NetZeroCities Procurement Officer

Job Title:  NetZeroCities Procurement Officer

Reports to/team: Legal and Procurement
Contract:   Fixed term for 12 months with possibility to extend
Level: Foundation/Intermediate

Please refer to our Capability Framework 

Salary:  Competitive for Not-for-Profit Organisation  
Location: Remote-based in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Slovenia, Poland

Start Date: As soon as possible

ABOUT US  

Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is a European based, Climate Innovation organisation working in 70+ countries globally. We understand that global temperature rise is exceeding 1.5C and this 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 programmes. Climate KIC’s strategy 2024-2030, Transformation, with Urgency, is available here.    

Climate KIC operates as a not-for-profit foundation 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.     

Climate KIC leads the implementation of the European Union’s Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and the launch pilot of the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, both with the objective of catalysing rapid and deep transformation on a large scale, creating the precedent and economic transition conditions for demonstration, learning, capacity building, fast followership and investment. Achieving the EU Cities Mission will mean avoided scope 1 and 2 emissions alone of an estimated 0.7GT CO2e between now and 2040.    

Climate KIC has a Remote-First approach, 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

NetZeroCities (NZC) is a project designed to help cities overcome the current structural, institutional, and cultural barriers they face to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. NZC recognises the need for cities to develop specific strategies that are tailored to suit local and regional contexts, and supports them by developing, promoting, and integrating new and existing tools, resources, and expertise into an online platform accessible to all cities (Mission Platform). The project – designed to support cities that are part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe supported Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” – tailors advanced capabilities related to systemic change, citizen engagement and democratic, participatory governance, capital and financial structuring, and social innovation, to ensure cities have access to expertise needed to address their challenges in becoming climate neutral.

Working with key stakeholders, often under tight deadlines, Procurement Officer will lean into complex and uncertain environments to develop and maintain a strong and coherent legal and procurement organizational framework, compliant and ethical business affairs, dynamic risk management, effective and transparent governance, well-structured non-profit matters as well as robust contracting, policies and procedures.

The role shall be focused on the delivery of the City Expert Support Facility (CESF) under the Net ZeroCities program. This facility is an innovative way to enable cities to request support to fulfil their mission, however procurements, contracting and payments fall under the responsibility of Climate KIC in accordance with the EU Financial Regulation, Grant Agreement rules and Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement.

Key Responsibilities

• Stakeholder engagement with NZC consortium partners, suppliers and city stakeholders at all stages of planning and delivery.

• Support to the NZC teams with procurement planning and budgeting, with the aim of achieving greater visibility in terms of NZC procurement need and greater efficiency in tender management.

• Review of technical scopes and specifications as formulated by partners, and their subsequent conversion to tender documentation.

• Management of tendering procedures in compliance with EU public procurement principles, the applicable rules and Climate KIC policy.

• Management (in first instance) of the evaluation process, with Legal & Procurement acting as an escalation point in the event of a challenge.

• Managing contract awards and drafting and revising contract documentation, using ready-made templates.

• Contract management throughout the contract lifecycle and invoice processing, including managing contractual risks and relations with NZC consortium partners, suppliers and end beneficiaries.
  
  Key Working Relationships

• Legal & Procurement Team for legal advice and support in the case of escalation and the General Counsel acting as point person

• People (HR), Finance, Operations, Communications, Policy & EU Affairs

• General Counsel

• NetZeroCities Team (CKIC) & Consortium (Partners)

• Net Zero Cities Programme managers and CESF management (operational team)

ABOUT YOU

Qualifications

• A degree in a relevant field or demonstrable experience in procurement , A degree or demonstrable work experience in public administration, general public law, European Union law, law and economics, law and business administration or a related field, combined with relevant professional experience in the field of public procurement and EU grants.

• Solid understanding of National Public Procurement laws and/or EU Procurement Directives (2014/24/EU), as well as EU law and the legal framework applicable to EU grants.

Experience

• 2-3 years of relevant working experience in managing public procurements including category expertise in ICT, consultancy, professional services and communications contracts.

• Experience in drafting technical documentation, requests for proposals, tender specifications, contracts and internal policies and guidelines.

• Proven experience working at international organizations, and in particular European Union institutions, national public bodies, NGOs, or consultancies managing EU funds (e.g., Horizon Europe or similar EU funding programmes) will be highly valued.

Skills

• Ability to build and maintain relationships at all levels in a complex, multi-country, multi-stakeholder organisation.

• Achieving effectiveness and efficiency when conducting procurements while ensuring strict compliance.

• Detail oriented, proactive, delivery and solutions-focused, while being able to manage workloads in a time efficient way.

• Good communication skills, with a particular focus on delivering technical advice in easy-to-understand language to non-technical people and on facilitating compromise solutions during complex negotiations, with the overall objective of supporting decision-making at Climate-KIC and NZC consortium level

• Fluency in English (Climate KIC's working language), in writing and spoken; fluency in another European language is preferred.

• Functional knowledge of collaborative IT applications (i.e. Office365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as Notion, Miro, Zoom, Smartsheet, Mentimeter), and the willingness and adaptability to learn to use said tools and applications in the absence of any significant experience.

Qualities, Personal Style, and Approach

• Fast learner, having situational awareness and demonstrated emotional intelligence, being able to work across teams and cultures, with a focus on collaboration.

• Flexibility and willingness to undertake a range of tasks to meet business needs.

• Ability to operate in complexity and uncertainty.

• Collaborative approach to work.

• Experience working or interest in matters relating to climate change, innovation and EU funding is desirable.

Location  

Candidates must have the right to work in the location they’re applying for (I.e. not require visa sponsorship) prior to applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based close to a Climate KIC office, but we support fully remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.  

To ensure that we can respond to every single applicant, we will close the role once we receive a reasonable pool of candidates to assess.

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 colleagues 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 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!