Vice President of Programs
Location: Denver
Work Schedule: Exempt, Full-time, Hybrid
Deadline for submission: Nov 30, 2026
Conservation Colorado is seeking a Vice President of Programs to lead our policy and political teams which are responsible for our programmatic success to protect Colorado’s environment and people.
About Conservation Colorado
As the largest statewide environmental organization in Colorado, our mission is simple: we work to protect our state’s climate, air, land, water, and communities. We play a unique role in Colorado as our work focuses on organizing communities, influencing decision-makers, and electing conservation-minded leaders. We work for a Colorado where every community can breathe clean air, drink clean water, protect the landscapes we share and secure our climate future. And, where communities once burdened by environmental injustices lead the way forward. You can learn more about our mission here.
What You’ll Do
This position reports to the CEO and is a member of our executive leadership team. The program department is central to achieving our mission, working to enact two of the three pillars of our theory of change — policy and politics. The VP manages a team (directly manages 3, with a total team size of 11) responsible for delivering policy victories and electing, engaging and holding accountable leaders that will protect our environment and communities.
Policy and Politics
Build and manage strong policy and political teams and systems for collaboration across departments to maximize our impact and success.
Lead the team in building and managing strong multi-year program plans and effective campaign plans, including working closely with the VP of Community Engagement to ensure our organizing and mobilizing of Coloradans influences decision makers, in order to advance environmental policy, win elections and support leadership and movement development.
Works with the CEO and Deputy Vice President for Politics and Programs on the organization’s political strategy and accountability and plays a lead role in a portion of the organization’s electoral work.
Ensures equity and racial justice, along with other organizational values, are embedded in our programmatic work and that we are moving the conservation movement towards being more racially diverse and inclusive.
Serves as a key programmatic liaison for foundation giving at the direction of the development team.
Staff Management
Oversees the day-to-day activities of the team including budgeting, planning, staff development.
Mentors and develops high-level and high-performing staff using a supportive & collaborative approach that matches our organizational values.
Sets the data framework for the team and uses data to inform the work.
Executive Leadership
Works closely with the CEO and is a member of the executive team, which sets organizational strategy and goals to implement the strategic plan.
Coordinates and/or supports cross-departmental initiatives to ensure alignment, effectiveness, and impact.
In addition to your regular responsibilities, all staff are expected to participate at some level in organizational priorities including helping in certain fundraising efforts, taking part in election-related activities, and committing to organizational efforts around equity & inclusivity.
Qualifications
This position is a great opportunity to deliver meaningful wins for Coloradans on the environmental issues that impact their daily lives. To be successful in this job, you will have a strategic campaign mindset, self-motivation, flexibility, and tenacity.. Fundamentally, we want someone who can thrive in a fast-paced & collaborative environment and loves the political fight. More specifically, you will have or be most or all of the following:
Experienced Campaigner: Our theory of change is built around bringing together people, politics, and policy. Working at this intersection requires you to build and leverage power effectively to influence decision makers to pass strong policy. That means you must have experience developing and executing campaign goals and training people on goals, strategies, and tactics. The ability to ensure policy outcomes through winning campaign plans is essential.
7+ Years Management Experience: This position has three direct reports who oversee their own departments and who require high-level management, so 5+ years of experience managing people, including time managing high-performing leadership level staff, is required. We expect our managers to manage with a spirit of collaboration, transparency, and power sharing.
Strong Strategic Thinking: You will have the skills to develop and set a vision for your team, deal with abstract problems and translate ideas into practical actions to achieve the organization's goals. Figuring out how to deploy our resources to maximum effect, communicating complicated policies in easy to understand language and thinking outside of your own experience to incorporate outside views and opinions are critical to success. This role also functions as a visionary thought partner to the CEO as well as your direct reports and being able to set a clear direction for the team that aligns with the organization’s values and mission.
Strong Equity Analysis: You need to have a clear and demonstrable understanding of racial equity and structural racism and the centrality of this analysis to environmental policy. This means you also have to understand how your own identities show up and influence your work on policy. You must have experience building successful relationships where there is little to no trust to start, as well as experience building relationships across different social identities. Building movements to win campaigns, not just winning at all costs, is important to us.
Strong Collaborator: This role requires a seasoned collaborator who thrives in complex, mission-driven environments. You’ll work across departments—community engagement, communications, development, and executive leadership—to align strategies, share information, and drive collective impact. You bring clarity to roles and decision-making, navigate tensions with empathy and purpose, and foster a culture of trust, accountability, and shared ownership. You know that real change happens when teams move in sync—and you make that possible.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ): When working to make social change, having self-awareness, being able to self-regulate, understanding social awareness, resolving conflicts in a healthy manner, and leveraging intrinsic motivation and empathy are critical for success. Having high EQ helps to maintain grace and composure when everyone else around you is losing theirs, which is critical to keeping focused on the bottom line of what we are trying to achieve.
Growth Mindset: We work in an ever-changing environment and being able to adapt to that change is critical for success. Adapting behavior or work methods in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles without placing blame & taking learnings into other similar situations; and a mindset that believes that skills, knowledge, and capabilities can be developed and enhanced with work, education & persistence are important.
This position does not have an undergraduate education requirement. Spanish/English bilingual is a skill we value, but it is not a requirement. This is a full-time job but there can be some flexibility in the exact schedule.
Compensation and Benefits
The salary range for this full-time role is $165,000-$185,000, with exact salary depending on relevant experience and demonstrated competencies. We offer competitive pay and benefits, rooted in equity, transparency, and trust—and never ask for prior salary history.
We provide high-quality health insurance and a strong benefits package that includes a SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with a match, at least 30 days of vacation & holidays in addition to six physical & mental wellness days in your first year, a parental leave and a sabbatical program. Please note that as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, Conservation Colorado employees are not eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
All Conservation Colorado roles involve some in-person work, so COVID vaccination is required. We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid model without a fixed in-office schedule—each team member works with their manager to determine what makes sense based on role and preference. Those who prefer can work from the office full-time.
We are committed to building a more diverse & inclusive organization and conservation movement to fully represent and engage all Coloradans and to build as powerful a movement as we can. Recruiting staff that better reflects Colorado is a priority, and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, ethnicities, geographies, political affiliations, sexual orientations, gender identities, and all other identities represented in Colorado or protected by law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.