Project & Fundraising Manager (Learning) – Maternity cover

Job Title: Project & Fundraising Manager (Learning) – Maternity cover
Team:  Climate KIC Academy

Contract: Fixed term (One year – maternity leave cover), with the possibility to continue depending on budget and performance
Level: Intermediate/Advanced - Please refer to our Capability Framework
Salary:  Competitive for Not-for-Profit Organisation
Location:  Poland, Belgium, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, Austria

Start Date: ASAP

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 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! 

Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. 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

Climate-KIC is seeking applications from experienced business developers and fundraisers to help deliver ambitious growth targets and diversification of our funder mix. As Learning Project & Fundraising Manager, you will be responsible for winning funding that will strengthen our Climate KIC Academy (capacity building elements) functions. The Climate KIC Academy is the umbrella under which we design and deliver bespoken capacity building elements. It’s a cross-cutting initiative within all of our internal clusters and is built on our 15+ years track record in building capacities for governments, industries and communities around climate innovation. The Climate KIC Academy combines technical skills like green financing, climate modelling or sustainable farming (some sourced in house, and some delivered in collaboration with our strategic partners) and transversal skills like collaboration, leadership or systems innovation that are our core areas of expertise.

Candidates must have a track record of securing significant funding for climate related learning and capability building programmes, systemic change intervention, impact measurement and/or unrestricted funding. 

The role will involve: setting and delivering fundraising strategies, shaping value propositions for different target groups and different types of donors (institutional funders, foundations, trusts, corporates etc.), proactively generating new leads through online and in-person interactions, leading major bids and proposal development, pitching to senior level stakeholders, negotiating multi-million Euro contracts and managing major funding relationships.

The successful candidate will be the business development point person, at our internal Business Development/Strategic Partnerships circle, closely collaborating with the central Strategic Partnerships team.

Key Responsibilities

This role will be responsible for attracting funding to Climate-KIC in the relevant area of focus as well as leading the CKIC Academy project/team. Tasks will cover everything required to do that including:   
 

·        Leading and nurturing the Climate KIC Academy central team (leading team of 2-3 people)

·        Oversee the different initiatives/projects in which the Climate KIC Academy is embedded and contribute to learning design and development

·        Continuous refinement and implementation of the Climate KIC Academy business development strategy and associated fundraising goals

·        Actively contribute towards the integration of the above within the wider organisational fundraising strategy and closely collaborating with the Acquisition Team in organisational fundraising efforts.

·        Leading and supporting major strategic bid processes, including bid team building, pitch development, bid writing, etc.)

·        Fundraising Pipeline Development & Management: Identify, qualify, and cultivate prospective funders or clients through strategic lead generation. Manage a portfolio from initial contact through cultivation and solicitation to closure, ensuring continued pipeline growth and relationship progression.

·        Relationship Building & Proposal Development: Apply a relationship-focused approach to deepen funder engagement and align organizational offerings with donor interests. Collaborate on bid and proposal processes, supporting preparation, submission, and follow-up to secure funding or partnerships.

Key Working Relationships

·        Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning colleagues

·        HUB Team

·        Strategic Partnerships Team

·        Deal Desk 

·        Leadership Team 

·        Project delivery teams

·        Multi stakeholder engagement (internally and externally)

·        Funders 

ABOUT YOU
To be successful in this role you will be a highly skilled collaborator and a creative and resourceful thinker, able to bring different perspectives into a shared idea/vision and have excellent influencing skills. You are mission-driven, persevere in adversity, are at ease with ambiguity and can move rapidly from big picture thinking to zooming into the detail.

Qualifications 

Highly desirable: A degree qualification ideally in a relevant subject area such as environmental science, sustainable development, international development, economics, business or relevant comparable working experience in one of those areas.

Experience 

We are looking for candidates with five to 10+ experience in the following:

·        New business development  

·        Donor identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship  

·        Coordinating and writing high value bids, funding applications and proposals  

·        Business strategy and Strategic Fundraising  

·        Long-term Business Planning  

·        Relationship management including with senior stakeholders  

·        Communication and pitching 

·        Securing funds from multi-territories across Europe and beyond

·        Project management, successfully delivering projects on time and within budget

·        Experience in project planning, including scope definition, resource allocation, and timeline development.

·        Superior problem-solving and decision-making capabilities. 

Additional experience in the following would be a benefit:  

 ·        Value proposition and concept design  

·        Commercial and operational funding interactions for budgeting, operationalization of grants and bids and transition to delivery  

·        Prospect research and development  

·        Translating technical content into donor friendly proposition 

·        Working in a holocratic or “team of teams” environment 

·        Securing funds from multi-territories globally 

·        Salesforce knowledge

Skills 

 ·        Strong fundraising and partnership building capabilities

·        Strong analytical skills with pronounced attention to detail 

·        Creatively-minded, good at thinking ‘outside the box’ 

·        Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to quickly build rapport with internal and external stakeholders  

·        Excellent selling, persuasion and negotiation skills 

·        Highly motivated: mission and target-driven  

·        Able to work in an international, distributed, and multicultural team; strong awareness of other cultures and working practices 

·        Deep understanding of climate change and its socio-economic, environmental impacts 

·        Fluency in English, excellent written and verbal communication skills. Any additional European languages are a benefit.  

Qualities, Personal Style, and Approach 

 ·        You are genuinely committed to help solve the climate crisis

·        You are curious and have a learning mindset

·        You mobilise resources and legitimacy from diverse sources to deliver change  

·        You take calculated risks.  

·        You are highly empathetic  

·        You explore the edges of what is known and what exists  

Location

Candidates must have the right to work in the EU prior to applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based close to a Climate KIC office, but we support full remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.

Some international travel will be required (from 6 to 12 times a year)

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 encourages 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 to 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.