Job Openings at C40 Cities

Position description:

• You will be responsible for helping to drive impactful campaign partnerships to increase, strengthen and showcase stakeholder support for mayoral climate action. 
• You will immerse yourself in the overarching strategic priorities of C40 at both the local and global levels and use this understanding to identify the critical partners and voices needed, determine the key avenues to engage them, and define the activities required for delivery. 
• To achieve this, you will have a laser-sharp ability to read the room, interpersonal dynamics, and politics, enabling you to rapidly build rapport and co-create successfully with partners. 
• At the same time you will have meticulous organisation and project management skills that ensure smooth and seamless delivery of projects and reporting. 
• You will also be highly collaborative and will work closely with issue experts from C40’s Climate Solutions & Networks, Inclusive Climate Action, C40’s Regions & Mayoral Engagement, Communications, Advocacy, Climate Finance, Research & Partnerships teams to design and deliver successful stakeholder engagement and campaign activities. 

Responsibilities:

• Work hand in hand with the Head of Campaign Partnerships to ensure the successful delivery of campaign partnerships across key priorities. 
• Act as the point of contact for campaign partners. 
• Manage day-to-day administrative tasks and engagement with campaign partners.
• Where appropriate, lead partner engagement tactics, including visible and creative partner mobilisation activities, the development of reactive toolkits, political statements, talking points, knowledge products and other resources.
• Contribute significantly to developing campaign partnership strategies aligned with the Political Strategy and Advocacy department’s key priorities.
• Work closely with the Regions and Mayoral Engagement team to appropriately engage C40 cities in campaign partner activities, following guidance from regional directors.
• Significantly support efforts to expand C40’s partner relationships, including with civil society and community leaders, institutional and political figures, scientists, VIPs, and businesses that can support C40 Cities' climate action, influence decision-makers, and shape media and public opinion.
• Identify and plan engagement opportunities with key campaign partners at C40 events, such as the C40 Summits, and at other global, regional, and local initiatives relevant to the organisation's mission.
• Support the delivery of campaign activities and youth engagement, working closely with the Head of Campaigns and the Head of Youth Engagement.
• Support on partner coordination for C40 milestones when appropriate and connected to campaign partners or broader partners of the Political Strategy and Advocacy department.. 
• Lead on internal campaign partner tracking using C40 reporting systems. 
• Collaborate closely with the communications team in the development and delivery of stakeholder engagement activities, including work in partnership with them to target, influence and mobilise key public audiences.
• Leverage partner insights to contribute to the strategy of the Political Strategy and Advocacy department and C40 as a whole.
• Contribute to the development of fundraising bids for priority campaigns and team projects as appropriate.
• Prepare high-level presentations and briefings for the Management Team, funders, and C40 Co-Chairs on campaign activities and strategic plans.
• Contributing to the wider objectives of the C40 Political Strategy and Advocacy department, including coordinating with other teams, supporting procurement, planning retreats and workshops, drafting presentations and reports, among others.
• Ensure C40’s campaigns effectively deliver on our Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism KPIs and objectives.
• Contribute to a culture of openness, trust, transparency, mutual support and continuous learning and improvement. 

Person specification:

• Demonstrable track record of delivering successful partnerships and campaigns to achieve tangible real-world change, including building alliances and forging strong relationships with global spokespeople and mobilising partners/ target audiences in support of specific goals.   
• Ability to ‘read the room’,  understand what’s not been said to identify clear needs and position of partners.
• Experience of working in or with city governments, or an understanding of the needs and barriers cities face in implementing climate action.
• Strong experience of project management, including creating and managing project timelines, reporting, and budgets.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Experience of cross-team or matrix working, drawing on the insights of colleagues with different expertise (across communications, research, mayoral engagement, policy etc) to collaborative design approaches and tactics. 
• Strong political analysis skills, including the ability to spot opportunities and threats to climate action and design responses.
• Ability to acquire specialist knowledge quickly in relation to campaign issue areas, drawing on the expertise of colleagues. 
• Strong commitment to socially just climate action.
• Excellent team player/collaborator.
• Experience of working in a global organisation and across multiple time zones is desirable. 
   

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Position description:

• C40 is looking for a team leader and highly skilled professional to join the PSA department, reporting to the Department's Managing Director.  The role will be critically focused on leading and managing the global campaigns, partnerships and youth functions - enabling internal strategy, operations and effective partner outreach for these functions. The Director will enable the team and wider organisation  to provide timely and effective support to cities to build capacity, know-how and effective tactics to mobilise coalitions and build public support for climate action locally, regionally and globally.
• This will also include overseeing C40’s Youth Programmes. In addition, the Director will critically serve as Chief Advisor to the design of C40’s political strategy and leadership priorities and responsible for turning the strategy into execution, driving the day-to-day operations to ensure successful achievement of leadership and milestones’ outcomes and approaches. The ideal profile is for a strategic thinker with excellent planning, organisational and managerial capability.

