Principal Climate Change Officer

Overview

Are you passionate about tackling climate change and improving lives? Join us at
Buckinghamshire Council as we deliver ambitious, real-world solutions to reduce emissions, cut
energy bills, and support our most vulnerable residents. This is an exciting time to join our
Climate Response Team us as we continue our mission to address the challenge of climate change.

By working with us, you will be an integral part of delivering our Climate Change & Air
Quality Strategy. This role will take the lead in managing the Warm Homes: Local Grant for
which we have received over £3m in grant funding from the government. Over the next two and a
half years, you will oversee our managing agent as they deliver energy efficiency and low
carbon heating upgrades to low income homes across the county. This will help to reduce energy
bills, reduce carbon emissions and improve living standards in the treated households. In so
doing, you will be playing a key part in our journey to toward a net zero future in
Buckinghamshire.

The successful candidate will: manage the contract with our managing agent; work with the Dept.
for Energy Security & Net Zero to fulfil all reporting requirements for the project, work
with the RISE support service to enable successful delivery, carry out project management
activities including reporting to the project board, manage the £3m budget with robust
financial oversight and ensure that data is handled appropriately.

This is an opportunity to make a difference, gain experience of delivering a large scale
retrofit project and contribute to our mission to deliver a local response to the global
climate change challenge. If you are excited by this position and feel like you could play a
key role in bringing our ambitions to fruition, then we would love to hear from you!

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and
expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local
people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear
commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for
Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally. 

About the role

The Council’s Climate
Change and Air Quality Strategy was adopted in 2021 and includes 60 separate actions to
mitigate and adapte to climate change in Buckinghamshire. The Principal Climate Change Officer
will lead on projects to enable the planning and delivery of the infrastructure needed to
support the transition to a low carbon energy system. They will work with colleagues from
planning policy to develop a new Bucks wide local plan with key focus on sustainability and
will lead on projects with the GSE Net Zero Hub delivering funding for retrofit of energy
inefficient homes.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders
and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will
be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team
requirements.

About you

• Substantial experience (ideally 5 years) in the field of building decarbonisation,
  particularly domestic property sustainable energy projects; with excellent knowledge of
  sustainable energy technologies and the role they play in whole house retrofit planning. Able
  to provide examples of projects worked on. 
• Experience of contributing to the development of procedures / service policies /
  strategies.
• Excellent interpersonal, persuasion and negotiating skills, with experience of resolving
  escalated / complex customer queries.
• Authority and credibility to build relationships influence and engage successfully with
  colleagues, partners and customers at all levels in complex or politically sensitive
  situations.
• Experienced project manager with an excellent understanding of project management
  methodologies and systems. Able to provide and articulate examples of project management best
  practice from own work.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, to manage a range of complex activities and
  to achieve given targets and objectives.
• Excellent research and analysis skills demonstrating evidence of the ability to identify
  and diagnose complex problems/issues and develop innovative solutions.
• Good ICT skills including use of standard Microsoft applications and specialist systems.
• Excellent time management skills to manage a complex workload prioritise and set deadlines
  and cope with conflicting and changing demands.
• Experience of preparing and publishing invitations to tender/quote and awarding and
  managing contracts
• Experience of managing large budgets
• Experience of securing and managing grant funding
• Proven track record of using initiative, strategic and political awareness in problem
  solving and decision making.
• Experience of co-ordinating partnership working. Experience of representing the work area
  externally.
• Excellent knowledge of how effective climate change mitigation and adaptation can be
  delivered through the planning process.

Other information

This is a fixed-term contract until 31st March 2028.

For further information on this role please see the job summary.

We typically work two days in the office and the remainder of the week from home.