Executive Director - Environmental Markets

About us
Pollination is a specialist climate change investment and advisory firm, accelerating the transition to a net zero, nature positive future. With strong relationships at the highest levels of government and the private sector, we shift barriers and catalyze transformative partnerships. Our clients span governments, businesses, and public and private capital.
Our people are the key to unlocking change. Brought together from across industries, we are global leaders in law, policy, finance, investment, technology, and business. We combine our diverse expertise to connect dots and see around corners where others cannot. Using our broad experience, we help navigate the climate transition and design and invest in breakthrough ideas that deliver financial returns.
The opportunity
Pollination is looking for an Executive Director to join our dynamic office in Washington, D.C. or Chicago, Illinois. In this role, you will work alongside a friendly and experienced team to advise corporates, financial institutions and governments on all aspects of the transition to net zero and building climate resilience. Working as a team, you will drive value for clients in a wide range of sectors. challenging problems in the world.
Responsibilities

• Managing the delivery of market-leading advice to clients in a wide range of sectors and industries to support their transition to a net-zero emissions future, including commercial and strategic analyses; investment, systems, and policy analyses; market reviews and benchmarking, which anticipates the audience and their commercial objectives
• Leading national and international climate policy analysis and preparing policy recommendations related to climate finance, carbon pricing, Environmental Markets, and nature-based solutions
• Preparing policy recommendations for operationalizing multilateral environmental agreements, e.g., the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity

• Conducting analyses to develop evidence-based outputs, including by sourcing and processing policy, commercial, environmental, financial, and social data and leveraging Pollination's expertise to develop new insights for clients
• Leading project delivery across multiple projects, including pitch delivery and pricing, project scoping and design, resource planning and allocation, inclusive team leadership, project problem solving, and delivery within commercial expectations
• Helping clients manage the internal engagement and response to key programs of work and findings, including gaining buy-in across executives and senior teams and managing further work and implementation
• Developing problem solving strategies and assets across client groups or sectors, including developing Pollination IP and thought leadership
• Managing staff development, including on individual projects and across their careers at Pollination, and managing the construction of teams for specific projects or sectors

• Leading and driving Pollination's business development strategies, including originating ideas and managing a pipeline of projects from initial client contact and engagement through project design and delivery

Who we're looking for

• Minimum 12 years professional experience in investment, strategy, policy, sustainability, finance, economics or a closely-related field, along with extensive subject matter expertise in Environmental Markets, transition and climate finance, sustainability strategy, natural capital and nature-based solutions, and/or climate risk and opportunity analysis
• Minimum 8 years professional experience in Environmental Markets (including carbon markets and/or biodiversity markets) preferred or cumulative professional experience in a combination of Pollination's focus areas: food and fiber systems; energy, transport, and industry; built environment and infrastructure; Environmental Markets; and financial markets

• Professional experience with the UN frameworks and negotiations is strongly preferred
• Experience managing large teams including managing workload, development needs, and team member availability across multiple work streams
• Exceptional communication and writing skills with strong attention to detail
• Strong collaboration and teamwork skills, including a highly inclusive leadership style, the ability to marshal, coordinate and defend team members and resources across a global team of specialists, and the ability to work with a distributed global team across various levels of seniority
• Proven ability to design and deliver to deadlines, and to manage prioritization within and between workstreams and manage stakeholder expectations across competing priorities

• Strong existing network in the climate change law and policy space in the public and/or private sector and ability to manage and develop high-level commercial relationships, including at the executive and board level
• Passion to help quickly build a growing team and ability to manage change in an organization, including by seeking and generating buy-in, building culture, and supporting stakeholders to engage with the program of work at hand
• Drive to find strategic solutions that help our clients deliver net zero and build climate resilience

You'll love this role if...
You thrive in a fast-moving, fluid environment and have exceptional attention to detail. You are adaptable and proactive, calm under pressure, and a great communicator - able to prioritize and effectively manage the needs of diverse stakeholders. You have a ferocious intellectual curiosity, an appetite for solving complex problems and are comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. You are excited to work in a purpose-driven organization and share our ambition and commitment to tackle the climate crisis.
This is a permanent, full-time role with the flexibility to work outside of standard office hours when necessary. You must hold the right to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future and must be based in Washington, D.C. or Chicago or willing to relocate. Pollination follows a hybrid work model in the U.S. with staff expected to work from the office at least 3 days per week to benefit from in-person interactions with colleagues.
How to apply
Please apply by submitting a cover letter outlining what you will bring to Pollination (1 page maximum - cover letters exceeding 1 page will not be considered), and CV (maximum 2 pages) via LinkedIn. Please note, when applying via LinkedIn, you must upload your cover letter and CV as one document.
Pollination is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application. We will then work with you to identify the best way to assist you through the recruitment process.