NetZeroCities Portfolio Learning and Impact Manager

Job Title: NetZeroCities Portfolio Learning and Impact Manager (funded programmes)

Team: Cities

Contract: 24-month fixed term contract, with anticipated renewal based on resource availability

Level: Advanced , Please refer to our Capability Framework

Salary: Competitive for Not-for-profit organisation

Location: Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Poland, UK

Start Date: As soon as possible

ABOUT US

At Climate KIC, we are wholeheartedly committed to building a diverse and representative team and an inclusive workplace that values different life experiences and perspectives, and we encourage personal development, learning and growth.

When recruiting, we look to achieve diversity in the candidate pool. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are happy to consider reasonable adjustments that will foster success in potential colleagues from diverse backgrounds and life situations. And because our team has differing needs and personal circumstances, we offer a high degree of flexibility to accommodate working patterns. We’re happy to discuss your situation during the interview and see how best we can support you.
Don’t let Imposter Syndrome stop you from applying!

Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) is Europe’s foremost climate innovation initiative. We understand that keeping global temperature rise below 1.5˚C demands unprecedented change. It requires new social dynamics, ways of doing business, capital flows, policymaking, economic models, and new ways of living. That is why our mission is to leverage the power of systems innovation to transform whole places, industries and value chains by 2030, working across sectors to develop and scale ambitious, mission-led programmes. Climate KIC’s strategy 2024-2030, Transformation, with Urgency, is available here.

Climate KIC operates as a not-for-profit platform working through public-private partnership, wielding both public and private funding. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we orchestrate a community of more than 150 organisations including large corporations and SMEs, municipal and regional governments, universities and research institutes, as well as non-governmental organisations and civil society actors.

Climate KIC leads the implementation of the European Union’s Mission on Climate Neutral and Smart Cities and the launch pilot of the Mission on Climate-Adaptation both with the objective of catalysing rapid and deep transformation on a large scale, creating the precedent and economic transition conditions for demonstration, learning, capacity building, fast followership and investment. Achieving the EU Cities Mission will mean avoided scope 1 and 2 emissions alone of an estimated 0.7GT CO2e between now and 2040.

Climate KIC has a Remote-First strategy, where colleagues work remotely from home based in one of the countries where we have a branch or employing entity (and can work out of local offices or co-working seats, where they exist). We meet at our local offices to exchange and connect and use online collaboration tools to work with each other and with our community. On occasion, we meet in person as teams, and once per year as an organisation.

As a mission-driven organisation dedicated to climate transformation, we consider the climate impact of our own actions, for example travel, catering, or IT equipment.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Climate KIC is supporting cities across Europe to accelerate their transitions to climate neutrality through systems innovation. A key component of this work is delivered through NetZeroCities (NZC), a flagship programme of the EU Cities Mission, designed to help European cities become climate neutral by 2030. Central to the programme is a growing portfolio of funded interventions, including the Pilot Cities and Enabling City Transformation programmes, that enable cities to test, learn, and scale innovative approaches to systemic change.

The NZC Portfolio Learning and Impact Manager will play a strategic role in shaping the evolution of this portfolio, connecting its learning architecture, impact pathways, and innovation potential. This role will play a critical part in shaping and coordinating the portfolio, ensuring coherence across Calls, supporting governance processes, and connecting the learning and impact of funded interventions with broader Cities Mission goals.

The role holder will help ensure that the knowledge and outcomes generated across the portfolio are meaningfully captured, shared, and translated into actionable intelligence that informs programme development and supports wider Cities Mission progress.

Working closely with city support partners, innovation leads, and learning teams, the Portfolio Learning and Impact Manager will facilitate collaboration across the NZC consortium, enabling joined-up action across work packages, aligning interventions with city needs, and fostering a culture of continuous learning. This is not a technical MEL role, but a strategic and connective position focused on leveraging insights, coordinating learning-centred innovation, and ensuring that funded interventions drive deep and lasting impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for the development, integration, and evolution of the NetZeroCities (NZC) funded programmes portfolio, ensuring alignment with broader NetZeroCities activities and workstreams, and the unfolding implementation of the EU Cities Mission, and Climate KIC’s innovation agenda.

• Oversee the implementation of the NZC Pilot Cities and Enabling City Transformation (ECT) Programme Monitoring Framework at portfolio level, working closely with the Pilot Cities/ECT Programme Team, NZC PMO and responsible support delivery partners to ensuring it supports both grant assurance, programme impact, and generative learning across initiatives.

