Project Lead (Project Manager): Energy and Climate

Project Lead (Project Manager): Energy and Climate

Location: Johannesburg or Cape Town 
Reports to: Programme Lead: Energy & Climate

The Economic Development Partnership (EDP) is an independent, not-for-profit collaborative intermediary that brings together diverse stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society sectors to tackle complex systemic challenges. The Energy and Climate Programme at the EDP drives sustainable energy transitions and climate resilience through our ‘partnering for impact’ approach. We foster cross-sectoral partnerships, enhance collaborative governance, and build adaptive capacity.

We are seeking an experienced and innovative Project Lead to operationalise and lead your own projects in this dynamic and growing programme, ensuring that our work strengthens South Africa’s energy resilience and supports climate action. The role is highly versatile, and may involve providing support to other EDP programmes should the capacity and need arise.  We value an individual’s fit within the organisation equally to qualifications and experience. If the job speaks to you in totality, we encourage you to apply, even if you don’t meet each individual criteria.

Key responsibilities

Project leadership and implementation

• Manage multiple projects that address South Africa’s energy transition and climate challenges
• Design and facilitate collaborative platforms that engage government, businesses, and civil society
• Ensure projects align with broader EDP objectives, promoting sustainable energy use and climate-resilient infrastructure
• Drive effective implementation by managing project plans, timelines, and deliverables, with assistance from project support staff

Stakeholder engagement and partnerships

• Cultivate partnerships with key actors across sectors, fostering collaboration towards shared energy and climate goals
• With the Programme Lead, use networks to identify and leverage opportunities relevant to the energy and climate space
• Lead stakeholder engagements, ensuring open communication and mutual accountability

Planning, monitoring, and risk management

• Oversee operational plans, ensuring efficient resource use and continuous project delivery
• Monitor project performance, identifying risks and implementing mitigation strategies
• Manage project budgets with support staff, tracking income and expenditure to ensure financial accountability

Communication and reporting

• Strategically prepare and present reports, proposals, and updates to internal and external stakeholders
• Communicate project outcomes to funders, partners, and stakeholders, with support from the Programme Lead
• Ensure key learnings are captured and shared through reports and presentations to promote continuous improvement

Qualifications and experience

• A relevant tertiary qualification (postgraduate preferred) or equivalent
• A minimum of four years’ experience (preferably across at least two different sectors, such as business, academia, public, or development)
• At least two years  of project management experience, ideally in sustainability, energy, or climate-related fields
• Ability to manage complex stakeholder processes and partnerships
• Experience with learning networks and knowledge-sharing platforms is an advantage

Key skills and attributes

• Strong project management skills, ideally with a focus on adaptive, collaborative governance
• Expertise in stakeholder engagement and partnership development
• Effective communication and facilitation abilities
• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and lead small teams
• Knowledge of South Africa’s energy and climate landscape, including policy frameworks and infrastructure challenges

This is a hybrid working position, with your days split between a co-working space (if based in Johannesburg) or the office in Cape Town, and work from home. You should be willing to travel occasionally to key project and team events nationwide. The Programme Lead: Energy & Climate will be based between Cape Town and Johannesburg. 

This is a 1-year contract with a possibility of renewal.

Application: 
Please visit  www.actionappointments.co.za to view the full job description and application instructions. Applications close Thursday, 31 October 2024. Submit your application to tracy@actionappointments.co.za.