Job Description
| Designation | Associate Director, Climate Resilience |
|---|---|
| Location | Delhi, India |
| Reports To | Director of Program |
| Amount of Travel Required | 30%-40% |
| On-site Requirement | Hybrid |
| Supervisory Responsibilities | Yes |
About NRDC India:
NRDC India Private Limited is an independent organization based in New Delhi founded to build a healthier and more prosperous future for all Indians.
To attain a healthier and more prosperous future, NRDC India and its partners work with governments and stakeholders at all levels to deliver transformative solutions across the organization’s focus areas. The approach is to collaborate on pilot projects that offer the potential for tangible environmental and public health benefits. NRDC India has a strong proof of concept to bring solutions to scale at the state level – with the goal of informing national policies and unlocking the public investments needed to implement them.
NRDC India also partners alongside Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the United States, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. NRDC was founded in 1970, and their people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. NRDC uses law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. In India for over 10 years now, NRDC has been a thought leader and trusted adviser to the partners within the country to tackle climate change and implement energy solution. Since 2009, the India Initiative has combined scientific research and policy acumen to produce game-changing results.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Associate Director, Climate Resilience will work in close collaboration with NRDC India’s Director of Programs and colleagues from other sectors of NRDC India to lead initiatives in climate resilience. This position is responsible for overseeing and managing the day-to-day operations of a dedicated Climate Resilience team, focused on the development, implementation of activities in line with the sector priorities and strategies specifically towards strengthening urban climate resilience, better health outcomes, and increasing global climate cooperation.
Key responsibilities include mentoring and guiding staff, helping to shape policy in the climate resilience sector, working with national, state, and local partners within India and on an international platform. This role also requires strategic thinking and the ability to navigate complex and challenging environments, while also inspiring and motivating a diverse team to achieve their goals. A commitment to sustainability and a passion for advancing public health policy are essential.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the following essential functions:
- Serve as the direct manager to the Climate Resilience team, consultants, and interns. Provide regular individual coaching, feedback, and development while fostering team cohesion.
- Manage a team responsible for the groundwork on developing and implementing strategies to advance work on climate change and environmental health, including project management, stakeholder roundtables, policy development, technical research, analysis, and writing.
- Design and implement climate resilience strategies to forward positive environmental outcomes in India.
- Oversee policy development and market movement through roundtables, meetings, and analysis, involving deep engagement with industry and business leaders active nationally and locally as well as the media involved in the climate resilience space.
- Provide in-depth subject matter expertise on policy and technical research, analysis, writing on climate change and environmental health in India and in the international context.
- Provide direct, on-call, quick turnaround policy and technical assistance to our partners, participating in weekly calls, roundtables and site visits.
- Communicate and liaison internally through daily communication by phone, email and in-person to partners and colleagues internationally.
- International and domestic travel for meetings, conferences, and roundtables
The above list of duties is not comprehensive but generally demonstrates the types of matters under the position’s responsibility. Other duties may be assigned.
Required Skills/Abilities:
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in relevant field of study such as public policy, climate science, energy, environmental health, or equivalent related experience
- 5+ years of previous work experience in energy/environmental health or other policy work in India
- 1-3 years of previous supervisory experience is required.
Skills, Abilities, Competencies
- Ability to take initiative, manage complex workloads and deliver outputs to agreed deadlines.
- Have a high level of drive and energy and a commitment to excellence.
- Demonstrated innovative problem solving and conflict resolution skills.
- Ability to manage multiple projects spread across various geographies and interacting with multiple stakeholders.
- In-depth knowledge of energy issues including - renewable energy, energy access, utilities, green hydrogen, green finance, climate change and relevant policy, finance and legal issues. Forward-looking, and strategic thinker with strong interpersonal and active listening skills.
- Team player with a proven ability to develop cross-disciplinary strategies to advance NRDC India’s priorities and collaborate in a complex/matrixed organizational structure.
- Exceptional research, writing, communication, organization, and analytical skills
- Experience and demonstrated success working with city government along with a knowledge of the Indian political system, economic structures, and socio-cultural landscape.
- Experience with public speaking on technical and non-technical topics, with an ability to communicate with a wide variety of audiences.
- Ability to communicate methods, results and recommendations from complex qualitative and quantitative analysis to expert and non-technical audiences.
- Demonstrated leadership experience and ability to forge strong working relationships as a people manager.
- Competence with and commitment to diversity and inclusion; ability to be an effective partner with diverse colleagues, leaders and partners.
- Excellent external representational skills with the aptitude to articulate effectively with senior stakeholders.
- Have excellent influencing and convincing abilities.
- Proficiency in English as well as one additional Indian language is preferred.
- Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills.
Travel:
Willingness to travel as per requirement within India with occasional international travel.
Physical Demand
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position within the described work environment.
Frequently:
Perform desk-based computer tasks
Frequently:
Ability to interact and communicate with employees and others as necessary
Frequently:
Attend planned meetings and collaborate with management and coworkers
Occasionally:
Ability to attend events and activities in the office or offsite
Work is sometimes performed primarily in office. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet in office settings and moderate in other situations. Hours of employment may sometimes require working flexible and/or longer hours, including nights and weekends, when necessitated by projects. The job includes work-related situations such as those involving challenging, important, urgent, time-sensitive, or multiple matters.
Please send your latest curriculum vitae and a cover letter explaining your interest in the position and working with NRDC India at adclimateresilience@gmail.com and recruitment@nrdcindia.org. Kindly send your application by January 05, 2025. Please include ‘Application for position of Associate Director, Climate Resilience’ in the subject line of the email.