NetZeroCities Project Officer for Programme Management/

Job Title: NetZeroCities Project Officer for Programme Management
Team: NetZeroCities Team (Cities Team)
Level: Intermediate
Please refer to our Capability Framework
Salary: Competitive for Not-for-profit organisation
Location: Belgium, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands or Austria
Start Date: 1^st March 2023 or earlier

ABOUT US

EIT Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that keeping global temperature rise below 1.5˚C 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, mission-led programmes.

Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 400 organisations including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities, and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and uncommon actors. Historically, we have been funded by our founder and core funder, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), but we are currently transitioning to a multi-funder model.

EIT Climate-KIC colleagues are based in one of our local offices across Europe or work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch. We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools 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

NetZeroCities (NZC) is an initiative launched as part of the European Green Deal and directly linked to the European Commission Mission for 100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. EIT Climate-KIC is the lead organization of the 34-member consortium NetZeroCities and leads the process and coordinates across all Work Packages for the project. To deliver excellence in this project, EIT Climate-KIC has a focused team with high capabilities to lead a complex, multi-sectoral, multi-partner project. The NetZeroCities project incorporates the experiences, knowledge, and approach of EIT Climate-KIC’s Healthy, Clean Cities Deep Demonstration, providing systems innovation expertise and knowledge critical to the overall NetZeroCities project. While the NetZeroCities project is a project of the European Commission, EIT Climate-KIC builds linkages to its Transformation, in Time strategy.

The Programme Management component of the NetZeroCities project ensures a sound, efficient, and transparent coordination and management of the project, while ensuring high quality results, the right functioning of the governing bodies and a clear reporting of the project outcomes, with the final aim of achieving the project goals and objectives. It aims to guarantee sound management of contractual and financial issues, setting-up and maintaining project management tools, good communication in the consortium, proper quality assurance in the delivered reports, financial and contractual management, and reporting to the EC.

The NetZeroCities Programme Management Project Officer will be responsible for ensuring delivery of the large spectrum of project operations and management. This role will work with the NetZeroCities Programme Managers and Programme Director to assure a transparent and direct exchange of learnings across the Pilot Cities consortium and the NetZeroCities Pilot Cities consortiums, contributing to the effective communications with the European Commission about project execution, results, and stakeholder participation. The role entails working closely and constantly with the Climate-KIC Cities team, withing the NZC consortium.

We are looking for a dynamic team player who is an organised and strategic problem solver. We wish to bring to our team a person who is efficient and operational and wants to join a vibrant, multicultural team working towards decarbonising cities. The successful candidate will work in close connection to the NetZeroCities Programme Managers in a team with a city focus. We wish our new colleague to evolve our ways of working to model the change we want to see in the world.

EIT Climate-KIC is in the course of a deliberate evolution to new organisational forms and structures that are designed to support a complex adaptive system – a ‘Team of Teams’. Our organisational design reflects the unusual multi-laterality and complexity of the work we are doing and the relationships we need to establish and sustain in order to do that work effectively. We draw inspiration from deliberately developmental, ‘teal’ organisations, holacracy and leadership in complexity approaches. It is our aspiration to be an organisation that makes the most of the capabilities and adaptive learning abilities of every one of its members through distributed leadership, empowerment and self-management, and intelligent risk-taking.

Key Responsibilities

NetZeroCities Programme Management

• Assist the NetZeroCities Programme Director and Programme Managers in daily project management tasks and project administration
• Participate in the design and coordination of the NetZeroCities project governance and operational processes, ensuring consistency with strategic objectives, stakeholders, and relationship management needs
• Support in the management, monitoring, reporting and driving forward of project processes, in coordination with partner organisations
• Support the NetZeroCities Programme Managers in all internal reporting processes and protocols
• Store & manage project data and ensure readiness of usage by NetZeroCities and EIT Climate KIC teams
• Assist the Programme Director and Managers to track and ensure follow-up to emails, conversations, and events

Ensure transparency and flow of information by providing notetaking, synthesizing messages, and communicating these to colleagues and partners

Stakeholder engagement

• Liaise with NetZeroCities consortium members to ensure overall coordination of workflows, facilitate information sharing and collaborative problem solving, and build consortium partner trust and synergies
• Assist in the management of internal consortium partners to ensure excellent and consistent internal communications
• Direct and support all NetZeroCities consortium partners in operating in aligned and consistent fashion, using established tools and processes
• Ensure NetZeroCities consortium partners’ project deliverables and reporting are submitted on time, through advanced planning, communications, and follow-up
• Engage with NetZeroCities consortium partners to identify operational issues, overall project needs, and other problems that affect execution of the project, and work carefully with the Programme Managers and others to proactively solve issues
• Support NetZeroCities consortium partners in delivering well-coordinated and relevant products and services to Mission Cities

Key Working Relationships

• NetZeroCities Programme Managers
• NetZero Cities Programme Director
• NetZeroCities Consortium Partners
• EIT Climate-KIC Cities Team and its Project Management Team

ABOUT YOU
To be successful in this role you will be a good team player, ready to roll up the sleeves in peak periods to finish urgent deadlines, solution oriented, organised, and working towards autonomy.

Education/Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Project Management, Urban Planning, Environmental Sciences, or other relevant fields
• Minimum of 1+ years working experience as project/program management officer (PMO) or practical experience as a project officer in a complex, multi-disciplinary environment, preferably city-focused

Experience with Microsoft Projects or a similar tool and preferably experience in using the Participant Portal of the European Commission or self-taught skills from online trainings

Experience

• Demonstrated experience of supporting senior decision-making, contributing to problem-solving, and helping individuals and teams to attain delivery of planned tasks.
• Exposure to performance management tools and processes, particularly those linked to complex projects with multiple partners.
• Planning, organisation, coordination, multitasking, problem solving and prioritisation under pressure with growing minimal supervision.
• Experience or self-taught understanding of EU funding processes and projects. Experience with Grant Management specifically around the European Funding Frameworks (specifically under Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe) a plus.
• Experience in documentation and reporting, including notetaking, synthesizing information, and presenting clear messages.
• Experience with implementation of change and improvement projects or ability to do so.

Experience with urban development and climate change mitigation policy or measures is a plus.

Skills

• Fluency in English, excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ideally fluency in at least one other European language
• Experience or willingness to work with collaborative IT applications (we use Office365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as Miro, Zoom, Exaptive, Salesforce, Mentimeter etc.)
• Ability to build positive and fruitful relationships with a wide range of stakeholders
• Autonomously foreseeing and tackling risks in an efficient manner

Soft skills such as empathy and respectful of personal boundaries are highly appreciated

Qualities, Personal Style, and Approach

• Solution focused, proactive, with a positive ’can do’ attitude
• Ability to listen and build trust, willing to formulate clear reasoning and open to constructive feedback
• Dynamic and curious, with developed interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively, inspire and motivate people
• Adaptable, flexible, and resilient: able to work effectively in ambiguity and complexity and to respond dynamically to change
• Oriented toward networking with people and teams and sharing experience

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 EIT Climate-KIC office, but we support full remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degree of flexibility.

Travel might be required within the EU countries.

At EIT 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.