Main purpose of the role 

The CIFF Climate team is driven by a vision of a climate-safe future for today’s children and future generations. We support the urgent global transition to a zero-carbon society. We are committed to strategies that get to the heart of the greatest climate challenges and are willing to support new approaches to accelerate action and the step-change in ambition required to keep global warming below 1.5c.    

Working closely with the Global Director, Climate, and the Director, Climate (when in post), the role-holder will provide senior management and leadership across both a specific portfolio of grants, as well as supporting broader team-wide efforts to increase the sophistication of our strategies and programmes, particularly with respect to the finance, corporates, carbon pricing and legal programmes part of the cluster. The role holder will be able to deputise for the Director, Climate as required, and represent CIFF externally across a variety of meetings and geographies.    

The role will include direct management of a high-quality portfolio of multi-year grants and  investments worth more than $100m, as well as indirectly managing and supporting other investments and programmes as required. This will require a long-term, evidence-based view on what is needed to achieve ambitious climate goals, deep knowledge and experience of finance, corporate and legal approaches, and the ability and humility to work with CIFF’s strategic partners to build and support an effective and resilient civil society ecosystem.   

The post-holder will act as an internal expert/key focal point on the transition of the corporate and finance sector, including the regulation & policy, carbon pricing, accountability and legal tools required to support action, as well as providing cross-cutting thought leadership and connectivity to our sectoral and thematic investments in relevant areas.   

To thrive in the role, you will need to be motivated by fast-paced and diverse work that  incorporates both your specialist subject knowledge (e.g. developing strategies, acting as  the team expert) and high-quality programme and relationship management. Success in the role requires a highly-adaptable and resilient character, including the ability to learn and work effectively across new subject and thematic areas depending on business need. Relationship management and cultivation skills, and the ability to convene and facilitate conversations between diverse stakeholder groups will be particularly valuable.   

Role’s responsibilities  

 Strategy & planning  

• Lead on the development of strategies related to finance, corporates and legal at a global and regional level, working closely with our regional experts.  

• Horizon scan to identify the funding needs and field capacity/skills needed to achieve accelerate decarbonisation in these sectors over the next 2-5 years.  

• Work across the global Climate team to build understanding, access to, and implementation of high impact finance, corporate and legal strategies.   

• Lead on the development and integration of robust data and insights metrics / methodologies into CIFF’s Climate Missions, supporting the use of data and evidence to enable programming and grant management.  

• Prepare and present high-quality analysis and research for the Board/Investment Committee, as required, to support strategic and operational planning.   

• Lead the production of programme strategy and the associated evidence base, guiding and coaching other members of the climate team to provide relevant inputs, prior to a proposal’s submission for approval.  

• Input to organisation-wide strategy development and implementation linked to these areas of responsibility, including contributing to risk management and communications / external affairs.  

Programme development, delivery & performance   

• Personally manage a portfolio of live programmes with a value of $80-100m.  

• Shape and harness CIFF’s transition finance, corporate action and legal portfolio to help achieve the objectives of CIFF’s Climate Missions, building strong working relationships with regional and sectoral Climate Directors and Managers, as required.   

• Guide, coach and line manage members of the Climate team as required, maximising CIFF’s impact and supporting the personal growth and development of team members.   

• Monitor and report internally on the performance of portfolio against key regional and sectoral indicators and targets.   

• Instigate course correcting action when targets are not being met or investments are not delivering as expected.   

• Lead accountability for applying due diligence and risk management protocols appropriately throughout the development and delivery of proposals and programmes, to ensure the interests and reputation of the Foundation are protected.  

• Conduct structured feasibility analysis on investment proposals, using an appropriate range of methodologies and techniques, to ensure they are based on logical and robust assumptions, which can withstand scrutiny from the Executive Team (ET) and CIFF Board.  

• Lead work either independently or with sector / regional colleagues to prepare summary reports, board reports and portfolio investment reports, ensuring these are produced to a high-standard and in a timely fashion, often within tight timeframes.  

• Lead the development of grant agreements, to forecast and process grant payments and to enable effective grant management and reporting within the organisation.  

