Investment Innovation Specialist

Job Title: Investment Innovation Specialist

Team: Capital & Investment

Contract: Fixed term 1 year, with possibility of renewal

Level: Intermediate

Please refer to our Capability Framework

Location: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, UK

Apply by: We're interviewing on a rolling basis until we close the role. We advise you to apply early as we may close the role early if we have a sufficient pool of candidates.

ABOUT

USAt Climate-KIC, we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and we encourage personal development, learning and grow

th.When recruiting, we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments that will foster success in potential employees from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate all working patterns. We’re happy to discuss your situation during the interview and see how best we can support y

ou.
Don’t let Imposter Syndrome stop you from apply

ing!
Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative, entrusted by the European Commission to catalyse transformation through innovation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, with circa 160 people distributed all over the EU, Climate-KIC leads and orchestrates innovation with a community of more than 400. Together we conduct activities in 39 countries. We partner with cities, regions, governments and communities with the highest climate action ambition; providing the framework and expert support to holistically manage the complexity of climate change and deliver accelerated climate ac

tion.
Climate-KIC operates as a not-for-profit platform working through public-private partnership, wielding both public and private funding. We consist of 3 Legal entities: a Dutch BV Holding company (for profit) with 14 branches in European jurisdictions, providing grant management, innovation orchestration services, and impact investment advisory owned by a Dutch-based foundation with charity status – Climate-KIC International Foundation. Historically, we have been funded by our founder and core funder, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), but we are currently transitioning to a multi-funder

model.
ABOUT T

HE ROLEClimate KIC is working to make a rapid change to net-zero and climate resilience possible through innovation. A key part of our work is financial innovation, where we help local leaders identify and secure the different types of finance they require (both public and private) to pursue ambitious climate action and trigger systemic change. We refer to this as systems investing – the work of integrating multiple different financial instruments together to unlock new possibilities in a given place or value

-chain.
Our systemic investing work is rapidly expanding – it now covers cities, regional adaptation and argi-food. We are looking to add an experienced investment professional to the team to focus on driving forward key deals that will enable us to move further and faster. This role is wide ranging but has a primary focus on climate adaptation finance, including development of new structures that can attract investment into an underlying portfolio of innovative projects and init

iatives.
This includes a wide variety of City projects from the Net Zero Cities Capital Hub, six flagship innovation programmes connected to the Ireland Agri-food Deep Demonstration and an emerging portfolio of adaptation finance projects coming from regional areas across Europe. The role is to identify, mobilise, and deploy both grant funding and private investment (venture, corporate and institutional) capital to support the innovation

actions.
Key Respon

• sibilitiesAnalyse 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 proj
• ect 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 trans

formation.
Ty

• pical TasksAssess 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 work
• ing groups.Provide guidance and education to public sector employees around options to leverage public and private financing for grea

ter action.
Key Working R

• elationshipsCapital & Investment team – you will join the Capital & Investment team (currently 6 and growing to 8 this year) and work closely alongside the Investment Lead on the topic of finance m
• obilisation.Resilient & Climate-Neutral Regions (RCNR) team – you will be assigned to work on projects lead by the RCNR team that focus on innovation in regional adaptation ac
• ross Europe.Ireland Deep Demonstration – you will support our Deep Demonstration team on finance mobilisation related to the Government of Ireland’s ambition to decarbonise the agri-

food syst

em.
ABOUT YOUTo be successful in this role you will be a technically minded pragmatist that is able to find a pathway forward when presented with a wide array of opportunities. You will have the ability to investigate options and make sound, credible, proposals for new approaches to age old problems. You will be able to identify when stakeholders are using different words to describe the same thing and make connections that translate ambiguity

into action.
Education/

QualificationsRelevant academic degree in finan

cial servi

• ces.
  Experience4-5 years working experience in financial services. Experience in project finance, business development and execution, with a primary focus on sustainable finance hig
• hly preferable.Experience working in a private sector financial services institution, ideally including experience working on large scale infrastructure investment structuring or complex project f
• inancing deals.Proven experience of fundraising and engagement with public / private sector financin
• g institutions.Exposure to Irish or City finance innovation ecosystems hi

ghly d

• esirable.
  SkillsF
• luent in EnglishAbility to work remotely and digitally across multiple organisations with collaborative IT applications (we use Office365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as M
• iro, Zoom, etc.)Working knowledge of different financial instruments and their utility in diff
• erent scenarios.Willingness to develop an understanding of system thinking and how to use innovation to influence

system d

ynamics.
LocationCandidates must have the right to work in the EU prior to applying for the position. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based close to a Climate KIC office, but we support full remote or hybrid forms of working and offer a high degre

e of flexibility.Occasional travel may be required to engage with local stakeholders in di

fferent projects.
At Climate KIC we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and encourages personal development, le

arning and growth.
When recruiting, we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments to that will foster success in potential employees from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate al

l working patterns.
To ensure that we can respond to every single applicant, we will close the role once we receive a reasonable pool of c