Senior Just Transition Specialist at Palladium: Make It Possible

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

• The UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) programme aims to improve the effectiveness of key public, private, and civil society institutions in partner countries to deliver accelerated emission reductions, including providing support to the City of Johannesburg since 2022 to implement the City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) in line with C40 Cities Climate Transition Framework. The City of Johannesburg is engaging with UK PACT to undertake a review and update of the CAP which calls on all levels of government to align policies and plans with a just transition to a low-carbon economy.
• The selected expert will provide support to the Climate Change and Air Quality Director of the City of Johannesburg’s Climate Change Unit, which will offer their technical team to support implementation.
• In line with UK PACT’s Gender, Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) strategy, the Senior Just Transition Specialist is expected to complete GEDSI training and support the implementing partner to develop a GEDSI Action Plan with the support of the Fund’s GEDSI expert. This process will help support alignment of outputs with CoJ, C40 and UK PACT guidance and expectations surrounding GEDSI, equity and inclusion.
• This assignment will be full-time, based in Johannesburg, South Africa for from approximately the 1st of October 2025 through the 31st of August 2026.

The main activities to be carried out by the Senior Just Transition Specialist include the following:

• Contributing to the development of the strategic approach to the City of Johannesburg CAP review process, including engagement with provincial and national counterparts and the establishment of any necessary review structures (internal and external) to enable the review process; then participating largely in conducting the review of the CAP and the development of an updated version;
• Integrating the findings of studies being conducted by other experts –on the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories (which provide a picture of city-scale emissions) and a MetroView study of risk and vulnerability—into the updated CAP;
• Building on previously established stakeholder networks and contributing to an updated stakeholder engagement plan, then serving as the contact point in maintaining those relationships to include coordinating meetings and synthesizing/incorporating stakeholders’ inputs to the CAP review; 
• Contributing to the communication plan and related materials in alignment with the City of Johannesburg’s Communications Team to include developing event materials for wider knowledge sharing.

Required Qualifications:

We are looking for a proactive self-starter, able to work flexibly whilst under pressure, with excellent interpersonal and communications skills, in alignment with the following:

• A relevant post-graduate degree, such as Environmental Scientist, Political or Development studies, Urban planning, Economist;
• Substantial experience in government, business or non-governmental sectors in South Africa, with a focus on sustainability and/or climate change, and substantive experience working with or within municipal governments;
• Experience in working with climate change adaptation and mitigation-focused plans, strategies and/or programmes, with desirable experience with identifying and incorporating GEDSI considerations;
• Excellent project-management, strategic thinking and analytical capabilities, with MS Excel experience and data management skills;
• Demonstrable problem-solving, budget and people management experience, including working with third party delivery teams, and ability to manage multiple parallel tasks;
• Strong interpersonal, relationship building, written and verbal communication skills, combined with English fluency;
• Strong stakeholder engagement experience, as well as experience in developing or facilitating webinars, seminars, workshops etc.; and
• Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability, potentially being able to be innovative as a team leader and within the team structure.