View Vacancy – International Climate Fund Support Officer

The British Embassy in Mexico City is looking for a new Support Officer to provide administrative and logistics support for the United Kingdom’s International Climate Finance (ICF) portfolio of programmes in Mexico. In total, there are 21 ICF programmes operational in Mexico representing substantial funding from three different UK government ministries: the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). In practice, the Support Officer will concentrate on implementation of the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transition (UK PACT) Programme, worth £2.5 million a year in Mexico), with ad hoc tasks for the other 20 programmes.   

In addition to admin and logistics, the Support Officer will help manage five small budgets worth £80,000 a year approximately and help oversee the spend of two other small programmes currently worth £45,000 a year in Mexico. The jobholder will also assist in a wide range of programme management activities such as project design, stakeholder engagement, grant management, and monitoring and evaluation. 

The jobholder will be part of a small team of three members. This includes the UK PACT Manager and the ICF Officer who will line manage the AO position. The ICF Team sits within the larger Climate Team managed by the Head of Climate. Climate is one of five different teams within the Embassy’s Development Section. All UK development work in Mexico has a strong focus on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). In addition, the Climate Team has its own development communications strategy on sharing impacts and lessons learned from our climate work. 

The new ICF Support Officer will proactively contribute to the Climate Team’s GESI and communications priorities. They will also support wider Embassy corporate objectives through membership of one or more committees or taskforces. 

This is a great opportunity for the right candidate to work across a broad range of international development and programme management activities in one of the greatest challenges facing humanity – climate change. The Support Officer will contribute to poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainable economic development, and environmental protection in Mexico.   

Roles and Responsibilities:

1.    Lead on administration and logistics for the Embassy’s Climate Team (40%)

• Improving efficiency of Climate Team administrative procedures and processes, facilitating access for London based colleagues to climate information from Mexico.
• Regular updating of the Climate Team databases and document repositories.
• On logistics, undertake the following tasks:
  • Organise and coordinate the team’s events and activities.
  • In accordance with procurement guidance, solicit quotations for products and services.
  • Create a database of suppliers.
  • Book meeting rooms, travel arrangement and catering provisions as required.
  • Coordinate with the Embassy’s security and estates teams when visitors come to our premises.
  • Draft minutes of meetings as required.

2.    Effectively manage the team’s finances (30%)

• At the start of the UK Financial Year, create the necessary tables and spreadsheets to insert and keep track of the team’s expenditure from five different local budget lines: International Climate Finance (ICF), Climate Policy, Regional Climate Coordinator, COP26, and the Partnership Engagement Budget (PEB) worth £80,000 a year approximately.
• Monitor the spend of the Climate Diplomacy Fund (CDF) and the Enabling Equalities Fund (EEF) worth £45,000 a year approximately.
• Working with climate team colleagues, establish the baseline for each budget and update the team’s finances on a regular basis (at least monthly).
• Advise the team of any challenges related to their budgets including potential over or underspends.
• Organise and conduct regular meetings with the team to present the budget updates and resolve any outstanding issues.
• Coordinate internal calls for proposals for CDF and PEB and ensure reporting compliance with London.

3.    Provide Programme Management Support to climate team (20%)

• Work with programme leads on day-to-day programme management activities, including:
  • Setting up new projects and suppliers on the FCDO internal information system.
  • Implementing the FCDO’s Purchase to Payment (P2P) process.
  • Managing the effective transfer of external project documents into the FCDO internal information system.
  • Contributing to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) programme requirements.
  • Supporting programme communications as required.
  • Supporting the delivery of Gender Equality, Disabilities and Social Inclusion activities under our climate portfolios.

4.    Corporate Contribution: Help make the Embassy a great place to work (10%)

• All Embassy staff are expected to fulfil a defined role in the event of a crisis.
• Contribute to the Embassy’s wider corporate agenda and values by being an active member in one of our committees, working groups or taskforces.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure): 

Staff: No Staff 

Resources: Manage five small local climate budgets worth a total of £80,000 a year approximately and monitor the spend of two small programme funds in Mexico worth about £45,000 a year.  

We are looking for a proactive self-starter, able to work well and have a flexible approach to work whilst under pressure. We are looking for someone with excellent interpersonal and communications skills to build strong relations within the British High Commission and UK teams and with a wide range of stakeholders in Mexico.

Candidates should demonstrate:

• An undergraduate degree, in Environmental Science, Climate, Energy, Sustainable Development, International Development, or related course;
• A comprehensive understanding of climate and environment issues and policies in Mexico;
• An aptitude for Project/Programme management, preferably with international stakeholders.
• Flexible and creative problem-solving skills, and the ability to come up with innovative solutions to problems;
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Spanish;
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) and ability to adjust to different audiences;
• Excellent presentation skills;
• Team working skills;
• Commitment to align to Embassy’s core values: respect, inclusion, professionalism, and honesty.

Language requirements: 

Language: English and Spanish
Level of language required:  minimum level required C1 under CEFRL or equivalent.