Senior Specialist, Standards and Methodologies - Compliance Markets

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.

As global carbon crediting rules shift, staying ahead of regulatory changes is what ensures the true integrity and commercial viability of climate projects. In this role, you will act as our technical compass—tracking developments across Article 6 and the ICVCM, managing internal knowledge, and supporting project development teams. If you are a smart, ambitious and dynamic sustainability professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, the below position may be right for you!

Job summary:

South Pole is looking for a Senior Specialist - Standards and Methodologies, Compliance Markets Team, Certificates to track developments of carbon market standards and methodologies and advise colleagues across the Certificates business line on the risks and opportunities of such developments for South Pole.

As a global sustainability solutions provider, South Pole works with clients in public and private sectors to build solutions for a sustainable society and economy. The Compliance Market team sits in a business line responsible for sourcing carbon projects, developing them and bringing resulting carbon credits to market.

The selected candidate will be in charge of knowledge management and communication over carbon methodologies used to quantify and verify the impacts, and support Associate Director, Article 6 in furthering the business line’s advocacy and communication with carbon standard bodies, governance bodies and frameworks such as ICVCM, CRCF and the PACM supervisory body and and industry initiatives such a Project Developer Forum.

The selected candidate will also provide technical guidance to project and portfolio teams, and leverage his/her technical expertise and network to drive business development activities. The candidate will track technical shifts and methodological developments across the market to ensure South Pole commercial bets, carbon monetization and origination decisions anticipate future market trends. 

Main tasks & responsibilities:

• Track eligibility of Standards and Methodologies across regulatory and governance frameworks in the market including ICAO, sovereign Article 6 buyers, ICVCM and others.

• Monitor and synthesise updates from carbon market standards, and related initiatives (e.g. ICVCM, PD Forum) into concise internal briefings, FAQs, trackers and/or other guidance materials, as appropriate.

• Maintain and continuously improve internal knowledge resources on methodologies, project registration and verification processes, and other procedural requirements of carbon standards and crediting mechanisms.

• Coordinate with the Projects, Risk and Portfolio teams on technical/methodological topics related to project registration/verification processes of carbon schemes and sustainable standards.

• Support impact assessment of changes in methodologies and standard requirements on South Pole’s project pipeline, evaluating implications for credit volumes, and project viability.

• Ensure targeted information-sharing with the different teams within the Certificates team on matters related to standards bodies, the Article 6.4 mechanism and related methodologies and processes, including, as necessary, through internal summaries, trackers, and dashboards related to Article 6.4 and voluntary carbon market standards.

• Assist in drafting inputs or responses to standard bodies and technical committees, under the guidance of senior team members.

• Support carbon project developers to perform technical checks on projects to ensure alignment with standard requirements.

• Contribute to knowledge sharing in regards to standards’ rules and updates, as well as to the training programme for the South Pole Asian Centre for Carbon Excellence.
  

Requirements:

Essential profile requirements

• University degree, ideally at a Master’s level or higher, in environmental science, engineering or a relevant field;

• 2-4 years of relevant work experience

• Understanding of the principles that underpin carbon crediting generation;

• Knowledge of carbon standards’ methodologies, tools, and procedures;

• Work experience in project development teams in carbon project development under different standards and/or the management of methodology revision/ development of new methodologies;

• Proactive, detail-oriented, and collaborative mindset with interest in capacity building and knowledge sharing;

• Strong analytical skills and resourceful;

• Ability to communicate effectively in English in writing and orally, to carbon and non - carbon expert audiences alike, in a clear and concise manner.

• Excellent prioritization and time management skills

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced international environment.

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.