Manager, Urban Heat and Health

Background

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities, who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis, and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labour, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before.

C40’s team of 400+ staff is based in offices in London, in New York, Johannesburg, Singapore, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Beijing and Paris, and individual staff based across 25+ different locations.

The strategic direction of the organisation is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors, which is chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan of London and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown. Three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, responsible for operational oversight. A regionally diverse management team, led by Executive Director Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40’s three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Realdania.

Our international staff work with the C40 network under the leadership of city governments to deliver this mission. Using a data-driven approach, our team identifies and promotes the exchange of proven programmes and policies developed by cities; provides world-class research, technical expertise and access to key partners to deliver new programmes and policies with cities; and communicates cities’ individual achievements and collective leadership.

Diversity Statement

C40 is committed to supporting and promoting equity and diversity and creating an inclusive working environment for everyone. We believe that when people with different life experiences are involved in decision-making, we deliver better. 

We believe having a diverse workforce ensures we connect better with all the different communities and people affected by the climate crisis. This enables us to make better decisions which lead to better outcomes in the work we do through increased creativity, productivity, greater global impact alongside a broader perspective and approach to our work.

We welcome applicants that are diverse in terms of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective. Our goal is for C40 to be an environment where everyone, from any background, can flourish and can be themselves whilst contributing to our mission. If you identify as a person with a disability, we work to provide reasonable appropriate measures and any additional support needed to provide an equitable working experience. If you are living with a disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity please inform us, to provide you with the proper assistance in the application process.

C40 promotes a work culture where staff can input to improve equity, diversity and inclusion through staff-led groups and formal forums. We know that creating our ideal working environment is a learning process and we are committed to the ongoing effort.

Department Description

C40’s Climate Solutions and Networks (CSN) team oversees five programme areas focused on priority climate action sectors and interventions: Energy and Buildings; Transportation and Urban Planning; Food and Waste; Air Quality; and Climate Resilience. Under these programme areas, CSN operates 16 different networks that facilitate city-to-city best practice sharing on specific climate action areas, such as clean energy or zero emission vehicles.

The networks help cities replicate, improve and accelerate climate action to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. These city-only working groups provide for honest knowledge and experience exchange, enabling cities to tap into the global expertise of their peers as well as connect with technical partners. Through networks, cities find opportunities to undertake joint projects in areas of mutual interest and benefit. C40 networks also amplify individual city solutions by providing a global platform for showcasing city success. The result is that cities' climate actions to reduce GHGs, air pollutants and climate risks are bolder, fairer, and more impactful than if they were to go it alone.

A number of these programmes and networks also offer direct support to cities through technical assistance projects, trainings, tools, and resources, often in conjunction with other C40 teams and programmes. The CSN team also supports cities to deliver on the mayoral commitments made through C40’s declarations including, but not limited to, the Green & Healthy Streets Declaration, the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Declaration, and the Advancing Towards Zero Waste Declaration. The C40 declarations are statements of political leadership giving cities an opportunity to show leadership globally and locally.

C40’s climate resilience team delivers a programme aimed at supporting cities to become more resilient to climate change and delivers programmes related to water, heat, and nature.  C40 provides this support through three networks: Cool Cities Network, Urban Flooding Network, and Water Security Network, as well as by developing research to advocate for climate resilience investment, providing finance academies to leverage adaptation funding, advance political leadership from mayors via Accelerators (related to urban nature and water), and directs support to a select group of cities for community resilience assessments and project design. The post-holder would work closely with the Cool Cities Network Manager. 

Position Description

The Manager, Heat and Health, will join the newly established Urban Heat Programmes Delivery team to deliver technical assistance and support to Global South cities related to heat and health. They will manage and coordinate the activities of a grant focused on increasing the ambition of cities in the Global South working to increase heat resilience, improving collaboration and information sharing across climate and health sectors, and advancing work happening at the intersection of heat, health, and equity in C40 cities. 

The post-holder will be responsible, with support from their line manager and other teammates, for delivering the core activities of the grant, which include: 

• Setting clear climate and health goals and targets related to heat by creating an evidence-based mayoral pledge (called an accelerator at C40). 
• Providing pilot funds to four cities in the Global South to support projects that enhance interdepartmental collaboration across health, climate, emergency response and other departments to heat actions with local impact, an action and implementation mechanism. 
• Producing and disseminating knowledge across the C40 network about effective processes and practices for using climate information to enhance health decision-making, through C40’s communities of practice. 

