Senior Associate – UK Programme // European Climate Foundation // London, UK

About the European Climate Foundation

The European Climate Foundation (ECF) was established in 2008 as a major philanthropic initiative to help Europe foster the development of a low-carbon society and play an even stronger international leadership role to mitigate climate change. The foundation works through several sectoral, cross-cutting and regional initiatives and collaborates with a wide network of partners to advance progress towards this shared goal. The ECF team is a highly dynamic group of individuals, combining ambition and passion with a rigorous, results-oriented and analytic approach to the work. The ECF’s culture is one of intensity, enthusiasm and mutual support.

Context of the role

The ECF UK Programme works with a wide range of partners in civil society, think tanks, politics, business and academia to support positive action on climate and energy in Britain. We work to build political will for more ambitious action on climate change; and to develop solutions to the policy and practical challenges to decarbonisation of the entire economy.

Key responsibilities

• Strategy development: supporting the Director in setting the programme’s strategy, priorities and budgets; co-developing and implementing strategies with our network of grantees and partners; monitoring and evaluating progress and impact of initiatives and grants; and acting as a liaison to report regular progress to donors.
• Grant-making: developing the scope of work for different ECF projects; soliciting and validating proposals from potential UK partners and commissioning studies from consultants; drafting recommendations for the consideration of the ECF board and our donors.
• Project management: supporting the Director to manage and monitor ECF’s UK budget and the delivery of key work stream deliverables through frequent communication with partners, colleagues and funders, ensuring accountability.
• Research activities & prospecting: supporting the director in scoping the landscape around local and national climate politics and advocacy, as well as identifying potential new projects & grantees.
• Internal coordination and communication: liaising with ECF’s other programmes active in the UK, as well as other ECF country programmes and the organisation’s operations and communications teams to ensure proper and timely dissemination of information, and consistency and complementarity of different projects and work streams.
• Networking: building partnerships with key individuals across the policymaking, business and civil society communities in the UK and Europe; convening meetings; representing the UK programme at meetings and organising follow-up.

She/he will report to the Director of the UK programme.

Requirements

We are looking for a candidate who has 5-8 years of experience of delivering impact in influencing an area of policy, with a preference for those who have successfully made a strong positive impact on climate change policy. The following attributes are sought by applicants:

• A genuine interest in the mission and values of the organization;
• 5-8 years’ experience in either a public authority, a civil society organization, or a company working in the climate and energy field;
• Excellent knowledge of the UK’s policy-making processes;
• Deep understanding of climate, energy and industrial policies, and the interest in this area to engage at a technical level with the policy detail;
• Strong network in the climate change community in the UK;
• Structured, driven and able to manage many processes simultaneously;
• Strong networking skills that enable effective collaboration with a diverse group of partners;
• An independent self-starter able to work on his/her own as well as part of a team;
• Agile leader, with the ability to follow through with smart and adaptive implementation of plans;
• Excellent collaboration and influencing skills;
• Enthusiastic personality, with a positive, can-do attitude;
• Excellent command of the English language (both spoken and written); additional European languages a bonus.

What we offer

The unique opportunity to work as part of a highly dynamic, international group of individuals who combine their passion to make a difference with a rigorous and results-oriented approach to work; A flexible work environment and a space to develop and challenge yourself.

Location: London, UK

How to apply: Please upload your application. We are committed to diversity and inclusion in our organisation. We strongly encourage candidates from disadvantaged or marginalised groups to apply. Candidates need to be in the possession of a work permit for the work location in case applicable. All applications will be treated confidentially. We will store your information in our internal database unless you specifically request otherwise.