Manager, Standards & Methodology, Pdme

South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.

Our Project Development team is at the forefront of developing and managing climate mitigation activities. By working closely with project owners and developers as well as their local communities, we manage the complete registration, verification and evaluation of carbon projects to enable the issuance of emission-reduction certificates, in line with official carbon standards. If you are a smart, ambitious and dynamic sustainability professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, the below position may be right for you!

Job summary:

As part of the Standards and Methodology team of the Project Design, Management & Evaluation (PDME) within the Climate Projects business line , you will support the implementation of South Pole’s communication and coordination strategy with the global climate change and sustainable standards and platforms/schemes. This includes supporting the strategic shaping of new baseline and monitoring methodologies developments in coordination with other practices within the unit and beyond. This also entails support and coordination on any additional resource needs for such developments with the respective practices where these cases are being led.

On project development cycle regular standard and methodology support, you will be in full coordination with the regional project directors and their teams. While the regional project teams will be in charge for their regular day to day project management interactions with the standard bodies incl. during the validation and verification commenting period, you will support the process and when needed (for irregular and complex cases) will collect and provide additional substance required towards success. On the global level you will support optimisation and standardisation of such processes and channel such tools or knowledge to the regional teams for their smooth project development interactions with standards.

You will support and coordinate with other CP practices on any advisory business linked with standard bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) linked to the regulatory sector. The Climate Policy, Finance & Carbon Markets (CPFCM) practice within the CP unit as well as the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), QA/QC & DD team and Market and Communications leads will be your other internal stakeholders. Furthermore, you will support the Director Standards and Methodology on internal knowledge management and communication over South Pole’s ongoing and relevant methodologies used to quantify and verify the impacts.

You will be accountable for informing and updating the company and internal counterparts from different teams, especially global and regional project development and portfolio management teams, on the latest status of standards, carbon schemes/platforms, and applicable methodologies. Under the supervision of the Director Standards & Methodology, you will support the digital innovation team on how to further optimise above processes for our Climate Projects unit.

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• When needed support the regional teams with the communication to the secretariat and technical committees of the standards
• Contribute/Organise knowledge-sharing sessions regarding standard rules and updates
• Independent and effective planner and decision maker; have a sense of ownership on the topic
• While supporting the regional teams with their projects affairs to the standard bodies, always inform and coordinate with the different teams within South Pole on matters related to climate policy and voluntary/compliance market regulations incl. CPFCM.
• Participate in formal and informal networking opportunities, as requested
• When needed, support the project heads and project managers (PMs) in performing technical checks on the projects in line with standard expectations and communicate any clarification required
• Undertake research into possible partners and collaborators for upcoming opportunities
• Provide technical reviews and Quality Checks
• Gather, prepare and present information to represent South Pole at meetings, as requested and required
• In coordination with Director Standards & Methodology, support representing South Pole towards the standard bodies on matters related to methodologies, project registration/validation, issuance/verification rules, guidelines, and tools
• Keep the team members (collaborators) informed of their progress in the project and ensure that they stay within the time and budget agreed
• Coordinate with the regional CP directors and their project development teams who implement technical/methodological and admin topics including necessary interactions with standards related to project registration/verification processes of carbon schemes and sustainable standards. When needed, effectively accompany and support their interactions and discussions on complex topics to assure success.
• Share relevant contacts and information on possible opportunities with the relevant team
• Maintain a good relationship with the different standards bodies, team Heads, other Senior Leads, project owners, clients, VVBs (DOEs or auditors) and other counterparts
• Manage project budgets of at least EUR 500,000 in size
• Always coordinate our strategies both on internal and external operations with the Senior Operations Manager of the unit Team management and ensure issues are actively communicated and discussed with the team
• Finalising deliverables as per quality required by South Pole and the client
• Proactively lead and support on a different topics with the projects head and portfolio, including any initiative South Pole needs to handle to shape any new platform or standard product
• Support and coordinate project/methodology-related communication/clarification with the standard bodies with at least one regional project head, including any preparation and coordination of the methodological advisory opportunities with such bodies. On regular project interactions with standard bodies the regional teams may act as the focal point with such carbon scheme platforms.
• Manage complex situations and technical challenges that will require the use of a problem-solving approach
• Budget control and resource management; make use of a new upcoming tool's feature to manage the budget of all tasks and activities with optimum efficiency and effectiveness
• Plan office visits and other types of business trips/training, if required
• Lead and/or collaborate on resources for the development of baseline and monitoring methodologies and similar assignments and projects in standards including but not limited to Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, Global Carbon Council, American Carbon Registry
• When needed draft invoices are to be approved by the supervisor and sent to the accounting team for submission to clients Managing project owners' accounts in our project management tool

Requirements:

Essential -

• Ability to create high quality written documents (proposals and deliverables) in English
• Familiarity with carbon standards like T-VER, CDM, VERRA GS4GG, ICONTEC, etc
• Have the capacity to solve relatively complex project-related problems independently and receive general direction on new assignments or projects
• Several years of work experience in Forestry, Sustainability Consulting, Climate Change Mitigation/Adaptation or related fields
• Ability to work on assignments that are diverse in nature, applying company policies, processes and procedures to resolve a variety of issues/problems
• Ability to manage targets and priorities and develop own goals
• Have excellent communication skills, especially verbal and written skills in English
• University Degree in forestry, agriculture, natural resource management, sustainability or climate change and carbon mitigation related fields

What we offer:

At South Pole, we care about our employees as much as we care about the planet. South Pole is not just an employer, we are a Team. South Pole does not just offer people a job, we offer you a career. By joining our team, you will find strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do. You will have the chance to make a real difference for our clients and for the planet, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues, while building your knowledge/skills and developing your career in a fun, dynamic, international and fast-growing organisation.

We’re a planet of 7.5 billion unique and different people. We all have a contribution to make; South Pole is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.