Lead Specialist, Sustainable Infrastructures/Cities

Job Description

The main objective of this role is to take on responsibility for selected technical assistance (project preparation support, economic and financial modelling, financial structuring and investment advisory, as well as capacity building) provision to cities for their sustainable infrastructure projects to support them towards access to finance. Depending on your expertise and interests you will be working on projects in the climate adaptation, NBS, circular economy, renewable energy, energy efficiency, built environment, sustainable transportation and/or carbon removal sector. Thereby, you will collaborate with a broad range of public and private partners, clients, and stakeholders from the financial, infrastructure, public administration, and private sector.

Main tasks & responsibilities

• Responsible for technical assistance/consultancy provision to municipal sustainable infrastructure projects to support them in project preparation towards access to finance;
• Coordinate small teams of internal and external experts to provide expertise and prepare deliverables for the technical assistance provision to municipal sustainable infrastructure projects along the sustainable infrastructure project preparation process (from project scoping and pre-feasibility studies to business model definition support, to further advancing project preparation and documentation towards transaction readiness, to financial structuring, investor engagement and transaction support);
• Depending on interest and experience: Take on responsibility for certain workstreams that South Pole is involved in/or responsible for in the scope of the program, e.g. financial modeling, capacity-building sessions for Cities, investor roundtables, and pitches, impact framework development, risk mapping exercises and mapping against existing standards;
• Participate in planning and coordination calls with South Pole's partner organisations within the NZC program and depending on experience and preference take over certain coordination responsibilities in close alignment with the NZC team lead;
• Contribute to deliverables, reports, and publications;
• Contribute to and potentially lead the elaboration of additional funding proposals and business development efforts for additional mandates in the sustainable infrastructure sector;
• Contribute to the capacity building of the NZC team at South Pole and in the NZC consortium through your sector-specific expertise in infrastructure project preparation and investor engagement.

Requirements

Essential

• University degree in civil engineering, environmental engineering, business/industrial engineering, urban planning, sustainable finance, business, economics, or similar;
• Min. 3-5 years of hands-on experience in (urban) sustainable infrastructure project planning and/or financing with strong focus on urban climate adaptation and/or nature based solutions. Alternatively, experience in energy efficiency/built-environment, district heating & cooling, or renewable energy is also desirable, preferably in a European context;
• Prior exposure and work experience in (public) multi-stakeholder projects for which continuous alignment and coordination is necessary;
• Sustained understanding and hands-on experience with the structuring/set-up of different business and financing models across one or several of the infrastructure sectors outlined;
• Several years of consultancy or technical assistance experience ideally for public sector mandates;
• Strong project management and communication skills;
• Pro-active, independent, solution and customer-oriented working style;
• Interested in on-the-job learning, is stimulated by a challenging work environment and brings persistence to overcome setbacks;
• Working proficiency in English.

Desirable

• Comprehensive understanding of financial markets, financial structuring, and investment instruments as they apply to sustainable infrastructure projects;
• Comprehensive understanding of the EU public and private financing landscape, as well as public procurement processes and guidelines;
• Proven experience of engagement with public and private sector financing institutions;
• Sustained experience working with cities or municipal utilities on infrastructure projects or similar;
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, solve complex problems, and drive results in a transactional environment;
• Working proficiency in additional European Languages.