Description

If you would like to see a detailed job description after reading below, please email recruitment@ciff.org.

The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) is seeking a highly motivated and experienced individual to join our team as the Global Director, Climate (Data and Systems for Portfolio Performance). As a leading international philanthropic organization, CIFF is committed to improving the lives of children and tackling climate change.

In this new senior role, you will work with the wider team to drive excellence across CIFF's Climate portfolio - the Climate team manages more than $1 billion in active investments, spanning a rage of geographies, sectors and tactical approaches. The Global Director will hold the strategic over sight of the overall portfolio operations, performance, planning and reporting, whilst supporting the team to execute high quality and impactful programmes.

Role Overview

Excellence in data and systems:

Rooted in a deep understanding of the Climate field, the role holder will ensure that our Climate data and systems can inform the wide range of tactics and theories of change employed across CIFF’s Climate portfolio, ensuring agility and flexibility as the rapidly shifting Climate context changes, driven by political and financial factors coupled with public buy in, among others.

CIFF has an independent Evidence Management and Evaluation (EME) team, and this new role will work collaboratively with their counterpart in EME to develop an approach to field building and using evidence to influence policy and practice in line with the climate strategy and CIFF’s approach to strategic scaling. This role holder will share accountability for developing dashboards, frameworks and a set of tools that collect information in a purposeful, efficient and equitable way, including the development of CIFF’s new mission level dashboard for Climate, and looking at how to use the data effectively with Climate Directors for learning, course correction and impact evaluation.

The role holder will also be accountable for Climate level organisational reporting (data collection, analysis and reporting at various levels of granularity as required including performance dashboards, and quarterly reports to CIFF’s Pipeline Investment Committee) for effective oversight and learning.

Excellence in portfolio execution:

In collaboration with the Climate Programme Directors the role holder will ensure that the Climate portfolio is implemented with a critical focus on operational mastery, quality, partnerships and ecosystem strengthening that makes the most of CIFF’s unique role in the philanthropic sector in addressing the climate crisis. The role holder will also lead the process within in the team on all elements of governance in approval of new grants, monitoring and reporting to CIFF Board and Committees. They will be responsible for ensuring that all Climate missions have a simple, transparent OKR monitoring framework based on a coherent theory of change at portfolio level and underpinned by programme-level KPIs and tactics. And they will develop and own the systems, data and processes to monitor and ensure excellence in execution to support Programme Directors in (near) real-time course correction, when required.

Excellence in relationship management:

This senior level individual will be a respected thought leader who will build trust-based relationships with strategic partners and peers to ensure that dashboards and data benefit the wider ecosystem.

Working collaboratively across both the London based and Regional Climate teams and CIFF’s partners and using deep expertise in developing data and systems for portfolio performance, coupled with significant understanding of the Climate field, they will ensure that the Climate portfolio takes an ecosystems-building approach, leverages opportunities, problem-solves for and with the field, makes connections, adapts as context evolves, and is data and science driven.

Close collaboration with other directors within the Climate team and across the organisation will be key to success in this role. The role holder will play a pivotal role in leading a partnership approach to the relationships with key internal Climate stakeholders including EME, OD, Legal and HR, working to ensure that both at a day to day tactical and at a more strategic level, the value of these working partnerships is maximised. They will place a high priority on ensuring cohesion across the Climate team and embedding both CIFF’s Code of Respect and a focus on wellbeing in the way the team operates

This role holder will manage a team encompassing the current Climate Programme Finance team and Climate Operations. They will deputise as necessary for the Chief Ecosystem Development Officer & Executive Director, Climate.

Organisation development for excellence:

The role holder will play a key role in promoting and maintaining a dynamic learning environment that celebrates curiosity and risk taking and seizes opportunities for improvement. This role will also encompass ensuring that the skills and knowledge are in place internally and within the extended grantee network to deliver excellence in execution to achieve the impact of the Climate strategy, using extensive experience and leadership skills to coach and mentor both within the Climate team, with other teams across the organisation and with Partners as necessary on Climate related matters. Given the ecosystem building approach to portfolio management at CIFF, the role holder will play a key role in putting this into practice in the climate portfolio.

Requirements

Deep knowledge and understanding of the Climate sector, including having held roles at a senior level
Deep expertise in data and systems for portfolio performance in a relevant domain: Climate change, energy transition or the environment
Strong analytical and data management capabilities
Experience building productive and collaborative relationships with senior colleagues, gaining by in and co-operation, and the ability to bring together and motivate people from different parts of a complex organisation
Ability to create synthesised and impactful data visualisations across multiple programmes from a variety of data sets
In depth understanding of financial management principles and practices.
A combination of advanced technical knowledge and experience of influencing complex systems, with a nimble problem-solving mindset, and highly motivated using performance management techniques to maximise results.
Significant people leadership experience, including experience of leading senior level teams, and proven ability to empower, motivate, develop and hold to account a large team of professionals
Proven ability to both think strategically and deliver ‘on the ground’
Detailed understanding of metrics to inform strategy and business planning
Innovative and creative thinker with a pragmatic and solution-oriented mindset, able to think critically and analytically to draw sound conclusions on the basis of complex data
Incredibly well organised with a focus on excellence and quality in delivery
A proven track record of identifying and delivering execution improvements through stakeholder engagement, data analysis, understanding of context changes etc
Passionate for change and an outstanding communicator
Ability to present the foundation’s programmes in a compelling way to engage the audience: credible and professional
Capacity to work in a range of cultural and socio-economic contexts, adapting style and approach appropriately and in a culturally sensitive manner to maximise effectiveness
Track record of coaching, mentoring and developing others
An authentic leader and team player with high levels of emotional intelligence

Benefits

CIFF operates a hybrid working policy across all locations, which means employees work some of the time in the office and some of the time from home. We are happy to provide more information on this as part of the recruitment process.

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package here at CIFF that includes, but is not limited to the following:

Annual leave - 25 days per annum. Increasing by 1 day after each year of service, to a maximum of 30 days.
Bonus - CIFF currently operates a discretionary bonus scheme.
Pension
Private medical insurance
Training allowance
Wellbeing allowance
Life insurance

Please note, the closing date for this role is 8 January 2024, however if a high volume of qualified applications are received CIFF reserves the right to close the job early.

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