Position Title: Director, Registry Operations

Location: Arlington, VA or U.S. remote

Business Unit: Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) / American Carbon Registry (ACR)

Reports To: ACR Managing Director GENERAL The nonprofit ACR, an enterprise of Winrock International, is a leading carbon offset program recognized for its strong standards for environmental integrity and quest to innovate.

Founded in 1996, ACR has over two decades of unparalleled experience in development of rigorous, science-based carbon offset standards and methodologies as well as operational experience in the oversight of high-quality offset project listing, verification, registration, offset issuance, serialization and on-line retirement reporting. ACR is an independent carbon credit standards body and registry as well as an approved Offset Project Registry (OPR) for the California cap-and-trade program and Washington cap-and-invest program.

The process of providing the highest-quality client service – being responsive, accurate and helping to solve problems – has become the hallmark of ACR’s success in the regulated carbon market and led to a majority market share of all compliance offset credit issuances. The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), for which Winrock serves as the Secretariat, is also operated by ERT. ART is emerging as the leading global standard for REDD+ and anticipates increased market activity after issuing the inaugural credits in 2022 and announcements of the first transactions of TREES Credits, including by the LEAF Coalition. ACR and ART have also been approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to supply credits to airlines under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), including being the only two crediting programs currently approved to supply credits for the 2024-2026 compliance period. Both also have an MoU with Singapore to supply credits for use towards national carbon tax obligations and are positioned for roles in new compliance offset markets in other U.S. states and under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement as well as increased prominence in the global voluntary carbon market.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director leads the Registry Operations team focused on registry infrastructure, general operations, and client services. The role contributes to all aspects of registry services management, including, but not limited to, having a detailed understanding of the California and Washington regulations, approved California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) compliance offset protocols, ICAO CORSIA requirements, and the ACR Standard, methodologies and policies to ensure that projects move through the Registry process efficiently, while ensuring regulatory compliance, technical rigor, quality and transparency. The Director will manage a team to develop and deliver critical registry platform infrastructure for ACR and ART and track policy developments and ensure compliance with operational processes for the integrity of the credits issued and transacted. The Director will advise ACR technical staff as needed during the review and approval of offset project listing applications, reported data, and verification documents across markets (CARB, ECY, ICAO, Article 6, voluntary).

The Director will lead the Registry Operations team in engaging the broader team on operational and registry infrastructure functionality developments and facilitating ACR and ART Members’ use of the registries. This Director will also enhance organizational growth by participating in outreach activities in target markets and collaborations with strategic partners. One such partnership will involve engagement with staff within Winrock’s Wallace Center and US Programs departments, as well as external partners, on an awarded USDA Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities project. Specifically, this position will advise a chosen technical service provider in the discovery, design and piloting of a fully integrated and spatially explicit certificate registry system designed for U.S. practice-based agricultural data collection and greenhouse gas (GHG) quantification and digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (dMRV). This effort will help fulfill the objective of generating producer‑owned agricultural GHG certificates that can be monetized by producers through commodity markets for corporate buyers to achieve and substantiate supply chain climate claims.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead the day-to-day operations of the Registry team ensuring accuracy in delivery and excellency in client service (for “internal” and external clients). Obtain deep expertise in the (ACR and ART) Registry platform to oversee the testing, troubleshooting, and teaching of staff and account holders the functionality of the registry system processes for project listing, reporting, validation/verification, issuance, transaction and billing.

Manage engagement with our registry technology service provider(s) and any linked platforms with the objective of being best in class. Participate in regularly scheduled meetings and communicate via email and phone, as needed, to present ACR and ART development needs, track outcomes, and address any issues or questions that arise. Recruit, hire, train, support, and manage staff within the Registry Operations team.

Lead registry enhancement projects and upgrades to maintain and improve the user experience, transparency for markets, as well as registry functionality so they are fit for purpose and aligned with all relevant developments and requirements of the ACR, ART, and regulatory programs and are responsive to new market trends related to data collection, system approval workflows, and data access.

This process includes overseeing needs assessments, writing and reviewing design specifications for front-end components, rigorously testing new functionalities in the user acceptance testing environment, providing feedback to the registry technology service provider to enable fixes to the back-end components, and facilitating timely rollout to production.

Lead the Registry Operations team and technology service provider in the design, delivery, and connection of a REST API for a variety of data integration applications, including the Climate Action Data Trust. Coordinate with other Directors and registry technical staff on policy development and implementation for dMRV. Contribute to and implement policies on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and the tokenization of offset credits.

Think creatively and practically about opportunities to improve registry service, data models, and data analytics. Oversee standard operating procedures for the review of reported project data for accuracy prior to credit issuance and for the creation of ROC cancellation reports for submittal to CARB and ECY as well as reporting to other regulatory entities as required, including ICAO.

Lead the Registry Operations team in maintaining and updating ACR policy and template documents for use by ACR members, approving new ACR account holders, including know your customer (KYC) and providing onboarding assistance, answering account holder questions regarding use of the registry and invoicing, and responding to general stakeholder inquiries. Represent ACR and ART in meetings with partners, clients, regulatory agencies and other organizations.

Develop analyses, presentations, outreach materials to support ACR and/or ART operations with existing partners and strategic business development opportunities related to registry technology and market linkages.

QUALIFICATIONS AND BACKGROUND

Education: Bachelor’s degree required. Advanced degree in Business Administration, Environmental Sciences/Policy, GHG Accounting, Systems Engineering, Operations, Computer Science, or related field preferred. Experience: Minimum of 10 years of relevant business experience, including in operations of an asset registry, ideally for carbon/GHG assets. Registry operation experience in regulated market context strongly preferred.

Candidate must also have directly relevant project management, staff management, vendor management and client management experience.

Skills: Detail oriented with a strong understanding of carbon crediting markets and process flow for crediting. Strong organizational, analytical and systems thinking skills and a willingness to learn on the job. Demonstrated project management ability including tracking and meeting deadlines, budgeting and reporting for multiple activities and clients. Ability to work independently, to manage workflow effectively and to track and meet deadlines for multiple tasks. Ability to consistently interact with others in a professional, courteous, and tactful manner, maintain a positive attitude, and work effectively in a team setting. Demonstration of high level of client service including thorough and timely responses to client and partner enquiries.

Excellent interpersonal skills, impeccable integrity and trustworthiness, sense of humor, and diplomatic approach to problem solving. Expertise with databases, Excel, and Microsoft Word and a willingness to write, edit and format documents. Ability to meticulously review and provide substantive feedback on datasets and documents. Strong speaking, presentation, and written communication skills. Fluency in spoken and written English is required. Fluency in one or more additional languages is an asset. Other: Must be available to travel for short-term assignments. Commitment to Winrock’s mission and interest in market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions required. Candidate must be comfortable working in a flexible, high-paced environment and able to work well in teams and also independently. U.S. citizen or work permit.

Winrock is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and value diversity and inclusiveness. Winrock recruits, employs, trains, promotes and compensates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation. Winrock knows that its success comes from the hard work and steadfast dedication of its diverse workforce. Winrock remains committed to maintaining diversity, inclusion and equity across the entire organization