There are plenty of think tanks in Washington that define the left. And plenty that define the right. If you are an ideologically rebellious, fresh-thinking policy wonk willing to listen and learn, we'd like you to join us.

The Nancy Hale Fellowship Program offers those just completing their graduate school education and those beginning a career in public policy an opportunity to spend one year with Third Way. During their time here they will have a chance to: be in the room when we meet with top Washington policy players; co-author papers and work with our policy teams to produce new ideas, research, and insights; learn a methodology that is intellectually rigorous; and leverage our wide-ranging DC network into future career opportunities.

The Fellows Program is a full-time, 12-month program that comes with a $60,000 annual stipend and two weeks paid vacation, plus healthcare and benefits.

We understand what it means to bring different voices together to work towards a common goal. Third Way celebrates, supports, and promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and encourages all qualified applicants to apply to join our team. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, lawful alien status, age, marital status, parental status, or protected veteran status and will not discriminate against anyone on the basis of a disability. All employment selections are determined on the basis of qualifications and program needs.


Issue Fellowships
2022-2023 Fellows
  • Photo of Robert Fourqurean
    Robert Fourqurean
    Former Climate and Energy Fellow
  • Photo of Joshua Kendall
    Joshua Kendall
    Economic Fellow
Former Fellows
  • Jessica Greely
    National Security Fellow, 2022-2023
  • Curran McSwigan
    Economic Policy Advisor
  • Tom Klein
    Visiting Fellow
  • Sudria Twyman
    Former Visiting Fellow
  • Robert Cotter
    Social Policy & Politics Fellow, 2019-2020
  • Sunny Glottmann
    Economic Program Fellow, 2019-2020
  • Andres Prieto
    Former Climate and Energy Economist
  • Anisha Hindocha
    National Security Fellow, 2019-2020
  • Akua Amaning
    Social Policy & Politics Fellow, 2018-2019
  • Brandon Gaskew
    National Security Fellow, 2018-2019
  • Ryan Zamarripa
    Economic Program Fellow, 2018-2019
  • Lindsay Steves
    Clean Energy Fellow, 2018-2019
  • Mykael Goodsell-SooTho
    Clean Energy Fellow, 2017-2018
  • Rachel Minogue
    Economic Fellow, 2017-2018
  • Adam Twardowski
    National Security Fellow, 2017-2018
  • Fahad Siddiqui
    Clean Energy Fellow, 2016-2017
  • Rachael Stephens
    Economic Fellow, 2016-2017
  • Gary Ashcroft
    National Security Fellow, 2016-2017
  • Nathan Kasai
    Former Deputy Director of Social Policy & Politics
  • Matthew Goldberg
    Clean Energy Fellow, 2015-2016
  • Paul Lapointe
    Economic Fellow, 2015-2016
  • David Forscey
    National Security Fellow, 2015-2016
  • Tyler Cole
    Social Policy & Politics Fellow, 2015-2016
  • Samuel Brinton
    Clean Energy Fellow, 2014-2015
  • Kenneth Megan
    Economic Fellow, 2014-2015
  • Chrissy Bishai
    National Security Fellow, 2014-2015
  • Stephenie Johnson
    Social Policy & Politics Fellow, 2014-2015
  • Ingrid Akerlind
    Clean Energy Fellow, 2013 – 2014
  • Kimberly Pucher
    Economic Fellow, 2013 – 2014
  • Faris Alikhan
    National Security Fellow, 2013 – 2014
  • Tamara Hiler
    Former Director of Social Policy, Education & Politics

Climate and Energy Fellow

Third Way is a national think tank that develops and champions modern, center-left ideas.

Third Way’s Climate and Energy Program is seeking a fellow to join a dynamic team engaged in an ambitious, multi-year effort to enact climate policies that will set the United States on the fastest, fairest path to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, using all of the carbon-free tools we have and inventing the ones we still need.

This position will be filled by a hard-working and entrepreneurial individual who is interested in applying a technical background and deep understanding of US energy systems toward creating federal energy policy. Fear not, we’ll bring the fellow up to speed on politics and the inner workings of Washington. The majority of the fellow’s time will be spent working within the Climate and Energy Program’s innovation portfolio, which focuses on ensuring the US gets the most out of its clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment efforts.

The Fellow will report to the Policy Advisor for Innovation.

Fellowship Info

The Nancy Hale Fellows Program is a full-time, 12-month program that comes with a $60,000 annual stipend and two weeks paid vacation, plus healthcare and benefits. It also comes with the chance to meet with top Washington policy players; to co-author papers and work with our policy teams to produce new ideas, research, and insights; to learn our methodology; and to leverage our wide-ranging D.C. network into future career opportunities.

During your time at Third Way, you will learn skills in workflow management, leveraging polarities, meeting facilitation and participation, parallel thinking, dynamic presentation and communication, creativity, design thinking, networking, and interview skills.

Upon completion, our fellows find fulfilling work at other think tanks, congressional committees, private-sector firms, advocacy organizations, and the federal government. They take full advantage of Third Way’s ever-growing network of public policy professionals. If you are a future-oriented thinker and a policy wonk willing to listen and learn, we’d like you to join us.

Third Way has a hybrid work policy, so this position has the option to be remote on Mondays and Fridays, but must come into the DC office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays

Skills

The ideal candidate has:

  • An interest in moderate politics and commitment to Third Way’s mission;
  • An advanced degree (master’s or law) in a related field;
  • The ability to take initiative on individual projects, but willingness to work collaboratively on a team;
  • Strong research and technical skills, with a talent for knowing and telling the story a dataset demands;
  • The ability to explain complicated concepts in a way that makes sense to policymakers;
  • Diplomacy and discretion when dealing with external groups.

Duties

  • Conducting in-depth research and quantitative analysis of a variety of sources, including online databases, media, and reports from the government, NGOs, and academia;
  • Developing original legislative proposals and producing high-impact written products by distilling complex issues, often under tight deadlines, into succinct and accessible formats, including policy briefings, memos, and presentations;
  • Organizing and participating in high-level external meetings, briefings on Capitol Hill, professional networking events, and other activities to promote Third Way policies;
  • Presenting our research and policy ideas to Hill staff, advocates, think tanks, and academics both through individual and coalition meetings and in other events around D.C.; and
  • Supporting other members of the team with research and minor administrative tasks as needed.

Compensation

$60,000 annual stipend and two weeks paid vacation, plus healthcare and benefits.

Requirements

The ideal candidate will have a graduate degree with a quantitative focus, preferably in a field of engineering, the hard sciences, or climate policy. While this position requires strong technical abilities, Third Way’s success relies on our ability to build relationships and communicate our message. Therefore, the Climate and Energy Fellow must be able to explain complicated concepts in a way that makes sense to the general public.

To engage and excite an audience, the Fellow will need to convey personality in their written and verbal communication – even when dealing with dense, data-heavy topics. Policy is all about solving problems, something that the ideal candidate enjoys and is good at. Creativity is a valuable skill at all stages of policy development, so the Climate and Energy Fellow must have the ability to identify and pursue opportunities that might not be visible to the average Joe. Finally, the fellow must have a deep commitment to fighting climate change, promoting clean energy, and furthering Third Way’s mission of representing Americans in the “vital center.”

Interested?