At the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), we work at the highest levels of government to help leaders go further and faster to make their citizens’ lives better. Moving the dial on the great global challenges of our time requires engaged, incentivised, focused and motivated leaders. When political leadership is relentlessly deployed, at the highest levels, incredible things can be achieved.

Using our distinctive expertise and global outlook and guided by the unique insights and perspective of our Executive Chairman Sir Tony Blair, our dedicated experts and embedded teams advise governments all over the world in strategy, policy and delivery, underpinned by technology.

Job Introduction

Our new Global Client Solutions team is at the heart of how we define “what we do” and then distribute the best of the Institute and our networks to global leaders through our country advisory teams. As a centre of excellence, Global Client Solutions is comprised of our centrally situated global and regional experts – functional and sectoral. Our experts provide valuable counsel, technical support, thought partnership, strategy, and surge capacity and lead the development and evolution of our solutions, methods, and offers in the service of our partner governments.

Developing sustainable energy systems and mitigating and adapting to climate change are priorities for many of the leaders we support. We are strengthening the Energy and Climate pillar and anchor team within Global Client Solutions and hiring a Senior Advisor, Climate Policy and Delivery, to contribute to our Energy and Climate offer and provide practical support to our client governments across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East to develop, finance and deliver climate related strategies and policies, engage with global climate initiatives, and play an active role in the the development of global climate policy.

We are also recruiting senior advisors in Carbon Markets and Climate Finance, and the Energy Transition such that we can present a comprehensive climate offer to our government partners. You will work closely with the Institute’s Country and Regional Directors as well as senior advisors in areas such as Agriculture, Investment, and Health. You will report to the Energy and Climate Director and lead the development of our growing Climate Policy and Delivery offer. Key aspects will include practical support to governments to:

• Better understand the expected impacts of global temperature changes in areas such as food security, energy security, migration, and economic development
• Put in place adaptation and resilience strategies, policies, and investment plans in response to these impacts across government in areas such as such as agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and water management
• Engage with global stakeholders to support the delivery of these policies and plans including adaptation-oriented financiers, technology providers and academics
• Advocate and negotiate at a global level including through multilateral climate processes such as the UNFCCC to influence global climate policy and demonstrate climate leadership
• Identify and enter into effective partnerships and coalitions with other countries on areas of mutual interest
• Align national policies, plans and investment priorities with global climate commitments and put in place the institutional and delivery architecture for their successful implementation

Working across the wider Energy and Climate community of practice and the Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives team, you will put in place partnerships with organisations that can complement our offer to Governments and help us scale our work.

Please note, that if you are applying for Athens or Nairobi it is essential to have an existing right to work.

Key Responsibilities

This is a senior role within TBI and will be held by an exceptional candidate with deep and extensive experience in government advisory, global climate negotiations and the development and delivery of climate policy at senior political levels of government.

Key responsibilities will include:

Offer development and thought leadership

• Lead the development and evolution of TBI’s Climate Policy and Delivery offer which defines our approach to supporting countries to better understand and put in place strategies and policies to adapt and respond to the impacts of climate change and influence global policy
• Develop internal frameworks, guides, tools, playbooks, and documents which effectively capture our offer and solutions

Technical leadership and expert support

• Be TBI advisory’s focal person on climate policy (national and global), adaptation, resilience and loss and damage
• Generate cohesion across our Climate Policy and Delivery advisory work across our centralised Global Client Solutions team
• Provide hands-on technical input and thought partnership to country teams in the scoping, design and delivery of their support for climate policy and delivery, generating creative solutions, and framing them in a compelling way
• Support country directors and teams to understand opportunities to support governments with climate policy and incorporate into TBI country strategies in response to government demand or propositional solutions
• Quality assure, support and troubleshoot the implementation of our climate policy and delivery work, engaging collaboratively to ensure impact and that country teams can access the best of the Institute to support their work
• Develop, and quality assure high-calibre external facing proposal documents and deliverables working with country teams
• Support country teams to maintain effective and trusted government relationships, essential to effectively channeling our support
• Provide expert input to country teams as needed with government counterparts, e.g. joining and leading workshops as an expert. Provide ongoing support to resolve strategic questions as they emerge during implementation

External engagement and partnerships

• Develop and enhance our network, relationships, and partnership with those who can complement our offer to government such as philanthropies, financiers, and policy makers
• Support our partner countries to enter into effective coalitions with other countries on areas of mutual interest
• Represent TBI at a senior level in external conversations, forums, and partnerships
• Lead engagements with existing and future strategic partners on climate policy and delivery
• With the Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives team, support joint strategy and partnership governance, escalating challenges when needed
• Support joint opportunity development across the institute
• Engage with relevant external stakeholders such as other not-for-profit organisations, donors, media, suppliers, and agencies

Person Specification

As a senior advisor we are looking for a global expert who can engage with and support governments at the highest level. We are looking for an experienced candidate:

• With significant experience supporting governments at senior levels in areas such as:
• The development of Nationally Determined Contributions and policy, strategy and investment plans to deliver on these commitments
• The UNFCCC climate negotiations and processes
• Supporting climate adaptation and climate resilience
• Working with dedicated funds to access adaptation finance
• With experience and deep understanding of the UNFCCC COP process
• Who is considered an expert and thought leader in climate policy and delivery with an extensive network of relationships with relevant policy makers
• Who is strategic, entrepreneurial, pragmatically optimistic and can challenge the status-quo and develop plans for successful delivery of challenging, ambitious objectives
• With outstanding management and strategy skills – able to set strategic direction, inspire teams to collaboratively achieve exceptional objectives, and not afraid to be hands-on to achieve results
• With a strong consulting toolkit enabling you to explain complex topics in simple terms, develop polished client-facing deliverables, and helpful frameworks and tools to bring scale to your expert advice to teams
• Who has a record of accomplishment cultivating and maintaining strategic alliances and partnerships across public, social, and private sector organisations
• Who is a skilled communicator and influencer, from executive office level through to technical level, is adept at speaking to senior leadership
• Adept at navigating ambiguous environments and is comfortable in a rapid growth environment and at managing up and beyond hierarchy
• Who is comfortable speaking in public forums and representing the institute on the global stage
• Who has worked or consulted in a range developing and emerging economies and is sensitive to a diverse range of cultural and regional norms, and fosters a positive spirit of collaboration
• Who commits to business objectives and pulls out the stops to make sure they are always met
• Comfortable to travel about 20- 30% of the time to global locations.
• Fluency in English is required

Nice to have but not essential experience in:

• Supporting multi-country alliances in international negotiations
• Structuring blended finance products and public private partnerships to support projects primarily focused on enhancing urban resilience and/or agricultural resilience
• Proficiency in additional languages, particularly French or other languages core to TBI’s footprint