In addition to delivering these projects, the Manager will contribute to C40’s work to expand support to cities on extreme heat through the Cool Cities Network. They will also coordinate closely with a global programme on urban heat being delivered over the next two years at C40.

This is a growing area of work and C40 may expand the responsibilities under this programme, while ensuring that it is adequately supported with staff capacity and guidance.

Responsibilities: 

• Deliver a programme to deliver technical assistance and support to Global South cities related to heat and health
• Ensure that the programme is delivered on time and budget, with guidance and support from the line manager and other relevant C40 staff and teams
• Support in conducting research, gathering input and advice, and drafting goals and targets for ambitious heat-related actions in cities, to be launched as a new C40 accelerator 
• Be responsible for managing the work across the programme to deliver a coordinated offering to cities, manage staff workload and an aligned strategy. 
• Organise, facilitate and deliver project activities and events, including city workshops and input into mayoral event(s) in collaboration with the Urban Heat Programmes Delivery and Inclusive Climate Action teams. 
• Procure, select and coordinate consultants and engage relevant partners/stakeholders to deliver a high standard of work on behalf of cities and C40, maintaining productive, long term relationships. This includes research and analysis, and technical assistance.
• Draft and edit case studies, lessons learned, and summary reports to share with cities across the C40 network.
• Ensure existing C40 tools, research and approaches from the research team and ICA team are used where relevant.
• Utilize and strengthen the strong relationships C40 has with cities receiving technical assistance, relevant stakeholders and partners.
• Drive the collaboration of C40 and city teams working on resilience, inclusion, and health. 

• Support C40 to effectively develop and communicate powerful and engaging stories to disseminate the project learnings with varied perspectives and voices for multiple audiences and in different languages.

• Deliver reporting requirements to grant funder and manage relationship with funder. 
• Other duties as assigned.

Person Specification:

The successful candidate will be a quick learner who thrives in dynamic environments and is skilled in building relationships across teams and coordinating across diverse groups of stakeholders. They will have a collaborative mindset and be adept at connecting people and organisations around a shared purpose and common goals. 

• Experience developing or implementing policy and strategy in or with city governments or health agencies as an employee, external advisor or partner; preferably with cities in the Global South. 
• Knowledge of and experience with the public health or the healthcare sector and the connections between health and climate resilience. 
• Preferably have knowledge of best practice solutions to manage extreme heat, with a focus on how to implement solutions in a just and equitable way. 
• Experience in programme management and successful delivery of multi-stakeholder programmes or multi-disciplinary process and policies as well as budget and contract management.
• Experience working collaboratively and effectively with major global partners, such as NGOs, the corporate sector, funders and multilateral development banks.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills essential, including proven ability to facilitate in-person workshops and virtual meetings or webinars and proven ability to communicate complex ideas in a simple way to various non-technical audiences.
• Strong problem-solving, interpersonal and strategic thinking capabilities coupled with an outcome, delivery-oriented approach required;
• Proven strong understanding of political dynamics in cities and local governments, and of strategic and technical needs of city leaders
• Fluency in English essential; fluency in another language spoken in a C40 city is a benefit.

Other Requirements:

Applicants must already have the right to work in the location they're applying for. Some travel will be required as part of the role.

Reporting To: Senior Manager, Urban Heat Programmes

Term: Fixed Term Contract  until 31st  August  2026

Location: Brazil, Colombia, South Africa

Salary: (Grade 4) Brazil (IC) USD 61,770, Colombia COP 108,074,116, South Africa  ZAR 715,392 (gross per annum)

Application Process:

Closing date for applications is Thursday 24th October at 5.00pm BST. C40 reserves the right to close this job opening before the closing date for applications so please do submit applications early.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

For any queries about the role, please contact careers@C40.org. Kindly note that this email address is for recruitment related queries only. We are unable to accept CVs and cover letters sent to this inbox. We can only accept and process applications that are submitted via our website.

C40 is an equal opportunities employer.