Associate Director - Technical Carbon Market

About Pollination

At Pollination, we stand at the vanguard of climate change, committed to accelerating the world towards a net-zero, nature-positive future. Our team, a diverse group of global leaders from finance, investment, technology, business, law and policy, thrives on diversity, allowing us to uncover solutions unseen by others. Our extensive networks within government and the private sector enable us to forge transformative partnerships, initiate significant shifts towards sustainability and deliver lasting impact.

Our culture is driven by our values: intellectual rigor, catalytic collaboration, courageous creativity, relentless tenacity and thoughtful transformation.

Pollination has offices globally, and for this role, Australia is preferred.  We follow a hybrid work model where we aim to work from the office 50% of the time to benefit from in-person support and interactions with our teammates whilst allowing plenty of flexibility.

The Advisory Team

At the heart of our Advisory Team is the mission to partner with the corporate sector, guiding them through the complexities of climate and sustainability innovation. Our team is a powerhouse of strategic thinkers and problem solvers dedicated to creating sustainable business models and strategies that drive environmental and economic value.

The Role

We're looking for an Associate Director to join the Carbon Markets team. This position involves providing  technical advice, designing natural climate solution projects, and ensuring these initiatives align with international standards through all project phases (from feasibility to implementation). You will work closely with leaders and stakeholders in the industry to develop projects that have a real-world positive climate impact. This is an exceptional opportunity to jump straight into a large scale, marquee project that aims to set benchmarks within the industry. You can be based in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Responsibilities

• Providing in-depth technical advice on greenhouse gas methodologies and voluntary carbon market standards for natural climate solutions and carbon project accounting
• Advising on the design and development of innovative natural climate solutions projects through all phases of project lifetime, including REDD+, forest conservation, agriculture, blue carbon, and soil carbon initiatives, ensuring that projects align with international standards and methodologies
• Assessing and, where applicable, developing baselines to establish robust benchmarks for carbon projects while ensuring the accuracy and credibility of data as well as adherence to relevant regulatory and market requirements
• Conducting rigorous due diligence into all elements of carbon projects including climate impacts, social outcomes (including community engagement and benefit-sharing approaches), biodiversity outcomes, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), certification strategy, and design
• Designing and delivering 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, as well as operationalizing carbon markets strategies
• 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
• Managing 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 to manage internal engagement, including having regular contact with senior clients, managing meetings and other client contact, and communicating the conclusions of key pieces of analysis
• Supporting the development of problem-solving strategies and assets across client groups or sectors, including developing Pollination IP and thought leadership
• Supporting staff development, including managing performance, providing regular feedback, nurturing talent, and developing capability
• Supporting Pollination’s business development strategies, identifying opportunities, developing pitches, and managing opportunity pipelines

Who we’re looking for

• Minimum 6 years professional experience in project development, non-profit, investment, strategy, policy, sustainability, finance, economics or a closely-related field, along with significant subject matter expertise (via academic or professional experience) in environmental markets, carbon project implementation and natural climate solutions
• Strong familiarity with nature-based greenhouse gas methodologies for REDD+, forest conservation, agriculture, blue carbon, and soil carbon, including a deep understand of Verra Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR)and the Architecture for REDD+ Transaction’s The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (ART TREES)
• Professional experience with nature-based carbon project implementation and experience in reviewing or developing baselines and forest reference levels, preferably within a jurisdictional or landscape context; direct field experience desirable
• Experience drafting PDDs, monitoring reports, and other key documents
• Thorough knowledge of carbon market mechanisms, carbon offset standards (particularly Gold Standard, ART TREES, American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, and / or compliance market methodologies), and international climate policies
• Exceptional communication and writing skills with strong attention to detail
• Strong cultural competency
• Ability to travel more than 20%
• Proven ability to design and deliver to deadlines, and to manage prioritization within and between workstreams and manage stakeholder expectations across competing priorities
• Strong collaboration and teamwork skills, including a highly inclusive leadership style and the ability to work with a distributed global team across various levels of seniority
• Ability to build and leverage diverse technical and industry relationships and networks
• 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 prioritise 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 organisation 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 Australia.

Applying with Pollination  

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.