Lead, Policy Engagement and Regional Action

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, committed to improving the state of the World. We engage the foremost leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

The Forum’s Centre for Energy and Materials (CENMAT) serves as the multi-stakeholder and platform that enables building new leadership coalitions and delivering cutting-edge insights required for a sustainable, secure and equitable energy future. The Centre engages leaders from the public and private sectors to deliver new insights and collaborations at the global, regional and national levels. Through our programs and activities, CENMAT creates impact and value for constituents in business, government and civil society.

Why we are Recruiting

Governments, and international processes such as the G20, the Clean Energy Ministerial and others play a very important role in driving energy transition. Global and national policy decisions directly influence economic, geopolitical, social and technological developments related to the energy and materials transition. Strong engagement of governments and the public sector is critical to CENMATs vision to deliver impact through public-private collaboration. The Forum’s CENMAT engage policy makers in our activities throughout the year, and we engage in various regions and in multilateral fora that shape global and regional energy policy and energy transition agendas. Ensuring strong connections with policy makers and relevance of the Centre’s activities in key regions and countries is critical for creating impact.    

We are hiring a Lead, Policy Engagement and Regional action to successfully

• Strengthen the engagement of and relations with policy makers in our activities and build stronger connections between the Centre’s activities and related policy making in key countries.

• Lead e CENMAT’s engagement in key international processes acting as our “sherpa” and coordinating the broader engagement of CENMAT in these (e.g., G20, G7, Conference of the Parties (COP), Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), Mission Innovation).

• Strategically align and shape CENMAT’s activities in key regions and countries to increase impact.

• Manage the Forum’s and CENMAT relationship with International Organizations of high relevance.

Reporting Lines & Interactions

The Lead, Policy engagement and regional action reports to the Head, Energy Transition Intelligence and Regional Acceleration. S/he will also build and maintain productive relationships with Program Leads and Heads internally within the Centre, and with other relevant colleagues and teams across the Forum, in particular with the Centre for Regions, Trade and Geopolitics (CRTG). Establishing productive relationships externally with policy makers at senior levels and internally across the institution will be of utmost importance for succeeding in this role. This role is also part of CENMAT’s extended Leadership Team, and as such will contribute to the strategic direction and expansion of the Centre’s impact. 

Breakdown of main responsibilities

The successful candidate will drive the government and policy maker engagement for the Centre and the engagement with targeted International and regional intergovernmental processes.

Moreover he/she will be responsible for driving an effective and cohesive design and implementation of the Centre’s strategies and workplans in priority regions and countries. Specifically, the responsibilities cover these main areas:

Engagement of Governments and Policy makers in CENMAT Activities   

• Develop and nurture a strong network of senior energy policy makers from relevant countries, leading to higher engagement of policy makers in our initiatives, events and activities throughout the year.

• Ensure increased policy-relevance of CENMAT activities and awareness among governments and policy makers. This will include creating strategies for CENMAT activities to become truly public-private and working to implement these through engaging relevant governments directly and through the Forum’s Government engagement teams.   

• Keep abreast of and analyse the implications of key global and regional-level policy changes. Identify related opportunities to inform policy at global or national level in priority countries and areas leveraging CENMAT activities.  

International Processes, events and organizations

• Serve as the Centre Lead for key international and regional policy processes and events to drive strategic CENMAT participation, visibility and influence in these – leveraging key centre initiatives. This includes but is not limited to G20, G7, CEM/MI, COP and select regional policy processes in Asia, Latin America, EU and Africa. The successful candidate will act as the Centre’s “Sherpa” in these processes involving relevant colleagues from CENMAT and the World Economic Forum more broadly.

• Be the Primary Engagement Manager for select international organizations, e.g. IRENA, IEA, OPEC, SE4All.   

Regional Action

• Strategically shape and align regional activities for CENMAT to ensure a strategic, targeted and coherent implementation of activities in priority regions to achieve impact. This will involve working closely with CENMAT colleagues acting as regional leads and with other relevant World Economic Forum teams.

• Lead CENMAT regional coordination for Europe serving as the key interface between the centre and the Europe regional team and external stakeholders to build and implement an impactful CENMAT agenda, aligned with regional priorities.

 Preferred experience and profile

• 10+ years of work experience, with a substantial part working on energy and related policy in a government with international exposure, or in Government relations from the Private sector with international exposure.

• Experience in crafting public policy on energy related topics.

• Masters (or higher) degree in public policy, political economy, economics or similar fields.  Focus on policy related to energy, climate or extractive industries is a plus.  

• Deep understanding of and passion for energy transition issues and ideally also materials transition. Proven record of relevant thought leadership, including published articles, presentations in international forums, and conference participations.   

• Knowledge and direct experience from international processes such as G20, G7, Clean Energy Ministerial, COP and others is a strong plus.  

• Excellent stakeholder engagement and relationship skills at very senior levels (minister, senior officials level), including the ability to forge strategic relationships and partnerships.

• Excellent presentation skills as well as verbal and written language skills in English; other languages are an asset.

• A team player, able to get things done effectively in a fast-paced environment. Ability to quickly develop and effectively communicate clear perspectives on strategic issues combined with excellent presentation and facilitation skills.

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!