Industry Decarbonisation Lead

Job Title: Industry Decarbonisation Lead
Team: Industry Value Chains Cluster   
Level: Advanced

Please refer to our Capability Framework
Salary: Competitive for Not-for-Profit Organisation
Location: Poland, Slovenia, Italy or Belgium
Start Date: ASAP

FTE: 1

Contract Type: fixed term 1 year, with possibility of extension

Apply By: Interviews will happen on a rolling basis till we find the right candidate. It is advisable to apply as early as possible.

ABOUT US

At Climate-KIC, we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and we encourage personal development, learning and growth.

When recruiting, we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments that will foster success in potential employees from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate all working patterns. We’re happy to discuss your situation during the interview and see how best we can support you.

Don’t let Imposter Syndrome stop you from applying!

Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that keeping global temperature rise below 1.5˚C demands unprecedented change. It requires new social dynamics, ways of doing business, capital flows, policymaking, economic models, and new ways of living. That is why our mission is to leverage the power of systems innovation to transform whole places, industries and value chains by 2030, working across sectors to develop and scale ambitious, mission-led programmes. Climate KIC’s strategy 2024-2030, Transformation, with Urgency, is available here.

Climate KIC operates as a not-for-profit platform working through public-private partnership, wielding both public and private funding. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 150 organisations including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and civil society actors. 

We have historically managed €80-100 million per year in grants, provided by our founder and core funder, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT). As of 2025, Climate KIC operates as an emeritus member of the EIT Community, in addition to working with funding from the European Commission, multi-lateral funders, institutional funders, corporates, and philanthropic foundations. Our objective is to maintain a flow of funds of circa €100 million annually to our community and to challenge owners to deliver impact. Funders include SIDA, MunichRe, the African Development Bank, Governments of Ireland, Spain and Slovenia, Laudes Foundation, Good Energies, Facebook, Google Foundation. The Climate KIC Group is led by a Dutch charity status Foundation.

Climate KIC has a Remote-First strategy, where colleagues work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch or employing entity (and can work out of local offices or co-working seats, where they exist). We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools to work with each other and with our community. On occasion, we meet in person as teams, and once per year as an organisation.

As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to climate transformation, we consider the climate impact of our own actions, for example travel, catering, or IT equipment.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking a dynamic and strategic-minded individual to join our Industry Value Chains team. Your expertise will excel our systems innovation efforts, shape our practice of how we engage with businesses and business representatives. You will be part of a vibrant, multicultural team dedicated to accelerating climate action through systems innovation.

The Industry Decarbonization Lead role is crucial for structuring and executing our ways of challenging and supporting business:

·         Working with businesses to help them meet their sustainability (climate and environmental) ambitions and excel at the necessary transformations, setting ground for their strategic transition plans.

·         Bridging sustainability, digitalisation and competitiveness challenges and opportunities in shaping feasible future pathways for industries.

·         Developing services to support industry transitions – beyond ESG compliance: into strategy setting, learning and capacity building, clean (decarbonised and circular) industry scenarios, strategies and business models.

·         Building partnerships with industry representatives/associations to enable transformation of value chains and individual businesses.

The role involves working with organizations representing businesses/sectors and individual businesses, occasionally also getting involved with public authorities representing national and regional governments, cities and local ecosystem stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

·         Co-creating the design of a new Climate KIC learning track for industry, to reimagine sustainability and competitiveness (beyond ESG as a compliance tool, using its principles and methods as a strategic tool for successful green and digital transformations).

·         Clean industry transformation – designing and validating a new commercial service of Climate KIC: a co-creation format for future proofing possible scenarios of industry decarbonization.

·         Adapting the existing Climate KIC’s methodology of strategic innovation & risk to both value chains and individual business transformations.

·         Creating value propositions and service models (potential offerings for commercial and philanthropic market to fund) of the above services:

o   Beyond ESG fast learning track

o   Clean industry transformation scenarios

o   Strategic innovation and risk of value chains and industries

·         Building meaningful partnerships with industry representatives to enable transformation of value chains and individual businesses.