• Facilitate and oversee the connection of portfolio learning, experimentation, and impact of NZC-funded interventions with wider NZC and Cities Mission activities, supporting the identification of synergies across work packages and thematic areas, embedding a systemic approach to city transformation.

• Frame, enable, and contribute to the design of cross-portfolio innovation and learning interventions, working closely with learning design and city support consortium partners and Climate KIC teams to deliver impactful, systemic change.

• Work closely with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), Learning Services, and Sensemaking teams to align monitoring and reporting processes with shared learning objectives, generating actionable insights and surfacing city needs and innovation opportunities.

• Coordinate the dissemination and exploitation of funding programme outcomes, ensuring that insights, evidence, and stories of change are effectively communicated and leveraged across NetZeroCities.

• Contribute to the conception and deployment of future NZC funding programmes, championing experimental approaches to programme and process design, and cascading learning within and beyond the organisation.

• Contribute to the design and implementation of cascade grant Calls, including assessment and selection processes/methodologies, ensuring compliance with governance procedures, fostering transparency, innovation, and diversity, and maximising opportunities to achieve programme goals.

• Oversee the learning and intelligence loop from the NZC City Expert Support Facility, ensuring outputs inform programme evolution, respond to city needs, and contribute to wider Cities Mission progress.

• Support cross-team collaboration and internal capacity building related to learning, innovation, and systems thinking, including synergies with Climate KIC’s broader capability development and city support agendas.

Typical Tasks

• Coordinate and manage portfolio-level planning for valorising reporting across programmes to capture the learning, outcomes, and impact of funded interventions.

• Facilitate partner and stakeholder engagement around learning-centred innovation, monitoring, and sensemaking activities.

• Conceptualise and shape the scope, intended impact, and learning arcs of cascade funding programmes; contribute to the preparation of Call documentation and communications, and lead the design and implementation of assessment and portfolio selection methodologies.

• Curate funding programme insights and learning outputs for publication, storytelling, and internal knowledge-sharing.

Key Working Relationships

• NZC Pilot Cities & Enabling City Transformation Programme and Learning, Sensemaking & MEL teams

• NZC Communications & Storytelling and Portal teams

• NZC City Advisors and City Support Office(rs)

• Mission City/ies representatives

• NZC Consortium Partners

• Climate KIC Cities team – you will join the Cities team (currently over 40 people).

ABOUT YOU

You are a strategic, systems-oriented professional with a strong track record in programme design, portfolio management, and learning-led innovation in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. You combine analytical rigour with creative thinking and bring confidence and clarity to the orchestration of funding and transformation programmes. You are adept at working across organisational boundaries and thrive in collaborative environments that demand strategic foresight, coordination, and adaptive learning. Your experience enables you to navigate complexity, identify leverage points for change, and design interventions that foster real impact (for example, in cities’ climate transitions). You are a persuasive communicator, capable of translating insights into action and building trust across diverse stakeholders.

Experience

• Substantial experience (typically 6+ years) in programme or portfolio management, preferably within climate innovation, urban development, systems change, or mission-oriented innovation frameworks.

• Proven experience designing and implementing funding or grant programmes, including Calls, selection processes, and outcome exploitation.

• Demonstrated expertise in integrating monitoring, learning, and evaluation approaches within programme delivery to generate actionable insights.

• Strong track record of working with diverse stakeholders, including technical experts/partners, learning designers/facilitators, programme management (PMO), funders, and cross-functional teams.

• Experience in storytelling, knowledge dissemination, and translating complex insights into compelling narratives and strategies.

  • Experience working in a European and/or international context, preferably within multi-partner consortia or public innovation programmes (i.e. Horizon 2020/Europe).

Skills

• Fluent in English, preferably with functional capabilities in at least one other European language.

• Ability to work remotely and digitally across multiple organisations with collaborative IT applications (we use Office365 and Microsoft Teams, as well as Miro, Zoom, etc.).

• Workshop design and facilitation skills.

• Collaborative by default, and adept with multi-stakeholder engagement and convening.

• Strong communicator, translating complicated/complex ideas for diverse audiences.

• Willingness to learn by doing and continuously develop an understanding of systems thinking and how to use innovation to influence system dynamics.

• Able to connect dots, see the big picture, and bring stakeholders along.

• Adaptable to change and emerging needs/opportunities