About the International Energy Programme at the European Climate Foundation

The European Climate Foundation (ECF) was established in 2008 to accelerate progress towards low-carbon societies. ECF hosts the Pool-fund on International Energy (PIE) that supports global efforts to bring about decarbonisation in the context of development, equity, justice and sustainability. This fund is situated in the International Energy Programme at ECF and it supports strategies, convenes partners and stakeholders and makes grants in order to support an energy transition away from coal towards clean energy. The present role will drive implementation of this fund.

Context of the role 

The fund was initiated in 2013 to globalise work on coal transition. It performed the role of building and supporting new national efforts in countries with a high risk of coal exposure and building and strengthening trans-national efforts in support of the national work everywhere. The fund has grown in scale every year to such an extent that Asia work has now been spun out into its own entity. The fund retains a role with Africa and the Americas, but its core role is increasingly to focus on the trans-national effort in support of all geographies – data and analysis, the finance sector, networks and learning and incubating new work on industrial coal and other emerging priority areas.

The style of the programme is to incubate and innovate and retain a laser-focus on the cause. The fund operates as the centre-of-gravity on the global effort working intensively with re-granting foundations responsible for this work in Asia, Europe, the US, Australia and China. But only this programme holds an international overview and takes responsibility for trans-national interventions.

The Director will lead on strategy and implementation of a number of the  fund’s grant making themes and specifically will work in collaboration with Sunrise Project on transnational finance. In addition, they will play a lead role including developing the management and tracking system for transnational finance grants and overseeing other initiatives and will also deputise for the senior director. The role will have a small number of line reports.

The role reports to the Director, International Energy Programme who works with foundations on global strategy and prioritisation and in partnership with the Director for International Clean Energy.

Key responsibilities

The Director for International Energy Transition will be responsible for developing strategy and managing implementation of the PIE fund’s programme. Responsibilities include:

• Strategy synthesis, determination and implementation: support the Senior Director, team, and key external strategy advisors in operationalizing key workstreams in the overall programme , related priorities and budgets;

• Transnational finance grant making: developing and executing a monitoring and evaluating process and impact of initiatives and grants; and acting as a liaison to report regular progress to funders and our team. Additionally, administering grant making process of this line of work, including refining the scope of work for different steams of programme grant making; validating and refining proposals from potential partners; drafting recommendations for the consideration of the team and our funders;

• Alignment with the general international programmes at ECF and with the strategies of foundation partners;

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with external actors and opinion formers to inform strategy and improve effectiveness – across civil society, labour, business and government;

• Building and maintaining productive relationships with grantees and other direct partners, to support strong collaboration and a creative shared approach to problem-solving;

• Working closely with internal and external partners to draw down useful insights and learning into the programme;

• Commissioning impactful research and convening stakeholders and partners;

• External representation of the programme;

Experience and competencies

• University degree or equivalent;
• At least ten years of relevant professional experience. In this case relevant experience is around a track record of bringing about change eg in policy and investment patterns;
• Affinity for work on finance (While we do not require experience, we do require demonstrable affinity for work in this area if candidates do not have direct experience)
• Excellence in strategic thinking, and demonstrable ability to translate strategy into implementation;
• Proven management and leadership skills;
•  Excellence in networking including demonstrable ability to maintain trusting professional relationships across different sectors, a diverse group of partners, including many working in different cultural contexts especially developing and emerging economies;
• Proven experience and track record of working internationally and with partners in diverse circumstances and cultures.
• Excellent written and verbal communications, with the ability to crystallise complex issues into effective and readable strategy documents. The ability to speak languages other than English is welcomed;
• A commitment to the mission and values of the International Energy Programme and ECF;
• A demonstrable ability to self-manage and self-organise establishing your own workspace and schedule.

What we offer

• A unique opportunity to work as part of a highly dynamic, international team who combine their passion to make a difference with a rigorous approach to work;
• A highly flexible self-managed approach in terms of day-to-day arrangements.
• A full-time position – Initial one-year contract, renewable subject to funding.

Location

Location is flexible however a European time zone is most practical given the need to work with Asia, Europe and the US. The candidate will need to demonstrate their ability to fulfill the demands of the role from their preferred location which can include a home office.

How to apply

1. CV
2.  Short cover letter expressing your motivation for this role.

Candidates need to be in the possession of a work permit for the work location, if applicable

All applications will be treated confidentially. We will store your information in our internal database unless you specifically request otherwise.