·         Participate in additional attempts to fundraise for programmes to maximise impact and scale given the criticality of the climate challenge.

·         Contributing to thought leadership with technical expertise and knowledge on value chains transformations, circularity and decarbonization.

·         Supporting business representatives in becoming systems thinking practitioners, to design and implement more transformative measures across a range of intervention areas. Workshop design, preparation and facilitation for diverse audience types.

Key Working Relationships

·         Industry Value Chain Team and Lead

·         Other EIT Climate KIC Teams, including Policy, Strategic Partnership (business development), Cities, Regions, Entrepreneurship and Community teams

·         Industry ecosystem players – i.e.. industry alliances, clusters, business partnerships, individual companies.

·         Public sector representatives – cities, regions, national governments

·         Other stakeholders of transformation processes – citizens, NGOs, universities.

ABOUT YOU
To be successful in this role you will be a mission-driven self-starter. Sustainabilibity activities and ambitions are your drivers, you enjoy working with people, are experienced in building strong and meaningful collaborations. You will be someone that operates at te nexus of sustainability and competitiveness, can translate the values of both sides and make sense of it. You will be identifying the needs and expectations of businesses and turning them into a structured support from Climate KIC – including a value proposition and business model behind it.

You are energised when working on a diverse set of projects engaging daily with diverse stakeholders, and skilled at sensemaking across different activities. You are oriented towards learning while doing and embracing agile ways of working.

You are passionate about addressing climate change, have deep knowledge in one of the areas of interest for Industry Value Chain team: how value chains operate, business models towards climate change, circular economy, incl. flow of materials, energy transition, etc.

Qualification/Education & Experience

·         Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in climate science, environmental engineering, or related fields or economics/business degree

·         Proven experience: 5 years implementing climate and environment related projects, preferably with businesses

·         Thorough understanding of emissions and carbon measuring and reporting tools, renewable energy, offsets, energy efficiency solutions, circular economy, life cycle assessment is expected

·         Knowledge about ESG based business strategies and business models and how European Green Deal regulations are influencing business operations

·         Expertise in transforming decarbonization roadmaps into marketable, demand-driven solutions.

·         Experience conducting market research to validate demand for climate transformation services.

·         Knowledge and experience in applying futures literacy approaches (foresight, future-proofing approaches, future scenario building, etc.) to industry or place-based transformation processes,

·         Proven track record of working with industry on decarbonization/sustainability initiatives, especially in hard-to-abate sectors.

·         Proven track record and work experience in international and multi-disciplinary environments and contexts, fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration, and ensuring successful collaboration and delivery.

Key Capabilities

·         Comfort and confidence working at systems levels, working in areas of complexity and uncertainty with multiple partners and relationships.

·         Comfortable working with a high degree of independence to steer ongoing programs and initiatives.

·         Creating value propositions, building proposals, business models of services.

·         Ability to navigate government policies, subsidies, and compliance frameworks for industry transitions.

·         Ability to design and develop climate-related services and solutions for industry partners.

·         Emphasizing listening to learn, empathy, human-centered design, agility, empowerment, and collaboration.

·         Strong ability to build positive and fruitful relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

·         Design and facilitation of meetings and workshops.

·         Seeing patterns of connection and difference; using diverse perspectives to catalyse breakthrough thinking, reflection and learning; culturally aware and skilled in working with diversity and inclusiveness.

·         Familiarity with different approaches and emerging trends related to strategic and systems thinking, including design for policy and futures literacy will be considered as added value.

·         Proficiency in English with exceptional written and verbal communication skills.

Qualities, Personal Style, and Approach

·         Articulate and dynamic, with highly developed interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively, inspire and motivate people.  

·         Growth mindset; highly adaptable, flexible and resilient: able to work effectively in ambiguity and complexity and to respond dynamically to change.  

·         Commitment to continuous improvement.

·         Solutions focused, with a “can do” attitude; willing to undertake a range of tasks to meet needs.

·         Proactive approach, entrepreneurial.

Location

The role is based in selected RIS countries: Poland, Slovenia, Italy; or in Belgium. It’s a fully remote working role with a high degree of flexibility.