Senior Director – SASHA Coalition

Location: London

Role: Permanent

Salary: £80,000 plus 10% employer-contributed pension; 4 day full-time work week

About us:

Established in 2021, Opportunity Green is a fast-growing not-for-profit organisation that helps to identify and unlock opportunities to tackle climate change. We build ambitious coalitions, support climate vulnerable countries in international negotiations and find innovative legal pathways to fight climate change. We are now looking for a Senior Director to lead our SASHA Coalition.

What’s the role?

The Skies And Seas Hydrogen-fuels Accelerator (SASHA) Coalition aims to unify aviation and shipping to raise awareness of the vital role of green hydrogen and carbon dioxide from direct air capture in the decarbonisation of these two sectors. The Coalition is now well established with 5 exciting company members on the cutting edge of climate innovation. We are now moving into the next phase of work and are seeking to recruit a Senior Director to ensure that the Coalition achieves maximum impact. As Senior Director, you will have the opportunity to shape the decarbonisation of two large sectors: aviation and shipping. You could be instrumental in helping move these sectors to truly sustainable fuels, side-stepping non-solutions like biofuels and LNG. This is a fantastic role for someone who wants to combine their passions for supporting ambitious companies in their climate journey with directing and shaping policy.

You will manage a team of brilliant policy and corporate engagement experts as they work with the SASHA Coalition’s membership and seek to influence policymakers. We are looking for someone who can think strategically about growing the Coalition to ensure it maintains its ambition while increasing membership.

You will report to the Chief Strategy & Impact Officer (though in the immediate term to the CEO during a period of parental leave). The team will be growing over the next year and you will have the chance to direct the growth of the team. With elections approaching in the UK and the EU, you will also shape and execute the strategy to influence the next UK Government and EU Commission.

About the candidate:

Essential competencies

• An inspirational leadership style, who is brave enough to tell the truth about the climate crisis but is also comfortable working with corporate actors to bring out their highest ambition.
• Great management skills, who can get the best out of our excellent existing team and be ready and willing to grow the team over time.

Desirable skills and experience:

We do not expect any candidate to have all skills listed below but rather we look for transferable skills and potential as well as past experience.

• Experience working with corporate actors to improve and drive ambition
• Experience with partner management and engagement towards positive coalition building
• Ability to get to grips with technological and policy detail around aviation, shipping and hydrogen and to know when that detail is needed in policymaker meetings
• Experience of influencing policymakers, preferably at EU and UK levels
• Experience of leading a team and working with staff to inspire the greatest possible impact, including remote staff
• Ability to clearly articulate a theory of change and direct a team to articulate that theory of change
• Active listening skills, negotiation skills and the ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders
• An engaging public speaker
• Ability to think critically, independently and creatively
• Effective at building relationships at all levels of the organisation
• Experience of philanthropy and fundraising for an NGO
• Be willing to travel frequently to meetings, conferences and other events, including across Europe, particularly in Brussels

Diversity and inclusion:

Diversity and inclusion are important principles at OG. We believe that diversity and inclusion make teams stronger and more effective. We are committed to fair and equitable employment practices, and we are striving to ensure that a variety of voices and experiences are included in our organisation. Our commitment to diversity and our parental leave policy are available to view on our website, here.

We will consider all applicants who meet most or all of the essential competencies regardless of their identity or background. That said, we know that diverse candidates may be reluctant to apply for jobs where they don’t meet 100% of the criteria outlined in the job description. We encourage anyone to apply who can demonstrate the variety of skills and experiences relevant to meeting the requirements of this role.

We recognise that many diverse experiences and perspectives are not represented in our current workforce, and are seriously underrepresented across the non-profit sector in general, and as such, we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, people of colour, people from marginalised backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. We will use positive action under the Equality Act 2010 to appoint from these groups if two candidates are equally qualified. We also value flexible working and are open to those who would want to work part-time in this role.

What we offer

The successful candidate will be offered an annual salary of £80,000 plus 10% employer-contributed pension. Please note that OG has fixed salary scales, with the possibility of step increases with strong performance. When hiring we always hire at the bottom of a band and do not enter negotiations with new employees as negotiations have been historically shown to disadvantage women and minorities.

We take our team’s well-being and professional development seriously. In addition to a competitive salary, we offer:

• A commitment to work/life balance, with a 4-day work week at 28 hours
• A generous holiday entitlement of 20 days holidays per year, plus bank holidays and office closure between Christmas and New Year’s that does not count towards your holiday entitlement (and expectation that you fully disconnect when taking time off)
• A market-leading pension of 10% employer contribution
• A progressive parental leave policy, including 26 weeks’ paid leave for both parents
• Lots of flexibility within a hybrid working arrangement, with regular opportunities to come together as a team
• Support for your professional development as part of Opportunity Green, with a budget to support your learning & development plus opportunities to lead projects, publish content, learn from experts, work directly with policymakers and stakeholders, and take part in conferences and events.

However, it is important to note that while this role is permanent, employment is always reliant on Opportunity Green continuing to receive philanthropic support from our funders, which we expect every member of the team to play their part in working towards.

How to apply:

Please click here to apply

To minimise the risk of unconscious bias, we ask that applicants remove certain identifying elements from their CVs. If you do not remove these details, we reserve the right to withdraw your application from review.

• Photos
• Name – if needed, please use ‘Applicant’
• Age
• Email and/or phone number

Unfortunately, if you do not already hold the right to work in the UK and/or require sponsorship to continue working in the UK, OG will not be able to consider your application at this time.

The closing date for applications is Monday 29 April 2024 at 9:00am UK time.

What happens next?

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an online peer interview to discuss their experience and suitability for the role. After this, candidates that are most suitable for the vacancy will be invited for an in-person interview in our London office, for which there may also be a short task. Travel will be reimbursed for non-London-based applicants.

Online interviews are likely to take place in mid May. In person interviews will likely be at the end of May.

We reserve the right to ask for references during the recruitment process.

We actively encourage applicants to reach out if there are any reasonable adjustments we can make to help them demonstrate their full potential in the hiring process.

Please get in touch at recruitment@opportunitygreen.org and we can discuss how to best make the recruitment process as accessible and comfortable for you as possible.