• Location: Melbourne
• Type: Full time - Contract

ABOUT US

The Cities Power Partnership is Australia’s largest local government climate network, run by the Climate Council. We’re a fast growing team made up of expert Councillors, staff, volunteers and supporters. Together, we are doing everything we can to celebrate and accelerate Australian local government’s clean energy successes.

THE ROLE

This position is a rare opportunity to direct the Climate Council’s Cities Power Partnership, the largest climate and energy program for local governments in Australia. Leading a brilliant team of up to 6 staff across our Sydney and Melbourne offices, you’ll be working with 135+ local governments and their communities from around Australia to support them to accelerate their emissions reductions and ramp up their clean energy successes.

We’re looking for an experienced people manager, who is passionate about addressing climate change, knows how to set and execute campaign strategy, is masterful at stakeholder engagement and thrives under pressure. You’ll be the face of the partnership, so you’re comfortable in the media spotlight, working with donors, presenting on the program at national and international forums and briefing key stakeholders and decision-makers. This role reports to the CEO and you’ll be part of the Climate Council’s senior management team, so you’ll need a strategic brain and be experienced in working across teams within an organisation to get the job done.

ESSENTIAL THINGS ABOUT YOU

You’re excellent at seeing the big strategic picture and then executing the plan to achieve it. You know how to build a strategy and then how to break it down into smaller campaigns and projects that you and your team implement together. In this role you’ll be overseeing the Cities Power Partnership strategy and ensuring that each smaller campaign that sits underneath it achieves those strategic goals.

You love people management. You’re experienced when it comes to managing a team and you know how to bring people along with you. You know how to support, motivate and grow a team, as well as having fun along the way. In this job you’ll be required to manage a team of up to six staff across the Climate Council’s Sydney and Melbourne offices. The Director is part of the Climate Council’s senior management team and you’ll also be responsible for contributing to the strategic direction and general management of the organisation too.

You’re great at stakeholder engagement. You know how to build and maintain strong relationships with a range of key stakeholders across government, industry, academia and the Not-For-Profit sector. You’re also experienced in participating in working groups, roundtables and forums, as well as engaging at a decision-maker level with relevant government departments, parliamentarians, industry and diplomats. Strong stakeholders skills are essential in this role as you’ll be required to maintain relationships with over 135 local governments, as well as key individuals and groups across a range of sectors

You know how to write and undertake policy research. You’ve got demonstrated experience in conducting research and producing briefs, submissions or short reports. In this role you’ll be required to author and/or oversee the production of Cities Power Partnership reports, submissions, articles and fact sheets.

You’re an innovator and you love driving new ideas. You are strategic and focused on results, you love coming up with tactical ideas to achieve those results and know how to take an idea and put it into action. The program operates autonomously from the day to day operations of the Climate Council, someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and experience running a program, business or department would be highly regarded.

You’ve used media as a campaign tactic before. In past campaigns you’ve run, you’ve utilised reactive and proactive media, with an emphasis on purpose and impact. In this role you’ll be overseeing a media advisor, and media plays an important role in the Cities Power Partnership program. You’ll also be required to be the face of the program and do a range of media interviews, public events and presentation work, so experience in this is a bonus.

You can plan long term, but you’re also great under pressure. Running this national program requires the ability to set long-term strategies and campaign priorities, but you’re also able to think on your feet and support your small, nimble team to coordinate rapid reactive responses to emerging challenges.

You’re passionate about tackling climate change. You care about driving down Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution and ramping up renewables. You’ve got experience working in climate change or the social justice sector.

BONUS EXPERIENCE

You can build a business case. You know your away around a grant application, you’ve managed donor relationships before and you’ve got a brain for fundraising. In this role you’ll be managing and reporting on a range of different grants and donations, as well as helping to bring in additional funding for the Cities Power Partnership.

Local climate and energy knowledge. It’s a bonus if you’ve got experience working on climate change and energy policy in Australia. If you don’t, you can demonstrate that you’re great at getting across new policy areas rapidly.

REWARDS AND BENEFITS

This role is an opportunity to have autonomy over our national cities program, to set the vision, lead the strategy, guide your team and to take the Cities Power Partnership to the next level, enhancing its growth and strategic impact. The Climate Council is an influential not-for-profit organisation and this exciting role will provide the perfect candidate access to some of the best and brightest minds working in climate science, communications and advocacy, while also providing you with the opportunity to play a key role in shaping Australia’s local response to climate change. This is your chance to shape the future for the better.

Additional benefits include:

• Excellent learning and development opportunities both internally and externally
• Programs for time off in lieu and flexible working arrangements.
• Brilliant work culture which is results focused but also vibrant, supportive, fun and nimble.

WORK ARRANGEMENTS

This is a full time position. The position will be located at our Melbourne offices (currently working from home due to COVID). The Cities Power Partnership is a national program with members in every state and territory around the country, as a result the role will involve domestic travel around Australia.

How to Apply

To apply, please submit a resume and a cover letter of no more than 250 words outlining your relevant experience via the link below.

If you have any questions regarding the position please email us at [email protected], using the subject line: Director CPP enquiry via EthicalJobs.