Ascension is seeking an Energy Code Policy & Program Analyst to support Montgomery County’s Department of Permitting Services in translating energy code data, permit trends, industry feedback, and program findings into actionable policy, process, training, and workforce development recommendations.

This role is important because Montgomery County is using building codes as a major tool to support its climate goals, including net-zero energy and electrification code development across future code cycles. The RFP states that DPS is working across the 2021, 2024, 2027, and 2030 code cycles and needs contractor support for IT, reporting and analysis, policy consulting, and outreach services through grant closeout.

The ideal candidate will understand building energy codes, residential code policy, AHJ practices, code adoption processes, and how data from permitting, inspections, enforcement, and stakeholder feedback can be used to improve program performance. This position is best suited for a candidate who can connect technical energy code requirements with practical implementation needs for local government, industry professionals, homeowners, and workforce partners.

Summary of Contractor Role

The Energy Code Policy & Program Analyst will support policy consulting and program improvement activities associated with Montgomery County’s energy code modernization effort. The role will help DPS use data findings to improve commercial and residential energy code policies, identify best practices from other Authorities Having Jurisdiction, support residential-specific code amendment documentation, and recommend improvements to training materials, processes, documentation, data collection tools, and workforce development planning.

The RFP specifically calls for recommendations to improve DPS IT systems and data collection tools/forms, assistance with commercial and residential energy code policy changes based on data analysis, AHJ best-practice research, residential-specific code amendment support, improvements to training materials/processes/documentation, and workforce development planning and implementation.

The successful candidate should be a detail-oriented, analytical, and practical policy professional who can work in an evolving task-order environment. The candidate must be comfortable reviewing technical findings, synthesizing data and stakeholder input, preparing written recommendations, developing policy-ready documentation, and coordinating with data analysts, energy code SMEs, outreach staff, and project leadership. The candidate should be self-driven, organized, responsive, and able to operate with limited supervision while maintaining accuracy, professional judgment, and strong documentation discipline.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

• Analyze energy code data findings and translate them into policy, program, training, and process recommendations.
• Conduct AHJ research to identify energy code best practices, implementation models, code amendment examples, and local government approaches.
• Support development of commercial and residential energy code policy changes based on findings from data analysis and stakeholder feedback.
• Draft, edit, and refine residential-specific code amendment documentation targeted toward homeowners.
• Review training materials, guidance documents, forms, and process documentation to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend updates to DPS data collection tools, forms, and workflows to improve consistency, completeness, and usability.
• Coordinate with energy code SMEs, reporting analysts, data specialists, and outreach personnel to ensure policy recommendations align with available data.
• Support workforce development planning by identifying training, staffing, skills, and implementation needs for energy code adoption and compliance.
• Prepare briefing materials, policy memos, findings summaries, decision papers, and recommendation trackers.
• Identify recurring barriers in permitting, documentation, training, and compliance processes and propose practical solutions.
• Participate in kickoff meetings, annual program status meetings, working sessions, and task-order meetings as required.
• Maintain version-controlled work products, research logs, assumptions, source documentation, and recommendation matrices.
• Ensure deliverables are clear, editable, accessible, and suitable for County review and revision.