Project Manager, Climate Action Planning, China

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, now in its 15th year, connects 96 of the world’s greatest cities which have committed to tackling climate change. We bring mayors from around the world together to learn from each other in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating resilient, sustainable and low carbon cities. C40 cities represent more than 700 million urban citizens and their economies account for 25% of the global GDP. C40’s ‘Deadline 2020’ report sets out the critical role that the world’s major cities have to play in delivering the historic Paris Agreement to prevent catastrophic climate change. 

C40’s team of 200+ staff is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Beijing and Paris, and individual staff based across 25+ different locations, with the Office of the Chair based in Los Angeles.  

The strategic direction of the organization is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors which is chaired by the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. Three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, which is responsible for operational oversight. A nine-person management team, led by Executive Director, Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40’s three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Realdania.

Climate Action Planning

To support the implementation of the Paris Agreement, each C40 city will be expected to develop and begin implementing a climate action plan (or series of plans) that will deliver action consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement; addresses both the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change; and outlines the wider social, environmental and economic benefits derived from implementing the plan and how the city will approach implementation of the plan using available powers, resources and partners.

Position Description

We are looking for an experienced individual to join the Climate Action Planning China team and provide project management and supports to delivering a programme of technical assistance, guidance and training to C40 cities in China to build technical capacity to develop ambitious and robust long-term climate action plans.The ideal candidate will combine strong project management capabilities, excellent problem solving, strong time and priority management abilities, analytics and communication skills with a solid understanding of cities and climate change.

Responsibilities:

The Project Manager Climate Action Planning China will work closely with the Climate Action Planning China team in post and a team of consultants to develop and deliver a varied technical assistance programme to help build capacity through: workshops, direct support, procurement of consultancy services and facilitation of peer-to-peer exchange. The main areas of responsibility are to:

• Work with the Head of Programme to update and maintain the work plans, timelines and other materials to define delivery of a bespoke package of support for individual cities;
•  Support management and administration of the programme;
•  Manage and maintain effective working relationships and communications with consultants and city contacts, and wider network of C40 colleagues;
• Track the project implementation in accordance with the work plans and timeline and identify any potential risk for efficient delivery and coordinate within the team and partners to have it resolved timely;
• Conduct progress tracking, monitoring and evaluation against programme deliverables and KPIs at a regular basis, and conduct progress report drafting and reporting to funders and other stakeholders;
• Manage procurement and contract management of consultancy services and manage payments to ensure all paperwork is up to date and compliant with regulations and requirements from funders.
• Manage and update programme budgeting and invoicing, including maintain and update project budgets and track expenses;

Person Specification:

•  Demonstrable project, budget and people management experience, including working with third party delivery teams, and ability to manage multiple parallel tasks;
•  Rich experience in government, business or NGO sectors with a focus on sustainability and/or climate change, and substantive experience working with or within municipal governments;
•  Excellent problem-solving, strategic thinking and analytical capabilities, with advanced MS Excel and data management skills;
• Strong interpersonal, relationship building and written and verbal communication skills, combined with English and Chinese fluency;
•  Preference for knowledge and experience related to climate change and/or sustainability in multiple sectors (e.g. environment, building, transport, waste, energy).
• Experience of organising, developing and facilitating webinars and interactive and enquiry-based workshops;
• International experience working across different cultures, languages and time zones a plus;
•  Advanced degree in a relevant discipline.

Other Requirements:

Applicants must already have the right to work in China. Moderate travel may be required as part of the role.

Location: Beijing

Term: Fixed term contract until June 2021

Salary: CNY 305,781 per annum

Closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday, 26 July 2020.  

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.  At C40, we are committed to creating an inclusive working environment, where diversity is valued and there is equality of opportunity. We therefore welcome applications from all sections of the community and would like to request you to complete the recruitment and diversity questionnaire, to help us monitor our recruitment and selection procedures. For how C40 handles your personal information, please review our Privacy Notice – Recruitment.