Associate - Resilience Project Lead and Humanity Insured

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries. People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Location: London

Reporting Line: Lead Associate – Grants & Executive Delivery

Contract: Permanent, 5 days a week, you will be expected to be onsite 3 days each week.

Role Overview

This is a unique opportunity to work across both Howden and Humanity Insured, supporting the delivery of Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship, and Humanity Insured grant management. You will play a central role in coordinating and delivering the final year of the Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship, a flagship initiative linking insurance expertise with city leadership to develop practical resilience solutions. Alongside this, you will contribute to Humanity Insured’s grant-making and organisational priorities, supporting the Chief of Staff and wider grant team on pipeline management and governance. The role provides exposure to both private sector innovation and international development delivery, with the opportunity to transition into a full‐time role at Humanity Insured following completion of the Fellowship programme (subject to performance and organisational need).

Core tasks:

• Global Risk & Resilience Fellowship (Howden, 80% of time)
  • Lead coordination and delivery of defined city-level projects under the Fellowship, maintaining project plans, milestones, and reporting
  • Support delivery of final programme outputs, including a final report, partner materials, and end‐of‐programme summaries and/or events
  • Maintain strong stakeholder relationships, engagement and coordination across internal Howden teams and external partners, cities, and stakeholders, ensuring alignment, timely delivery of meetings, reporting, workshops and/or other events
  • Manage programme operations, including trackers and documentation
  • Support development of communications and external positioning materials in collaboration with Howden teams and partners
• Grant management and governance (Humanity Insured, 20% of time)
  • Contribute to grant pipeline and portfolio management, including processes and coordination across the grant lifecycle
  • Support Board and governance processes, including preparation and coordination of Board and Committee materials
  • Provide structured support for time-bound initiatives, including research, drafting, partner coordination, and planning
  • Ensure grant processes align with governance, financial and risk frameworks
  • Support due diligence and grant management documentation requirements
  • Maintain audit-ready records across all grants
  • Maintain internal systems and tracking tools to ensure visibility across the grant portfolio
  • Ensure information is up to date and accessible across the team

Qualifications and Experience:

Core Capabilities

• Strong project management and coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams
• Clear and confident communicator, with strong written and verbal skills
• High attention to detail and strong follow‐through on actions and deadlines
• Able to work independently, prioritise effectively, and exercise sound judgement
• Analytical and proactive, with the ability to identify risks and propose solutions
• Strong stakeholder management skills across internal and external partners
• Comfortable working across both structured programme delivery and more fluid, early-stage initiative

Essential

• Experience in a relevant role (e.g. programme coordination, project delivery, consulting, partnerships, or operations)
• Experience coordinating multiple stakeholders, including senior or external partners
• Experience producing professional outputs (e.g. briefings, reports, updates)
• Strong organisational and administrative skills
• Strong digital proficiency (including Microsoft Office / M365 tools)

Highly Desirable

• Exposure to climate resilience, disaster risk finance, international development, or public–private collaboration
• Experience supporting grant-making or governance processes
• Understanding of insurance concepts and their application to resilience (not essential)
• Experience working across international or multi‐time zone teams

Development & Progression:

The Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship is scheduled to conclude in December 2026. Subject to strong performance, there is an intention for the successful candidate to transition into a full‐time role within Humanity Insured thereafter. The scope of this role will be defined closer to the time in line with organisational priorities.

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new
• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges
• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

Reasonable adjustments

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours or hybrid working. If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.