• Conduct regular reviews of the progress and performance of programmes under delivery to identify problems and delays, and work with partners to develop effective solutions (escalating to more senior colleagues for support and intervention, where required).  

• Identify opportunities and options for improving processes, procedures and programme management approaches within (and beyond) the team, to support increased organisational efficiency and effectiveness.  

Sector knowledge and profile-building  

• Be CIFF’s focal point/lead on transition finance, corporate decarbonisation, and climate litigation and legal tools, keeping abreast of developments, establishing appropriate information gathering networks and channels to deepen professional knowledge and skills, and sharing knowledge appropriately across the CIFF climate matrix structure.  

• Using this credibility, proactively contribute to the development of thought leadership, and advocacy materials, to support CIFF’s ambitions to scale-up, mainstream and leverage additional support for its initiatives while managing risk, with minimal Director oversight.  

Stakeholder and partner management  

• Work directly with, and support CIFF’s CEO and Executive Director, Climate and Directors to support them in their interactions with funders and grantees, and within their board capabilities, including preparing high quality briefing notes and sharing updates on key developments within your immediate portfolio.  

• Conduct rigorous research and evaluation of potential grantees, using agreed corporate protocols and techniques, to assess their suitability and credentials for  collaborating on CIFF initiatives.  
• Apply CIFF’s agreed account management disciplines and approaches in all dealings with programme partners and stakeholders, to ensure productive and professional relationships are maintained in a coordinated and strategic manner.  

• Cultivate and maintain strong working relationships with peer foundations, working closely with the Partnerships team.  

• With a variety of external audiences, develop and maintain strong partnerships and act as a knowledgeable resource about CIFF’s programmes and priority areas. 

Membership and leadership of the team  

• Be a role model to less experienced team members, demonstrating CIFF’s leadership behaviours and providing mentorship to aid their growth.  

• Adopt a coaching approach with colleagues which instills a culture of openness and trust, embraces diverse thinking, and encourages continuous improvement and learning.

Key working relationships   

• CIFF Climate Directors and Chief Ecosystem Development Officer & Executive Director, Climate.  

• Other CIFF teams – particularly External Affairs, CEO Office, OED, Legal, HR and Finance.  

• Relevant staff within other philanthropic foundations.  

• Past, present and prospective grantees, including global NGOs / stakeholder organisations.  

• Research and academic institutions active within sector specialism.  

• National governments and local NGO partners in priority geographies.   

Requirements

Skills & Experience  

• Experienced leader of significant projects and programmes. Significant, proven experience in the corporate, finance and legal sector across a range of regions – with a mix of private/public/NGO experience an advantage.  

• Demonstrable experience in analysis and due diligence; policy, planning and programme delivery, all within the climate or public policy sectors.  

• Knowledge of the evidence bases pertaining to programme design and implementation, and belief in the importance of evidence-based decision making.  

• An innovative and entrepreneurial thinker with a pragmatic and solution-oriented mindset.  

• Ability to analyse an organisation’s strength of management, vision, and adaptive capacity. Ability to recruit, guide, influence and/or advise management teams to effectively implement programmes.  

• Deep commitment to supporting and enabling the climate transition.  

• Effectively champions and promotes causes – credible, humble, and professional, they always present the Foundation’s programmes in a compelling way to engage the audience.  

• Skilled in relationship building and strengthening; able to influence others and work collaboratively, uniting groups with a shared purpose.  

• English is CIFF’s business language – we expect all our people to display outstanding verbal and written communication skills across all aspects of their role.   

• Capacity to work in a range of cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts, adapting style and approach appropriately and in a culturally sensitive manner to maximise effectiveness.  

• IT proficiency (most specifically in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).  

• A proven self-starter, who works with pace and resilience.  

Benefits

CIFF operates a hybrid work policy across all locations, which means employees work in the office and some of the time from home. We are happy to provide more information on this as part of the recruitment process.

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package here at CIFF that includes, but is not limited to the following.

• Annual leave - 25 days per annum. Increasing by 1 day after each year of service to a maximum of 30 days.
• Bonus - CIFF currently operates a discretionary bonus scheme.
• Training allowance
• Wellbeing allowance
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance

Please submit your application on or before Sunday 11 January 2026. CIFF reserves the right to close the job advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.