Investment Innovation Specialist

Summary

Join Climate-KIC's Capital & Investment team as an Investment Innovation Specialist for a 1-year fixed-term contract (with potential renewal). Based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, or the UK, you will play a key role in driving forward climate adaptation finance. This involves analyzing funding needs, developing fundraising strategies, and collaborating with various stakeholders to mobilize public and private investment. You will work closely with the Investment Lead and other teams on projects related to net-zero cities and regional adaptation. The role requires a relevant academic degree, 4-5 years of experience in financial services, and strong skills in financial analysis and stakeholder engagement. Climate-KIC offers a flexible work environment and a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Requirements

• Relevant academic degree in financial services
• 4-5 years working experience in financial services
• Proven experience of fundraising and engagement with public / private sector financing institutions
• Fluent in English
• Ability to work remotely and digitally across multiple organisations with collaborative IT applications (we use Office365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as Miro, Zoom, etc.)
• Working knowledge of different financial instruments and their utility in different scenarios
• Willingness to develop an understanding of system thinking and how to use innovation to influence system dynamics
• Candidates must have the right to work in the EU prior to applying for the position

Responsibilities

• Analyze the funding needs expressed by individual innovation projects and integrate these needs into a wider funding plan or financial structure that accommodates differing levels of project maturity
• Collect and organise information/data around investment opportunities to enable effective outreach to potential investors (both public and private)
• Contribute to development of a fundraising strategy that attracts multiple different stakeholders to invest into a coordinated funding plan for a given place or sector
• Share your investment experience and knowledge with Climate-KIC partners, in particular via the Net Zero Cities Capital Hub and Pathways 2 Resilience programme
• Act as key point of contact on adaptation innovation on projects, including facilitation of working groups and collaborative initiatives defined in project plans
• Participate in our community of investment innovation partners and help to build a strong community of practice in the field of investing for system transformation
• Assess projects identified by colleagues for financial viability and provide advice on the range of financial mechanisms that match
• Foster collaboration between public and private sector financial institutions to develop large scale investment programmes with high impact potential by hosting working groups
• Provide guidance and education to public sector employees around options to leverage public and private financing for greater action

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in project finance, business development and execution, with a primary focus on sustainable finance
• Experience working in a private sector financial services institution, ideally including experience working on large scale infrastructure investment structuring or complex project financing deals
• Exposure to Irish or City finance innovation ecosystems

Benefits

High degree of flexibility to accommodate all working patterns