Community Engagement Lead

About This Role

As a Community Engagement Lead on Intersect's External Affairs team, you’ll design and lead strategic community engagement programs that strengthen trust, transparency, and collaboration across the communities where our large-scale power and infrastructure projects are developed and operated. You’ll guide a team of Community Engagement Professionals, shaping engagement strategies from early siting through long-term operations. Working cross-functionally with Development, Permitting, and Policy teams, you’ll ensure community perspectives are meaningfully integrated throughout each project’s lifecycle.

Team Overview

This team plays a critical role in advancing Intersect's mission to accelerate the clean energy transition. The External Affairs team serves as the bridge between our utility-scale energy projects and the local communities, civic leaders, and regional stakeholders who host them. Joining this team means driving authentic, long-term partnerships, shaping responsive development strategies, and advocating for outcomes that create shared, durable value for both the business and local communities.

What You'll Do

Lead and Scale Community Engagement Strategy

• Design and execute tailored community outreach, public education, and stakeholder management strategies across clean energy and power-infrastructure asset lifecycles.

• Lead a dedicated team of Community Engagement Professionals, establishing operational standards, direct mentoring, and clear career pathways.

• Utilize stakeholder analysis and mapping tools to evaluate social risk, community sentiment, and local impact during early-stage project siting.

Build Relationships and Local Partnerships

• Cultivate productive, long-term relationships with municipal and county officials, agricultural leaders, school boards, and rural community stakeholders.

• Represent Intersect with authenticity and transparency at public hearings, town halls, community workshops, and industry forums.

• Oversee local community investment initiatives and economic development agreements to maximize tangible local benefits.

Drive Cross-Functional Project Alignment

• Partner continuously with internal Development, Permitting, Legal, and Policy teams to align community messaging with project execution schedules.

• Translate local community insights and policy nuances into actionable intelligence for executive and project development decision-making.

• Proactively identify and mitigate local regulatory, social, and reputation risks that could impact project delivery or long-term operation.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in public affairs, communications, environmental studies, or a related field (advanced degree preferred).

• 8+ years of experience in public affairs, communications, or community engagement within utility-scale power, energy infrastructure, or heavy civil development.

• 3+ years of experience managing direct reports, with a proven track record of growing and guiding high-performing external affairs teams.

• Demonstrated experience navigating Texas projects and deep familiarity with rural community dynamics, agricultural priorities, and local government structures.

• Proficiency with stakeholder analysis and mapping tools to assess siting, risk profile, and local impact.

• Empathetic, highly collaborative, and audience-sensitive communicator capable of building trust across diverse political and cultural landscapes.

• Alignment with Intersect’s core values of Equity, Humility, Authenticity, Long-run Value, and People Come First.