Senior Specialist, Business Development, NBS, Climate Projects - Latam

South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.

Our Project Sourcing team works hand in hand with project owners and developers, active in the carbon markets and renewable energy space, to identify, negotiate and contract new emission reduction projects. By acquiring new projects within our portfolio, we ensure that South Pole always has the right mix of carbon credits available to meet the demands of our clients. If you’re an ambitious and dynamic sustainability professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, this position may be right for you!

Job summary:

As a Senior Specialist, Business Development, NBS, Climate Projects - Latam, you will focus on the Sourcing of NBS carbon projects in the region. Reporting directly to the Regional Senior Manager, Business Development, NBS, Climate Projects - Latam.

The role is a combination of business development and closure, project analysis, commercial decision-maker, business strategy and stakeholder/client management. As a key member of the Latam Commercial NBS team, you will undertake activities that ensure all the necessary processes and enabling conditions are carried out to evaluate quality business opportunities close fair and profitable deals with mitigable risks, and ensure smooth and eloquent operationalization of global project sourcing flows, processes, document handling, database management, and coordination with different teams on various tasks and activities.

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• Design, develop and implement sourcing national strategies for nature-based solutions goals in Latam for voluntary and compliance markets, ensuring the best value for our company. For that, the Senior Specialist will coordinate with Technical, CPFCM and Legal teams

• Source new NBS project leads and opportunities for the region aligned to the Climate Projects Strategy

• Manage stakeholder relationships, and negotiate and close contracts to ensure high-quality and cost-effective commercial models

• Manage and maintain our global database (i.e., Salesforce), ensuring that information regarding project leads and opportunities are well recorded and updated

• Draft contracts and commercial proposals

• Attend meetings, seminars, workshops and events that are strategic for the Commercial NBS team activities in the region

• Support the Technical NBS team with the due diligence process, the relationship with the stakeholders and the acquisition of information that allows the comprehensive evaluation of the opportunities and their associated risks of new and existing projects

• Ensure compliance with company policies and procedures, as well as local

• Apply the internal policies and procedures about the correct use of our internal project management tool for keeping general information, milestones, and cash flow, as well as, the general normativity to ensure harmony between all stakeholders involved in the organization (accounting, registries, projects managers, portfolio, HR, commercial and other internal and external stakeholders)

• Participate in the co-creation spaces to develop and provide feedback and offer solutions about the internal process involved in the project management activities

• Identify and prioritize tasks according to the needs of the project, regarding the schedule and budget

• Others related to the fulfilment of the role deemed necessary

Requirements:

Essential -

• University degree in Sustainable, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Science, Business Administration, Economy, Environmental Law or any other relevant discipline

• Work experience in environmental and climate issues: minimum 4 years of relevant experience working in environmental, financial or quality fields and 2 years of commercial experience such as experience in customer service and support, client management and networking - people skills

• Experience in project screening, budgeting/financing, risk analysis and management

• Experience working with international and multicultural teams, ethnic and native communities and existing networks in NBS fields such as traditional authorities, private owners of land and other types of key contacts

• Experience with deal origination and evaluation

• Ability to develop, grow and sustain professional relationships for business development

• Demonstrated interest or skills in commercial transactions and business acumen

• Attention to detail and comfortable working on administrative tasks

• Good understanding of climate change mitigation actions and frameworks such as Net zero, carbon market, standard and development of emission reduction projects

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including experience communicating and presenting to various audiences, including government and private sector, board members, employees, local communities, among others

• Professional proficiency in English and Spanish is a must (both oral and written)

• Transdisciplinary and holistic vision to support NBS projects

• Ability to work on assignments that are diverse in nature, apply company policies, processes, and procedures to resolve a complex project-related problem and take decisions in an independent way

• Ability to perform multiple activities (coordinate more than one project at a time), according to the company and project requirements, with good performance in terms of time and quality

Desirable - 

• Ideally a Master's Degree or above

• Knowledge of environmental legislation and the development of NBS projects in the Latin American region

• Proficiency in Project Management tools (e.g. Monday, Trello, and others)

• Experience in financial analysis tools and concepts for project assessment

• Proficiency with MS Office, especially MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Salesforce, and Google Suite

• Adaptability and versatility to changing conditions and team composition

• Ability to manage multiple projects at the same time

• Availability to travel within the region (10-15% of the time approx.)

• Portuguese language skills are a plus

What we offer:

At South Pole, we care about our employees as much as we care about the planet. South Pole is not just an employer, we are a Team. South Pole does not just offer people a job, we offer you a career. By joining our team, you will find strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do. You will have the chance to make a real difference for our clients and for the planet, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues, while building your knowledge/skills and developing your career in a fun, dynamic, international and fast-growing organisation. 

We’re a planet of 7.5 billion unique and different people. We all have a contribution to make and South Pole is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.