Senior Sourcing Specialist Africa at South Pole

Job summary:

As part of the Global Sourcing team within the Climate Projects business unit, the Sourcing Specialist will assist the Regional Sourcing Manager based in Kenya with project sourcing and business development activities in the African region. This will include but is not limited, to developing strong relationships with project owners and relevant South Pole personnel in the sourcing, projects and structured carbon finance teams. In this role, you will support business development and project sourcing related activities within the designated region – primarily related to renewable energy, energy efficiency and household projects, along with plastic waste reduction and recycling projects. Other emission reduction projects might include methane avoidance, the industrial sector, N2O and the transport sector. However, there might be some support for sourcing Nature-Based Solutions as needed as well.

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• Support project sourcing activities for carbon credits and possibly other environmental market products offered by South Pole
• Collect data from Project Owners or another third party for due diligence, financing plans and budgets, technical, financial and legal documentation
• Ensure that sourcing flows and processes (including documentation and interaction with other teams) are in line with the company guidelines
• Lead and co-lead pre-deal activities including identifying opportunities developing business cases
• Manage and maintain global sourcing database, ensuring that information regarding project leads and opportunities are well recorded and updated
• Support coordination and collaboration with other teams within South Pole globally in regards to project leads and opportunities
• Conduct research relevant to new project leads, project developers, project owners, relevant regulatory regimes/policies in African countries
• Where relevant attend meetings/seminars/workshops/events that are strategic for sourcing team activities

Requirements:

• Education: University degree in Economics, Environmental Sustainability, Business Development and Environmental/Carbon Markets or similar.
• Work experience: Minimum 3 years in business development and/or partnership development
• Core experience and know-how: Networking, Operations, Knowledge/Database Management,
• Good commercial terms understanding and ideally experience with commercial negotiations
• Existing networks in sustainable technology fields such as Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, household devices, and/or plastics
• Supporting experience, expertise and know-how:
• Experience and interest in engagements and networking — people skills
• Experience in project screening and budgeting/financing
• Basic knowledge of carbon industry
• Familiar with carbon credits, standards, project development
• Comfortable working with an international and multicultural team
• Proficiency with MS Office, especially MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint and Google Suite
• Adaptability and versatility
• Communication skills: a people person, networking interest
• Language: Native or fluent in English, other languages relevant to Africa are a plus

Desirable

• Experience with environmental projects and carbon markets (compliance/ voluntary)
• Working in an international environment