Carbon Project Manager, South East Asia

THE ROLE  

Climate Impact Partners, a leading provider of high-quality carbon credit programmes, is looking for a Southeast Asia Project Manager to join our Carbon Project Delivery team. The role is responsible for the successful delivery of our Southeast Asia carbon projects under recognised voluntary carbon standards.

Climate Impact Partners make and manage long term investments in development projects in return for verified emissions reductions (VERs). We work closely with project development partners who are implementing project activities on the ground, bringing our expertise and oversight to ensure that projects are designed, set up, and managed to deliver the expected volume of high-integrity VERs and other impacts. The projects are predominantly nature-based solutions projects in emerging markets. Our project partners range from local NGOs to private companies who may have done at least one carbon project.

As the Southeast Asia Project Manager, you will be responsible for the delivery of development projects from the point of signing with a project throughout the project life, which can cover a period of up to 20 years. You will also be responsible for ensuring the integrity and reputational standing of the project, for delivery against our commitments to our clients, and for delivering the expected commercial value for Climate Impact Partners.

You will own oversight, project management, and reporting of a portfolio currently consisting of 2 large projects, with potential to add more depending on the stage of development and level of project activity. This involves regular contact with project partners and at least one annual visit to each project. Development of a high-trust, productive relationship with the project implementation partner is critical to enable successful navigation of challenges through the project life.

RESPONSIBILITIES  

· Manage our Southeast Asia long-term contracts with project implementation partners to ensure that projects deliver the committed carbon and other benefits on-time, with quality, and within budget, enabling us to meet our commitments to our investing clients.

· Onboard new development projects into your portfolio once contracted ensuring proper handover with the Origination team.

· Become a subject matter expert in all of your project contracts, improving on our framework for contract compliance and risk management.

· Manage and document regular meetings with the project partner to be able to accurately track progress against the project plan and budget. Assess the outlook against plan.

· Establish the leading indicators to be able to highlight early any expected deviations from the project operational plan (e.g. trees planted, mortality rates, nursery readiness) and the implications of such deviations. Work with the project partner to make early identification of risks and issues. Work with the partner to develop remedial plans and mitigations to keep the project on track to deliver, escalate internally as needed and secure required internal approvals for any changes.

· Where remedial actions require contract amendments, make commercial proposals and lead the contract amendment negotiations with the project partner, with support from experienced Commercial Managers as needed.

· Working closely with the lead Technical Manager and project partner to ensure that project implementation and monitoring are being carried in accordance with plan and in line with the project design to be validated and/or verified under the leading carbon standards, sharing best practice as we learn. Build capability in leading digital and remote monitoring.

· Involve in a timely fashion the lead Technical Manager and/or other experts as needed to review project documentation, VER projections, impact of project issues and remedial action, changes in standards, changes in law, etc.

· Work with the Projects Coordinator to ensure that payments are made in accordance with contracts, supporting validation of payment milestone evidence as needed, and making recommendations for invoicing changes in the event that they are not.

· Maintain a good working relationship with long-term partners, balancing challenge and oversight with demonstrating value and fairness. Provide support to partners as they scale their businesses to help de-risk delivery. Position Climate Impact Partners for future opportunities with the partner.

· Visit the project sites in your portfolio, including internationally, at least annually. Put in place pragmatic health and safety place prior to project visits, facilitate project visits for client teams as required, and provide feedback internally and to project partners on the findings of the visits.

· Ensure monitoring protocols, operational SOPs, and data forms remain updated and in compliance for all of your projects.

· Work with the Head of Carbon Project Delivery to define a best practice approach to project and portfolio management and reporting.

· Provide timely, accurate, and concise reporting to the Head of Carbon Project Delivery for internal reporting. Support the Client Solutions teams in reporting progress, opportunities and issues to our clients.

· Build a solid working knowledge of carbon asset development processes and relevant methodologies to ensure that you are informed on matters that can affect the project.

· Work with External Affairs and within local networks to remain abreast of changes in national regulations relating to carbon which may impact the project.

· Ensure consistent and robust record keeping for the project and all decisions.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

· Significant experience and relevant track record in forestry project management and/or forestry carbon project management, including understanding the social dimensions of forestry projects. In lieu of forestry experience, which is preferred, significant experience in long-term project development and operational contracts or investments with budgets of at least $10m is essential.

· In lieu of prior carbon experience, a desire to learn quickly about carbon project development and carbon markets is essential.

· Commercial contract management experience, including managing commercial negotiation of contract amendments and dispute resolution.

· Exposure to the challenges of working in emerging markets with a variety of delivery partners, including smaller companies and NGOs, with an understanding of the on-the-ground realities of project delivery and local stakeholder issues.

· Exceptional attention to detail, organisational skills, and follow-through.

· Strong written and oral communicator tailoring communication styles to the needs of a given situation; excellent English (spoken and written) is required.

PERKS

Benefits will be country specific, but our global benefits will include:

• Paid Annual Leave
• Remote Working
• Bonus Scheme, subject to company and individual performance
  
• Employee Equity Scheme
• Training Budgets & LinkedIn Learning License
• Any much more!

Climate Impact Partners is an equal opportunities employer. Our goal is to be a diverse and inclusive workforce, that embraces our differences, and so all aspects of employment including the decision to hire and promote, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business need. We do not discriminate on the basis of characteristics protected under federal, state, or local law. To support this, all applications are anonymised until the interview stage which means that regardless of who has applied, your characteristics are totally anonymous.