members of marginalized communities. 

Climate Cabinet is an equal opportunity employer. Climate Cabinet believes every employee has the right to work in an environment free from unlawful discrimination. Consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws, Climate Cabinet provides all employees and applicants with equal opportunity in all aspects of the employment relationship. This includes employment decisions related to hiring, promotions, transfers, disciplinary action, termination, and training. Climate Cabinet will comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in employment.

Want to learn more about Climate Cabinet? Check out our recent interview on Volts and climatecabinet.org