Maine Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future — Coastal Flood Risk Fellow

This position is part of the NOAA Coastal Resilience Fellowship Program, supporting the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (CRRC) projects. The fellow will support the project: Resilient Maine: Local Adaptation and Resilience Actions at a Coastwide Scale.

Host Organization: Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future
Location of Position: Portland or Augusta, Maine
Duration of Position: Two years (June 2025-June 2027)
Annual Salary: $48,363
Benefits: Medical insurance, 11 paid federal holidays per year, 15 paid personal days per year, professional development training, travel funding, relocation allowance

Work Environment: This hybrid position is headquartered in Augusta, Maine, with travel through the state as necessary and appropriate.

 Fellowship Position Description: 

The Resilient Maine project has three integrated climate resilience–building actions that advance the recommendations outlined in the state’s climate action plan Maine Won’t Wait, one of which is to “Reduce Climate Impacts through Nature-Based Solutions and Investments in Green Infrastructure.” Within this action, “developing and deploying climate risk and impact assessment tools and models to communities” is a key grant activity (2.1). The coastal flood risk fellow will help to coordinate the sea level rise (SLR) guidance activity related to Maine’s coastal flood risk model (2.1a). 

With a $1 million investment from the Economic Development Administration, Maine’s Department of Transportation is developing the Maine Coastal Flood Risk Model (ME-CFRM), a dynamic and probabilistic sea level rise and coastal storm model for the entire coast of Maine, based on Maine Won’t Wait’s sea level rise projections and NOAA’s latest lidar data. Expected to be completed in 2025, the new ME-CFRM will provide high-resolution flood risk information to coastal users. Users of the model, such as local and Tribal government decision-makers, regional planners, and coastal management professionals, will benefit from integrating model guidance into coastal adaptation strategies. The coastal flood risk fellow will be a key part of the team that develops an application guide for using the coastal flood risk model for communities.

NOAA’s coastal flood risk fellow will work as part of a team with Maine’s State Resiliency Office staff, Department of Transportation staff, a coastal hazard specialist from the University of Maine Sea Grant program, and a consultant contracted through the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future to help communities use and interpret the Maine Coastal Flood Risk Model. During the grant period, the project team will contract with a consultant in Year 2 who will develop a coastal flood risk model and sea level rise application guide and provide training in Years 3–5 to community leaders on how to access and understand the ME-CFRM outputs and integrate the information into coastal resilience strategies. 

During the 2025 to 2027 placement, the fellow will be part of the project team working with the consultant and will support interagency collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and the development of technical assistance tools and training for Maine’s new coastal flood risk model. To effectively support communities in using the ME-CFRM during and after the application guide development, the fellow can expect to help communities apply the Maine coastal flood risk model to assess risk and vulnerability, understand impacts of sea level rise over time, prioritize mitigation actions, prioritize areas in need of adaptation with implementation of Justice40 principles, and expedite community-based project implementation.

Anticipated Travel:

This project requires in-state travel for project activity, including travel to meet with local partners and attend site visits during project implementation. Ten to twenty trips are expected annually (carpooling with other Resilience Office staff when possible). The fellow will also have the opportunity to travel with other Resilience Office staff to NOAA’s peer-to-peer sharing event in 2027.  

Desired Qualifications:

Top candidates may come from a variety of backgrounds and will demonstrate many of the preferred qualifications listed below.

• Strong organizational skills, including project and task management, and the ability to multitask and prioritize 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex ideas accessible 
• Ability to navigate complex organizations, develop trust with senior leaders, and build trusted relationships among diverse groups of colleagues and stakeholders
• Graduate-level training in climate resilience or related fields or at least two years of professional work experience
• Experience using and communicating online mapping, modeling, or decision-making tools to communicate scientific information to the public
• Experience engaging with a variety of stakeholders and community leaders, such as municipal leaders, community committees, and especially stakeholders from low-capacity communities 

Fellow Mentoring:

The fellow’s mentors will be Brian Ambrette and the to-be-determined resilience planner in the new Resilience Office. 

Brian Ambrette is the senior climate resilience coordinator at the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. Mr. Ambrette supports the Maine Climate Council and the development and implementation of Maine’s four-year climate action plan. His focus is on enabling state- and community-level actions that address risks to vulnerable infrastructure and populations, as well as accelerating the transition to clean energy and energy efficiency. Mr. Ambrette oversees the Community Resilience Partnership grant program, which has awarded over $6 million to municipal, regional, and tribal projects. He manages two federal grant awards for the Governor’s Office: a Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) award (FEMA) for a climate vulnerability assessment of state-owned facilities and an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (DOE) to support energy and resilience in disadvantaged communities.

The TBD resilience planner in the new Resilience Office will support the implementation of the state’s Climate Resilience Grant, including coordinating the development and implementation of a new state resilience plan. The resilience planner will support agency coordination and collaboration on climate resilience, including policy and other recommendations.  

To apply, please upload the following materials in one PDF file:

• Resume (two-page limit)
• Statement of interest, where the candidate describes what they hope to gain from the fellowship experience and what they can contribute. Candidates should also highlight any connections to or special interests in the region, including Indigenous or local knowledge and relevant life experiences (500-word limit)
• Unofficial academic transcripts to show coursework (or joint services transcript for veterans)
• Two professional or academic references (names and contact information)