Senior Policy Advisors, EU Sustainable Finance, Brussels, Berlin & London

SENIOR POLICY ADVISORS, EU SUSTAINABLE FINANCE, BRUSSELS, BERLIN & LONDON 

E3G is seeking two experienced Senior Policy Advisors to join its EU sustainable finance program. The Senior Policy Advisors will lead their own work streams in addition to helping deliver the team’s strategic policy analysis and engagement with European and national policymakers, financial institutions, businesses and civil society. The Senior Policy Advisors will also support E3G’s Head of EU Sustainable Finance & Director of Strategic Member State Engagement in developing and implementing strategies and delivering the program’s overall objectives. The role will preferably be based in E3G’s Brussels office, with the possibility of being based in Berlin or London depending on the candidate. 

  

Background  

E3G is an independent climate change think tank. We are world-leading strategists on the political economy of climate change, dedicated to achieving a safe climate for all.    

We work on the frontier of the climate politics landscape, tackling the barriers and advancing the solutions to a safe climate. Our goal is to translate climate politics, economics and policies into action.    

E3G is ranked as one of the top ten most influential environmental think tanks in the world by the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go-To Think Tank Index.  

  

The role    

E3G’s mission is to ensure climate safety for all. Europe remains the world’s most reliable, influential, and green leader and has a significant role to play in delivering climate safety globally due to its unique characteristics: its ability to develop rules and standards; its economic power and investment in economies around the world; the commitment of Europeans to the fight against climate change; and its political stability and democratic accountability. Playing such a role will require the EU to be successful in its own orderly and fair transition and to be a reliable partner internationally.  

 E3G’s EU sustainable finance program, which is part of the E3G’s Finance & Resilience work area, aims to support Europe to be a positive change agent for the financial system by mobilising finance for the European transition to climate-neutral resilient economies by 2050. The program focuses on three areas: 

• Ensuring that ambitious and coherent policies and initiatives are adopted by European institutions to drive private and public finance for the transition to sustainability and resilience.

• Streamlining and supporting sustainable finance policy implementation in European, national/local contexts and sectors, including by examining economic opportunities and vulnerabilities in the sectoral and social contexts, and through deep-dives and tailored narratives in specific countries; and

• Promoting the broader climate-safe reform of the international financial system by supporting the EU to show effective and responsive leadership in multilateral financial forums (e.g. G20, G7, COP), including by utilising its external cooperation mechanisms.

Key Responsibilities    

• Building a strategic leadership role within the EU sustainable finance team and leading workstreams to advance the delivery of the program’s objectives, working with program head. One of these work streams will cover strategic narratives for financing the transition.

• Taking a lead role in tracking and analysing developments in the field of EU sustainable finance and related developments at EU/national level, following the work of key bodies involved in sustainable finance regulation (e.g. European Supervisory Authorities, national finance ministries, regulators).

• On the basis of this work, inform E3G’s political and policy strategies, in close coordination with program head.

• Provide support to colleagues in the F&R team and in wider E3G in relation to tracking relevant EU/national sustainable finance policy developments in a broader range of venues, including for instance the OECD, IMF, G7 and G20 finance tracks and working groups.

• Producing internal and external thought leadership on financial regulatory topics, e.g. publishing briefings, private briefings for officials.

• Building and managing constructive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders at a range of levels (e.g. officials in EU institutions, Permanent Representations and national finance ministries/regulators, other civil society organisations, private sector stakeholders) to advance strategic priorities, and supporting E3G colleagues to build and manage relationships with stakeholders in Brussels and EU countries.

• Supporting the production of internal and external communications materials in relation to role responsibilities, including leading and/or supervising written outputs as required, e.g., E3G policy briefings, reports, internal meeting readouts and analysis, social media content.

• Building a strong working relationship with colleagues from E3G’s Finance & Resilience team and EU-focused teams especially in the Brussels office, proactively seeking collaboration opportunities with other teams e.g. those working on global macro and financial resilience, UK and US sustainable finance, public banks, and EU politics and governance teams.

• Working with program head and senior E3G managers to develop and grow relationships with funders, develop fundable propositions for forward E3G work in role areas, and to support sound management of projects and funder reporting.

• Speaking and representing E3G at external and internal meetings, conferences and events, and with media, as required.

• Contributing to the work of the E3G organisation overall, proactively seeking and building internal collaborations with other teams to support E3G-wide strategic goals.

• Any other reasonable management request.

  

Experience and skills    

• Approximately seven years of experience working in the fields of one or more of: sustainable finance, economic and financial policy, European or national financial regulation or administration, climate change policy, international relations.

• A strong understanding of the EU financial regulatory space, EU legislative processes and the political significance of financial regulation in climate finance issues, with a network of contacts gained in the field. Expertise in areas relating to social and just transition finance, insurance, system resilience, financing real economy transition, and/or financial inclusion will be an asset.

• A strong interest in politics and a broad understanding of key issues in climate change policy.

• Experience with strategic narratives and working with PR agencies will be an advantage for one of these positions.

• Experience and networks in one of the following EU countries/regions would be a distinct advantage: France, Poland/Central and Eastern Europe.

• Very strong analytical and writing skills, with a capacity and appetite to think out of the box, to approach problems with both agility and rigor, and to communicate key learnings and messages simply and effectively to targeted audiences.

• Demonstrable experience of defining strategies and delivering time-bound results and impact, preferably in an organisation involved with financial or economic policy (e.g. finance or economic ministry, official EU institutions, mission-based organisation/NGO/think-tank with focus either on climate change or financial/economic policy, etc.).

• Strong experience of stakeholder engagement, building relationships and mediating dialogues, including with government officials at all levels and with staff from public institutions.

• Fluent or native English language skills, with prior demonstrable experience of writing high quality policy briefings or reports. Candidates will be asked to share examples of previous written outputs during the interview process.

• A high level of competence to speak, read and write in one or more additional languages will be an advantage. Languages of interest include but are not limited to French, Polish and German.

• Experience of communicating using a range of different media, e.g. reports, blogs, press, social media.

• The candidate should be able to demonstrate a high level of initiative and be positive, organised, resilient and able to deliver high quality work on time.

• An undergraduate degree, and ideally a post graduate degree, preferably in Finance, Economics, Climate Policy or in a related speciality (e.g. economic policy, international political economy, sustainable finance).

  

What we offer  

• Permanent, full-time position.

• Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working approach.

• 25 vacation days + additional leave between Christmas and New Year.

• Employers Pension contribution plan.

• E3G offers a reward and benefits package which compares well with other organisations within our sector. The indicative gross monthly salary range for this position is €4310.00 to €4885.00 for the Brussels office, FTE, dependent on experience and qualifications of the chosen candidate. The salary range in London is £50000.00 – £58000.00 per annum and in Berlin €55000.00 - €63600.00.

• Yearly process for remuneration review.

• Further benefits based on location of role.

  

E3G is unable to provide relocation assistance to candidates who would need to change locations in order to take up this position. E3G will require candidates to demonstrate that they have the right to live and work in Belgium, or the country where the E3G office is based.  

  

How to apply  

Please submit your application in English.     

Please include:  

• A CV of maximum two pages

• A cover letter of maximum one page outlining why you are applying for this role and when you would be able to start work

The deadline for applications is Monday 30th September at 23:59 CET. 

Whilst we very much appreciate the time you will have taken with your application, unfortunately due to the level of response we receive we will not be able to reply to every candidate. Therefore, if you have not heard from us with 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful.  

E3G values diversity and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background. We aim to build an inclusive workforce that is reflective of the populations we support, and actively seek applications from those who are marginalized and underrepresented. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.