Principal Consultant, Sustainable Finance

South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.

Our Consultancy & Advisory Services team provides our clients with outstanding technical expertise that enables the successful implementation of complex sustainability projects. Our expertise spans across multiple topics including land and water management, climate strategies, renewable energies, environmental impact assessments, green products, climate policy, carbon pricing, climate finance, and sustainable finance, to name just a few. If you are a smart, ambitious and dynamic sustainability professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, the below position may be right for you

**Job summary**:
The goal of the Principal Consultant is to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality consultancy advice to international, regional and local clients on sustainability topics for the finance sector. You will be fully accountable for the development and overall management of proposals on sustainable finance, as well as for the implementation of projects, for which you will supervise various project teams.

You will provide technical guidance to the project teams and act as the main point of contact for the client. You will also leverage your vast technical expertise to drive business development activities and generate new leads. In addition, you will contribute to the development of new products and solutions at South Pole to address sustainability challenges.

**Main tasks & responsibilities**:

- Lead the planning, management and execution of highly complex/very large consulting mandates on sustainable finance to ensure the most efficient and highest-quality implementation
- As a senior expert, provide supervision, guidance on and technical leadership in international consulting mandates and proposals, as well as lead their technical review
- Develop new consulting business opportunities and collaborate closely with the Key Account Management team
- Interact and build relationships with our local and international clients, and contribute to the winning and timely delivery of consulting mandates
- Develop and improve specialised skills and knowledge linked to the topics and services offered by South Pole
- Lead the development of South Pole’s thought leadership, services, products, marketing materials and offerings
- Lead and directly manage small teams of consultants in a multi-stakeholder and multi-geographies context
- Participate in business strategy and leadership-relevant internal discussions to position our consulting activities within South Pole's overall business and offering
- Topics of engagement may include: net-zero for financial institutions, Scope 3 (financed emissions) carbon footprinting, Paris alignment, EU Taxonomy, SFDR, SDG alignment, TCFD, CDP and more

**Requirements**:
Essential
- University degree, ideally at a Master’s level or higher, in a sustainability-related field: Environmental Science, Data Science, Economics, Finance, Engineering, Applied Math, Environmental Policy, Environmental Law or related disciplines
- Extensive experience, at least partly in corporate consulting, including specific experience within the sustainable investment space, net zero targets, GHG accounting for financials, climate-related risks and regulatory and voluntary disclosure for financial institutions
- Excellent technical project supervision skills and ability to guide project teams
- Excellent stakeholder and client management skills, including ability to lead contract negotiations
- Industry-relevant connections, with a network of potential clients, collaborators and other relevant stakeholders
- Deep understanding of environmental sustainability challenges and specific consultancy experience in the relevant areas of the practice
- Commercial skills and good business sense so as to be able to identify and seize opportunities in a challenging and competitive market environment
- Leadership and strategic management experience
- Excellent oral and written skills in English
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with specific communication experience to senior decision makers (such as C-Suite) and across a range of stakeholders

Desirable
- Experience in GHG accounting for financial products
- A Master’s degree will be an advantage
- Practical experience in change management and sustainability strategy development
- Diligent, reliable and proactive
- Fully comfortable operating in a fast-paced international environment
- Excellent prioritisation and time management skills

**What we offer**:
At South Pole, we care about our employees as much a