Local Investment in Natural Capital Programme Manager

The WMCA Environment Team published its Natural Environment Plan (NEP) in September 2021, which
outlines ambitions to protect, restore and enhance the region’s natural environment. It also
identifies the critical role of new routes to finance delivery.

In March 2023 DEFRA appointed the WMCA as one of four national pilots for the new Local
Investment in Natural Capital (LINC) projects, awarding us £1m. This initiative is an essential
part of the government’s recently released Green Finance Strategy. The LINC project will enable
us to identify innovative ways to blend public and private sector finance with the aim of
delivering natural environment projects at scale. The project is funded for 2 years from April
2023.

As our LINC Programme Manager, you’ll lead, manage and identify projects that will deliver
positive environmental outcomes for the West Midlands and attract further investment from a
range of private sector partners. As part of this, you’ll be instrumental in enabling the
public sector and third sector partners to become more market-facing.

Our plans are ambitious, you can be part of delivering nature recovery and environmental
outcomes for the West Midlands. This opportunity will enable you to deliver innovative regional
level projects that will lead the way nationally.

This post is fixed term for 2 years

About you

We need an innovative, driven and experienced programme manager who can take ideas from a page
and deliver the final concept.  You’ll have a passion for the environment, experience in overseeing projects and programmes and
the ability to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders. In particular, you will be:

• A confident communicator, at ease when talking to senior people, particularly from the
  legal and financial sectors, gaining trust and confidence in you and the team
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects and programmes
• Commercially aware with an understanding of how to bring investment forward to support our
  natural environment ambitions.

Not a complete match?

WMCA is dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace that reflects the
communities of the West Midlands. Studies show that women and people of colour are less likely
to apply for roles if they believe they do not meet each requirement. If you are passionate
about this role and want to make a difference to the West Midlands region, we encourage you to
still apply. If you know you have the potential to do the job, but your experience does not
straightforwardly sell you as the ‘perfect candidate’, really highlight your skills and those
which are transferable.

How to apply

Please upload an up-to-date CV and supporting statement which demonstrates how you meet the
essential criteria for the role.

Our application process is designed to be anonymised and ask all applicants to remove their
name and avoid referring to protected characteristics, such as gender or age, when uploading
their CV and Supporting Statement.

If you would like to discuss alternative methods to the online application as a reasonable
adjustment, please contact the Recruitment Team – we’re here to help.

Our advertised salaries

The salary advertised is the scale point range for the job role. New appointments will normally
be made on the lowest salary point, the minimum of the advertised salary range. In exceptional
cases, this can be varied where necessary to secure the best candidate when a higher skill
level and/or experience are applicable.

We advertise in this way to demonstrate the incremental year-on-year increase employees can
potentially receive up to the maximum salary point thereby offering progression to employees
and rewarding them appropriately.

About us

WMCA is committed to a better connected, more prosperous, fairer, greener, and healthier
region. This is our vision. We will achieve our vision through living our values which are
central to how we work and interact with our wider partners and stakeholders.

We’re a partnership organisation. Our people feel valued and respected, have a can-do attitude
and are innovators. We try new ways of doing things, we aren’t afraid to fail, learn from what
went wrong and try again. Our people are empowered to be creative and explore and innovate.

We are a “Leaders in Diversity” accredited organisation, are in the Inclusive Top 50 Employers
List and are one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women. As a Disability Confident Employer,
we have made a positive commitment to interviewing all applicants with a disability who meet
the essential role criteria. We are committed to building a team of people with varied
backgrounds and experiences as we recognise that this will only benefit us as an employer, the
more inclusive we are the better our work will be.

Furthermore, wherever possible we will offer flexible working options which assist work-life
balance. We are very happy to discuss a flexible working pattern that suits your needs, so
please do not let that be a barrier to applying. If your values align with ours and you’re
committed to working towards creating a future we can all be proud of, we want to hear from
you.

Location

West Midlands Combined Authority operates a Hybrid way of working. This means splitting your
time between the office at 16
Summer Lane, and working remotely.