3 months contract with local authorities
Climate Action is a priority corporate programme with a council commitment to deliver net zero carbon by 2030
The Climate Action team, which consists of the Head of Service, three Strategic Leads and a performance officer, are responsible for working with the eight work streams that have been established to deliver the commitments set out in the Net Zero Carbon strategy.
Primary job function
The Strategic Lead will be assigned work streams that are large, complex and high stakes with programme wide significance and senior officer and/or member exposure.
The Strategic Lead will take personal responsibility to work very closely with work stream senior responsible officers to deliver the commitments and actions that support achievement of Islington's climate action ambitions. They will work with passion, energy and drive, whilst working with a significant degree of autonomy.
Partnership development and stakeholder relationships
1. Horizon scan for climate change policy developments, funding, innovation and other shifts in the external landscape which will have an impact on the programme.
2. Build and maintain constructive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. This includes stakeholders from other priority council programmes, other councils and external organisations involved in leading change, especially in relation to climate change (plus horizon scanning for new ideas and relationships).
3. Develop the agenda for carbon reduction and climate adaptation and be the main point of contact for all internal and external stakeholders.
4. Work with internal and external stakeholders to develop collaboration plans and deliver mutually beneficial activities - including other public sector organisation, local borough partnerships and London wide partners (e.g., London Councils).
5. Advise the Head of Climate Action, Work stream directors or leads in efforts to support the council's relationships with London Councils, GLA, LGA and central government.
6. Drive a culture change so that climate action is embedded in the everyday operation of the business, with those in leadership roles seeing successful completion of decarbonisation and adaptation plans as part of the council's priority
Climate Action Delivery
7. Actively work closely with your assigned work streams that consist of multiple projects or/and business as usual activities that help deliver climate change commitments. The strategic lead's activities include:
Develop an effective workstream management framework which will allow the whole suite of projects to be viewed as an integrated whole, and within which partners can develop detailed and consistent project plans (while being mindful of the need for effort to be proportional to the scale of each partner's project).
Leading the co-ordination of work stream delivery teams and working closely with work stream directors to plan and shape requirement of the delivery teams.
Establish mechanisms to actively manage work stream and programme dependencies in partnership with other Climate Action Strategic Leads.
Working closely with the Finance Manager to realise opportunities to secure external funding applications for the work streams.
Plan and monitor climate action budget allocation and spend in partnership with work stream leads and Finance.
Complete reporting for steering board, executive board and scrutiny committee in partnership with work stream leads and directors.
Develop and maintain work stream benefit plans that help contribute to delivery of climate action targets.
Implementing consistent governance standards across the assigned work streams including tracking, monitoring and updating the status of deliverables.
Develop, own and implement work stream plans, seeking contributions from key stakeholders.
Working closely with multiple project delivery managers operating within assigned work streams to develop and establish a co-ordinated approach to reporting, managing the governance process, managing risks and interdependencies.
Provide programme updates as required to Climate Action Boards and senior managers.
8. Identify requirement and opportunities to establish new projects within work streams as required taking into consideration resourcing requirements, deliverables and reporting.
9. Promote and embed a range of project management tools as appropriate to address specific challenges or opportunities.
10. Proactively identify new improvement opportunities to enhance work stream delivery, articulating a business case for change that secures stakeholders commitment.
11. Mitigate and eliminate any risks that will potentially adversely impact on progress.
Service development and strategy
1. Support the Head of Service in delivering a performance framework, with the aim of generating insight and learning, and supporting service improvements.
2. Contribute to Service Plans and related strategies, to ensure that development and trends are incorporated in them.
3. To support and facilitate the council's corporate plan to achieve its ambition for Net Zero Carbon.
4. To work with the senior manager and others, to design and shape the budget process, and service planning process.
5. To respond to requests from elected members and senior officers on issues of strategic importance or programme delivery.