The key functions the Director will oversee are: 

Campaigns

• C40 Campaigns empowers mayors to build the public and political willpower necessary to accelerate climate action. By aligning with local policy timelines and priorities, it designs bespoke strategies that bridge the gap between technical assistance and community mobilisation. The multi-disciplinary approach leverages campaign design, engagement tactics and tools to drive change across different climate topics, from transport to resilience, from clean energy to air quality. The work includes: Horizon Scanning, Local Campaigns, Multi-City Campaigns, Campaign Tools and Rapid Mobilisation & Response.

Campaign Partnerships: 

Campaign partnerships help bridge relationships between partners and mayors to accelerate ambitious climate action. This includes: 

• Local Coalition Building: Provide deep dive support to cities to identify and mobilise partners in support of local climate action to reach new audiences, demonstrate the breadth and diversity of support, and boost the resilience of mayors as climate leaders. 
• Global Platforms: Develop and deliver global activations that bring together mayors and civil society partners at C40’s global milestones to increase the capacity and confidence of mayors to deliver climate action.

Youth Programmes: 

C40’s Youth Programmes cover a number of networks and initiatives, including the City Youth Engagement Network, Youth Hub, Reinventing Cities, Youth Climate Action Fund as well as work on resilience and adaptation in the Global South. The work broadly aims to:

• Enable collaboration between youth and mayors and amplify global leadership, especially on resilience.
• Empower cities and young people to co-create and co-deliver climate solutions through Youth Climate Councils.
• Build local support for climate action and facilitate finance for youth-led climate initiatives in cities aligned to city priorities.

Key Responsibilities:

Team leadership & management:

• Oversee and direct C40’s campaigns, campaigns partners and youth functions, workplans and related teams
• Working with the Department's Managing Director and the team, and building on existing programmes of work, design/update strong strategies and workplans for the above functions and define how they contribute to C40’s Leadership Standards, Leadership Priorities and to C40’s overall Business Plan and KPIs
• Ensure timely and effective strategic and operational guidance to the campaigns, partners and youth function, enabling growth and development of the team and ensuring effective, measurable and timely outcomes and impact 
• Lead or support fundraising efforts for the Political Strategy and Advocacy Department
• Oversee effective Budget and Grant management
• Enable strong engagement with cities and partners on local and global campaign delivery driving the team and working closely with Regional and Policy teams

Political Strategy Operational delivery:

• Drive day to day operations on political strategy delivery, inc. translating into effective processes, operations and delivery plans strategic and political recommendations, initiatives and priorities 
• Working closely with the Director of Priority Initiatives & Events oversee delivery & implementation of political strategy and leadership priorities
• Working closely with strategic leads across the organisation on organisational leadership priorities, ensure effective implementation and operations of leadership and political initiatives and deliverables, navigating day to day political and strategic hurdles and ensuring timely escalation  
• Ensure the right operations in place to deliver on the political approach and outcomes for key milestones
• Ensure the building of coalitions and alliances at the global, regional, and local level to deliver C40’s missions, and mobilise partners and youth to support cities at key moments
• Possibly directly manage some key partner relationships

Political strategy Chief Advisor: 

• Chief advisor to Managing  Director on the development and update of C40’s political strategy and leadership priorities
• Define and understand broader political context: responsible for analysis, assessment, reporting, and embedding in C40 work - providing internal guidance on key political developments
• Advise and support the development of political messaging, content and outcomes
• Advise  and support the development on strategic and political outcomes for C40 milestones 
• Deputise Managing Director when needed 

Mainstreaming across organisation: 

• Mainstream the overall political strategy across C40 internally, working across key teams to ensure strong internal communication and coordinated delivery against key targets
• Ensure appropriate alignment and coordination across the organisation on partners engagement with regards to key strategic global partners
• Provide support and strategic engagement to Regions, Policy and Communication teams on delivery of Leadership priorities and related projects
• Oversee and guarantee effective engagement of the campaigns, partners and youth functions in cross organisational processes and boards (ie. Funding Development Board, Operational Management Team and Senior Leadership Team) to build alignment, highlight successes and increase collaboration
• Participate in the internal Leadership Priorities Board

Person specification:

• Minimum 8-10 years of experience working in government, political and/or civil society organisations
• Proven experience of designing and delivering campaigns, political initiatives and/or strategic programmes for government or civil society organisations, including programme design and operations, resource and financial management, ensuring high quality delivery within time and resource constraints
• Strong political analysis skills, including the ability to spot opportunities and threats to climate action and deliver responses.
• Strong experience and track record of highly skilled project, budget, operations and stakeholder management
• Strong experience and proven track record of building, leading and managing both specialist teams and cross-functional matrix teams to deliver organisational goals
• Exceptional ability to influence (even without authority), motivate teams, and bring clarity to complexity.
• Analytical ability and subject-matter knowledge needed to provide effective, strategic advice and steer to senior leadership, team and peers. 
• Excellent team player/collaborator with strong relationship management skills.
• Skilled in building trust, aligning diverse stakeholders, and driving action in matrixed environments.
• Strong judgement and comfort operating at pace under pressure.
• Outstanding interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Experience of climate and youth movements is ideal. 
• Experience of fundraising and funder management is ideal but not essential.