Analyst, Energy & Sustainability

Equity Residential•Chicago, IL

2d•$97,000 - $119,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Equity Residential, we're dedicated to creating thriving communities, and we invite you to be part of our team. Embracing values like Diversity, Sustainability, and Total Wellbeing, we foster a workplace culture of authenticity and collaboration. How We Deliver a Winning Performance: Question Authority Walk the Talk Share Knowledge Listen, not just Hear See the Glass Half Full Take Educated Risks Enjoy the Ride Share the Spotlight Do the Right Thing Test Your Limits We Care About Your Total Wellbeing: Physical Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision care Social Wellbeing: 9 paid holidays, annual vacation time, paid sick leave, new parent benefits Financial Wellbeing: 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan, Rent Discounts, Competitive Compensation Community Wellbeing: Paid Community Service Hours Career Wellbeing: Leadership Development Learn more about our Total Wellbeing program here. What You’ll Be Doing: This position, under the direction of the VP, Environmental and Climate Adaptation, will be a key contributor to the Company’s sustainability, energy and resilience programs. The primary goal of this position is to drive utility cost savings, reduce emissions, and support compliance reporting through data-driven insights and analytics. This role is central to the coordination and execution of Equity Residential’s energy and sustainability initiatives, with a strong focus on driving communication and program management of energy and utility variances across our Facilities and Property Management teams.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree required in Environmental Science, Engineering, Energy Management or equivalent.
Must have one to three years of professional experience in energy, sustainability, utilities management and/or commercial building systems.
Must have excellent communication skills and be comfortable working with stakeholders in many departments and with different experience levels.
Must have a strong interest in applying sustainability principles and concepts to real-world problems.
Must have excellent analytical and technical skills including programming in Python, T-SQL and Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets.
Must be proficient with Energy Star Portfolio Manager and/or have experience in utility bill auditing.
Ability to influence others and make good business decisions, to think creatively when problem solving for new solutions, to work on numerous projects concurrently while effectively prioritizing workload.
Must have excellent communication skills both written and verbal.
Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships (both one-on-one as well as in a team setting).
Excellent attention to detail is a must.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity and knowledge of any of the following is preferred:
Developing and using visualization in PowerBI (or similar such as tableau, Looker or Google Data Studio)
Greenhouse gas emission calculations
IoT and business automation/management systems
Building, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems
Water management
Renewable energy
Financial modeling concepts to calculate ROIs or paybacks of capital projects

Responsibilities

Under the guidance of Manager, Energy and Sustainability Analytics, lead energy variance identification and resolution process in collaboration with utilities accounting, facilities team, property management, and operations staff (e.g,. RUBS), Sustainability Group Investments and external parties (e.g., utilities, vendors). Frequent and clear communication and follow up with regional and onsite teams will be critical to the success of this program.
Responsible for the annual energy benchmarking of EQR’s properties. This may either be completed in-house or might involve managing an outside party conducting these benchmarking exercises on our behalf. Ensure compliance with the various state and local energy disclosure requirements by managing Equity Residential’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager account. Support the execution of our strategic plan for managing the increasingly stringent requirements by conducting data quality assessments on a per asset basis. Manage all records associated with energy benchmarking submissions.
Responsible for managing the solar PV operations and maintenance program, which includes overseeing O and M contracts and contractors, managing budgets and invoices, coordinating with property and Facilities teams, and monitoring solar PV performance and addressing issues in a timely manner to improve performance of the systems. Share performance results and information with stakeholders (onsite staff, Facilities Team, Investments Team, and Sustainability Team) in a clear, concise, and appropriate timeframe to boost engagement and overall performance of the solar PV systems.
Support EQR sustainability initiatives and projects - responsible for measuring, verifying, monitoring, providing data for underwriting,and enhancing EQR’s sustainability initiatives and projects (e.g., solar PV, HVAC retrofits, lighting retrofits, cogen systems) under the guidance of the Manager, Energy; Sustainability Analytics. Help ingest, process, analyze and report on energy, water, trash and similar data from various software platforms and utilities. Respond to data requests from various stakeholders (e.g., Investment Officers, Construction, Facilities, Property Management). Support the Acquisitions and Development teams by helping to prepare utility budgets.
Lead the development and maintenance of automated dashboards and reports, including developing underlying data models, to disseminate data and insights timely to key stakeholders. Examples include BEPS compliance, water usage, information required for public disclosures/ESG report, and portfolio resilience risk assessments. Review utility bill rates as needed. Support identification and execution of energy-related rebate and incentive programs. Support energy efficiency and sustainability projects as needed.
Support the Company’s participation in industry organizations (e.g., ASHRAE, ACEEE, AEE,NMHC, ULI). Represents the Company in a professional manner at all times. Consistently maintains aprofessional courteous attitude when dealing with residents, coworkers and the general public. Performs other duties as necessary. The Company may revise this job description from time to time as business needs require. It is not intended to be an exhaustive listing of all the functions of the job, nor to limit the Company’s right to assign other functions to an employee in this position. This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.