Policy and Operations Manager

About this role

ABOUT ENDURANCE

Endurance is building the world's first modular subsea geothermal power plants, converting vast thermal resources under the ocean into gigawatts of baseload power. Backed by Founders Fund, Felicis, First Round Capital, and Point72 Ventures, our founding team includes veterans from SpaceX, Helion, Blue Origin, and Apple. We have completed multiple deep-ocean deployments to subsea volcanoes and are launching a long-term demonstration project this fall. By leveraging modular design, manufacturing scale, efficient drilling, and latent cooling on the seafloor, we are pioneering a new category of energy that outperforms traditional sources on environmental impact, deployment speed, and cost.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

The Policy & Operations Manager is the execution arm for Endurance's highest-priority policy, permitting, and environmental workstreams. You will work directly with the Director of Environmental Affairs and the Director of Policy & External Affairs, taking special projects from a one-line ask to a finished product: a permit application package, a comment letter, a regulatory strategy memo, an agency briefing, a stakeholder engagement plan, or more.

This is a builder's seat in Washington. You will sit close to the agencies, congressional offices, and coalitions that shape our operating environment, with two Directors who need a partner who can run a workstream without being managed through it. The role carries unusual exposure for its level: you will draft the material that goes into agency meetings, staff our Directors and executives inside them, and own the follow-through that comes out.

You will also spend time where the technology is. Expect regular trips to Seattle and periodic time at deployment sites (Pacific Islands, Japan, Taiwan).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

- Own discrete special projects end to end (scope, plan, contributors, and delivery) with limited oversight and tight timelines

- Track and analyze federal and state legislative activity, international activity, rulemakings, and agency actions relevant to geothermal, offshore energy, ocean policy, and clean firm power, and flag what matters and why it matters to our schedule

- Draft and edit policy and regulatory materials: memos, one-pagers, talking points, comment letters, regulatory filings, briefing books, testimony, and presentations

- Support permitting and environmental review for demonstration and commercial projects, including NEPA documentation, consultation and authorization requirements, and state and local siting approvals

- Build and maintain the internal source of truth for permitting status, agency touchpoints, environmental commitments, and regulatory deadlines across every project

- Coordinate across engineering, marine operations, legal, and commercial teams to assemble the technical record agencies require, and hold internal contributors to deadlines and requirements

- Prepare the Directors and company executives for engagements with agency officials, congressional staff, coalitions, tribal nations, and community stakeholders, and research partners

- Manage outside consultants, environmental contractors, and counsel: scopes, deliverables, budgets, and quality of work product

- Support external affairs and coalition work, including trade associations, NGO relationships, and stakeholder engagement in project communities

- Identify and pursue federal and state funding, grant, and demonstration-program opportunities relevant to first-of-a-kind energy infrastructure

- Represent Endurance in Washington when the Directors cannot, and travel to Seattle and deployment sites often enough to speak to the technology firsthand

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

- 2+ years of experience in policy, government affairs, environmental permitting, regulatory affairs, or program management. A variety of backgrounds, including on the Hill, in an agency, at a trade association, in consulting, at an NGO, or in-house at a developer can all fit

- Based in the Washington, DC area, with the ability to be in and around the agencies and the Hill in person

- Working knowledge of federal environmental review and permitting: NEPA plus at least one of the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Clean Water Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Magnuson Stevens Act, Rivers and Harbors Act, or state coastal zone management programs

- Demonstrated track record running projects with multiple contributors to a hard external deadline, including work you did not personally control

- Clear, direct writing under deadline pressure, with examples of concise material prepared for policymakers, regulators, or senior leaders; shows mastery of AI as a tool, but not as a thought

- Ability to absorb unfamiliar technical material quickly and represent it accurately to a non-technical audience

- Comfort operating with ambiguity, incomplete data, and short timelines, and a strong bias toward action

- Sound judgment and discretion handling sensitive commercial, regulatory, and pre-decisional information

- Bachelor's degree in public policy, political science, environmental policy or science, law, marine affairs, or a related field

- Willingness to travel roughly 15–25% between Seattle, and deployment sites

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience with offshore or ocean regulatory frameworks and the agencies that administer them: Marine Minerals Administration, NOAA/NMFS, USACE, EPA, or state coastal commissions

- Experience permitting first-of-a-kind, pre-commercial, or demonstration-scale energy infrastructure, where standard templates do not yet apply

- Familiarity with geothermal, offshore wind, marine energy, or subsea operations

- Hill, appropriations, or authorizing-committee experience, or familiarity with DOE, ARPA-E, the Energy Dominance Fund, or FERC

- Exposure to international permitting or regulatory regimes in geothermal-relevant jurisdictions such as Iceland or J

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